Senior Product Marketing Manager

Forward
Santa Clara, CA
On-siteCareer-pivot friendly

Who this role is best for

Aimed at experienced product marketers with technical depth, who thrive in collaborative, fast-paced environments and can translate complex networking and AI concepts into marketable narratives. This role is based in Santa Clara, CA, and requires close coordination with product, sales, and engineering teams.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with 7+ years in product marketing for enterprise software and a track record of successful technical product launches
    — “7+ years in product marketing.”
  • Individuals who can bridge technical complexity with clear business value and have a portfolio of technical writing
    — “Excellent writing skills, supported by a portfolio of compelling product content for technical and business audiences.”
  • Professionals with a strong grasp of networking, security, cloud infrastructure, and automation who can engage with engineering teams
    — “Strong technical aptitude and familiarity with networking, security, cloud infrastructure, automation, or agentic AI systems.”

Things to consider

  • The role demands a high level of cross-functional coordination and simultaneous project management in a fast-moving company.
    — “manage multiple launches and projects in a fast-moving, growth-stage company.”

How to stand out

  • Highlight your ability to translate technical product capabilities into clear, compelling customer outcomes.
    — “translate technical capabilities into clear customer outcomes.”
  • Demonstrate experience in creating sales assets like pitch decks and solution briefs.
    — “Create compelling product content and sales assets, including pitch decks, solution briefs, competitive battlecards, and demo narratives.”
  • Showcase your experience in leading product launches from start to finish.
    — “Lead product launches end to end, coordinating readiness, announcements, field enablement, and post-launch measurement.”
  • Emphasize your ability to conduct and apply competitive and market research in go-to-market strategies.
    — “Lead competitive and market research for assigned areas, informing positioning and deal strategy.”
  • Demonstrate credibility in representing technical products to analysts, customers, and partners.
    — “Represent Forward as a credible product and industry expert at conferences, trade shows, webinars, and customer and partner meetings.”
Pace · SteadyCollaboration · HighAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • Developed positioning, messaging, and value propositions for assigned products
  • Led product launches end to end
  • Represented the company as a credible product and industry expert at conferences
Typical background
7+ years of experience in product marketingExperience in enterprise software or B2B technology

Skills & requirements

Required

Product MarketingTechnical AptitudeNetworkingSecurityCloud InfrastructureProduct LaunchesField EnablementCompetitive And Market ResearchCustomer InsightSales Asset Development

Preferred

Enterprise Software ExperienceB2B Technology

Stack & domain

Product MarketingTechnical CapabilitiesPositioningMessagingValue PropositionsProduct LaunchesField EnablementProduct ContentSales AssetsConferencesTrade ShowsWebinarsCustomer And Market InsightProduct PrioritiesCustomer NeedsDeal StrategyAnalyst RelationsCustomer ResearchCompetitive IntelligenceContinuous ImprovementLeanRepeatableScalableTools And TechniquesTechnology-enabled ProcessesSolutionsFinancial DisciplineQualityProcess ImprovementWorkflow DesignData And MetricsImprovementsProject CoordinationManagementMatrixed OrganizationRFP DevelopmentSoftware Or Service SolutionsSelf-directedHighly OrganizedAbility To Work Across FunctionsManage Multiple Launches And ProjectsFast-movingGrowth-stage CompanyEnterprise SoftwareB2B TechnologyNetworkingSecurityCloud Infrastructure

About the role

Original posting from Forward via Greenhouse

Forward was founded in 2013 by four Stanford Ph.D.s, building the industry's first network digital twin: a mathematically accurate model of the production network. It's the foundation for autonomous networking, giving engineers and AI agents the ability to know the impact of every change before it touches production. That founding instinct still defines how we work. We're accurate and evidence-driven, relentless about clarity, and we'd rather be certain than comfortable, building a groundbreaking platform that transforms how teams run and secure networks across every major cloud and vendor environment.

Global leaders like Goldman Sachs, PayPal, S&P Global, IBM, and Dell trust Forward, alongside fast-growing enterprises and government agencies, realizing an average of $14.2 million in annual benefits, according to IDC. Backed by top-tier investors, including A. Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Goldman Sachs, MSD Partners, Omega Venture Partners, Section 32, and Threshold Ventures, and headquartered in Santa Clara, we're most proud of our team: curious people who'd rather build what doesn't exist than accept how things have always been done.

We are seeking a Senior Product Marketing Manager to shape our story and own go-to-market execution for key areas of our platform. You will translate deep technical capabilities into compelling positioning and messaging, lead launches, and equip the field to win across enterprise and government organizations. Working closely with product, sales, and marketing, you will bring customer insight into strategy, influence product direction, and help customers understand how to adopt agentic operations with confidence.

This is a hands-on role for a product marketer who enjoys going deep on technology, building compelling stories, and representing Forward with customers, analysts, and conference audiences to drive measurable market impact.

This position reports to the Senior Director of Product Marketing at Forward.

Responsibilities

Own positioning, messaging, and value propositions for assigned products and use cases, aligned with Forward’s company narrative.

Lead product launches end to end, coordinating readiness, announcements, field enablement, and post-launch measurement with product, sales, and marketing.

Partner with product management to translate technical capabilities into clear customer outcomes and bring customer and market insight into product priorities.

Create compelling product content and sales assets, including pitch decks, solution briefs, competitive battlecards, and demo narratives. Partner with the sales enablement function to help account teams and sales engineers use them effectively.

Represent Forward as a credible product and industry expert at conferences, trade shows, webinars, and customer and partner meetings.

Lead competitive and market research for assigned areas, informing positioning and deal strategy. Support analyst and press engagement through briefings, evaluations, and supporting materials.

Partner with demand generation, field marketing, and corporate marketing to develop campaigns and events grounded in customer needs and consistent with our positioning.

Qualifications

Experience in enterprise software or B2B technology, with 7+ years in product marketing.

Proven track record of launching technical products and developing positioning, messaging, and sales assets that help the field win.

Strong technical aptitude and familiarity with networking, security, cloud infrastructure, automation, or agentic AI systems, with the ability to engage credibly with engineering and product teams and translate complex capabilities into business value.

Excellent writing skills, supported by a portfolio of compelling product content for technical and business audiences.

Confident presenter who can represent Forward as a credible expert at conferences, webinars, and customer, partner, and analyst meetings.

Experience using customer research and competitive intelligence to inform go-to-market strategy; analyst relations experience is a plus.

Self-directed and highly organized, with the ability to work across functions and manage multiple launches and projects in a fast-moving, growth-stage company.

The base pay range for this role is between $165,000 and $200,000. Base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location

Source: Forward careers (Greenhouse)

Similar roles