Freelance Lead Product Manager
Freelance Lead Product Manager
IR35: Outside
Contract Length: 12 months
Start Date: November 2026
Location: Hybrid with twice per month in the London office
Day rate: £500-600
About the role
Elsewhen is a London-based AI consultancy. We design and build technology for clients like Spotify, Google, Inmarsat and Zego. We value outcomes over hours and agility over rigid process.
We're looking for an experienced Lead Product Manager to own a data and AI engagement from day one. The work focuses on rapid pilot builds, Databricks dashboards and Next Best Action modelling. You'll own discovery, shape the solution and validate it with the client, making sure what we build fits their wider vision and the outcomes they care about.
You'll lead a small, cross-functional team alongside an AI Engineer and a Data Scientist.
What you'll do
Get up to speed fast
Understand the client's business, vision, terminology and priorities, and how the engagement fits into them
Run early technical deep dives with the client's data and engineering teams
Lead discovery and shape the build
Align on goals, constraints and success metrics with stakeholders for three workstreams, incl. Model explainability, Dashboard creation and agentic research.
Understand current models and drive towards model improvements, media spend and next best action
Run workshops to agree a realistic scope, balancing value, feasibility and speed
Drive delivery
Take the team from concept to production-grade solution
Keep a clear, prioritised backlog and make progress visible through regular updates and demos
Spot risks early, manage scope firmly and escalate only what needs escalating
Validate with users and stakeholders
Run SME sessions, playbacks and early user testing
Turn feedback into clear, actionable improvements and iterate quickly
Own client communication and outcomes
Lead client touchpoints, including weekly reviews and the final playback
Turn findings into clear recommendations that support go/no-go decisions and next steps for scaling
What we're looking for
Experience
A proven track record delivering data and AI solutions
At least 2 years in a consultancy, leading client-facing engagements end to end
Hands-on experience with Databricks / Azure, data models and paid media modelling - a huge advantage
A history of delivering pilots and prototypes to tight timelines in fast-paced, iterative environments
Can demonstrate how you handle client feedback positively and can balance competing priorities to reach mutually beneficial outcomes
You're a calm, confident communicator who explains complex ideas simply and presents with quiet authority
You build trust with senior stakeholders and are comfortable running workshops and playbacks
AI fluency
You understand how AI is changing the industry, from tooling to the new products
You use AI tools in your own work and know how to delegate tasks to LLMs well
You can spot low-quality AI output and know what good looks like before anything goes in front of a client
Our commitment to diversity
Diverse thoughts, backgrounds and perspectives make stronger teams and better technology. We welcome everyone, whatever their culture, appearance or perspective, and we encourage our team to challenge norms, grow ideas and do their best work.
Interview process
Recruiter screen: your experience in rapid discovery and pilot delivery
45 minutes with our Product Lead: your product approach and experience, plus a pilot-focused case study
1 hour with our Product Director: product leadership, stakeholder management and driving outcomes in ambiguous environments
- Department
- Freelance Product
- Location
- London
- Remote status
- Hybrid