AI Product Manager Sr.

About Maryland Benefits (MD Benefits)

Maryland Benefits (MD Benefits) is a dynamic, cloud-based platform. This enterprise-wide digital service allows organizations to build, test, host, operate, and integrate mission-driven applications, data, and emerging technologies. MD Benefits offers cloud-based Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) capabilities, a shared data architecture, and product development services, all developed by the State of Maryland to help multiple agencies deliver and manage health, human, and social service benefits and programs. On July 1, 2025, the operation of the MD Benefits shared platform and statewide applications transitioned from the Department of Human Services (DHS) to the Department of Information Technology (DoIT).

• This is a contractual position with limited benefits*

Main Purpose

The AI Product Manager is responsible for both product planning and product marketing. This includes managing the product throughout the Product Lifecycle, gathering and prioritizing product and customer requirements, defining the product vision, and working closely with engineering, to deliver winning products.

Position Duties

The responsibilities of a AI Product Manager Sr. include, but are not limited to the following duties:

The AI Senior Product Manager is responsible for leading the strategy, development, and delivery of AI-powered solutions in public sector platforms, with a focus on user value, policy alignment, and responsible innovation. This role acts as a strategic partner to cross-functional teams—data scientists, engineers, UX designers, and stakeholders—to build intelligent services that improve access, automation, and decision-making in systems like integrated eligibility (SNAP, TANF, Medicaid), child support, or case management.

The ideal candidate brings deep experience in product lifecycle management, user-centered design, and a strong understanding of AI/ML technologies, including their risks and opportunities in regulated environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead the product vision and roadmap for AI features aligned with agency goals, ethical standards, and technical feasibility.
• Identify opportunities to leverage AI (e.g., NLP, predictive models, classification, recommendations) to automate processes, enhance eligibility screenings, or assist workers and residents.
• Develop KPIs and success metrics for AI product components, balancing innovation with regulatory compliance and user trust.
• Translate AI opportunities into epics and user stories with well-defined acceptance criteria.
• Maintain and prioritize a backlog of AI/ML features, research spikes, experiments, and model integration tasks.
• Work closely with engineers and data scientists to define minimal viable models (MVMs), performance thresholds, and retraining strategies.
• Serve as the primary liaison between data science/AI engineering teams and policy or business stakeholders.
• Clearly communicate complex AI concepts (e.g., explainability, bias mitigation, model drift) in accessible terms.
• Facilitate feedback loops between user testing and model iteration.
• Collaborate with UX teams to ensure AI interactions (e.g., smart assistants, classifiers, chatbots) are intuitive and accessible.
• Conduct or commission user research to evaluate model output usability and relevance.
• Promote transparent, human-in-the-loop experiences where appropriate.
• Ensure AI solutions align with applicable data privacy laws (e.g., HIPAA, FERPA) and emerging AI governance standards.
• Partner with legal and policy teams to document risk assessments, explainability features, and audit trails.
• Contribute to guidelines for responsible AI use in public-facing products.

Minimum Qualifications

Education

• This position requires a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with a major in computer science, information systems, business, or other related scientific or technical discipline.
• Five (5) years of equivalent experience in a related field may be substituted for the Bachelor’s degree.

General Experience

• The proposed candidate must have a minimum of five (5) years of experience in product management.

Specialized Experience

• 5+ years of experience in digital product management, including 3+ years in AI/ML-related initiatives.
• Strong background in Agile/Scrum, cross-functional delivery, and roadmap planning in complex organizations.
• Demonstrated experience translating user and business needs into machine learning or AI product features.
• Familiarity with data science workflows (model training, evaluation, deployment, monitoring).
• Experience working with NLP, classification, recommendation, predictive models, or chatbots.
• Experience working with government-regulated systems, ideally in benefits, child support, or integrated eligibility domains.
• Comfortable facilitating communication between non-technical policy stakeholders and AI/engineering teams.
• Experience applying principles of AI ethics, fairness, explainability, and accessibility.
• Familiarity with AI platforms and tools (e.g., AWS SageMaker, Azure ML, Hugging Face, OpenAI, TensorFlow, Scikit-learn).
• Knowledge of data governance, 508 accessibility, and compliance in the public sector is highly desirable.