About Focus

Focus is a fully remote digital services company dedicated to building highly impactful government digital services. We partner with states and federal agencies, including the Department of State, IRS, and the Department of Education, to design and deliver modern, accessible, and secure software for government programs that impact millions of lives. We bring together engineers, designers, and product thinkers who care deeply about usability, reliability, and creating real impact for our clients and the people they serve.

Our Product Team Lives by:

High agency and ownership: you make things happen.
Strategic thinking: you see the system, not just the feature.
Empathy for users, teammates, and stakeholders alike.
Crisp decision-making: you simplify ambiguity into forward motion.

The Role

We're looking for a Technical Product Manager (Cloud) to lead product strategy and delivery for our work with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), which delivers federal student aid to millions of students and families every year. Our team builds automated testing suites, test data tooling, and CI/CD pipelines in AWS that help multiple vendor teams ship safer releases, faster.

This role sits at the intersection of product management, cloud engineering, and quality. You'll work with engineers, FSA product owners, and third-party vendor teams to define the roadmap, prioritize the backlog, and make sure every release moves the program forward.

The best fit for this role started out technical. Maybe you were a software engineer, or you worked in infrastructure, test automation, QA engineering, or DevOps before moving into product. You can follow an architecture discussion, push back on an estimate, and still translate it all into plain language for agency leadership.

What You'll Do

Product Strategy & Roadmap

Define and maintain a clear product roadmap aligned to FSA's mission, milestones, and contract objectives using the Focus Delivery Framework
Apply structured prioritization frameworks to balance user needs, compliance requirements, and technical feasibility
Turn vendor team pain points, release data, and stakeholder goals into epics, user stories, and clear acceptance criteria
Define success measures for test coverage, release velocity, defect escape rate, and pipeline reliability

Cloud & Technical Delivery

Partner with engineering leads on AWS architecture, CI/CD pipelines, test automation strategy, APIs, and infrastructure-as-code, and make informed tradeoffs without prescribing implementation
Own the backlog for developer self-service tools (test data generation, pipeline status, environment readiness) used by vendor teams and government stakeholders
Collaborate with the Technical Lead on DevSecOps and ATO readiness activities so security and compliance are planned in from the start
Coordinate technical dependencies across engineering, external vendors, and FSA platform owners

Agile Delivery & Stakeholder Management

Facilitate sprint planning, backlog refinement, and retrospectives to keep cross-functional teams aligned and unblocked
Partner with FSA product owners to balance competing priorities across a multi-vendor federal ecosystem
Build alignment across program, policy, and technology partners without formal authority
Run demos and sprint reviews that keep stakeholders informed and promote continuous learning

Metrics Strategy & Documentation

Establish a metrics strategy including leading indicators, counterweight metrics, and performance dashboards
Create a single source of truth linking technical specifications, user requirements, and decisions
Prepare Monthly Project Status Reports and represent delivery health to FSA leadership

Required Skills & Experience

4-year degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or equivalent
5+ years of experience in technical product management, software engineering, or a closely related technical role
Prior experience working as an engineer, or working on infrastructure or cloud environments and projects (for example, test automation, QA engineering, or DevOps)
Experience on government modernization projects
Hands-on cloud experience, AWS preferred (Azure also welcome)
Working knowledge of CI/CD, automated testing, APIs, and infrastructure-as-code, enough to clarify edge cases and challenge estimates
Strong skills in MVP definition, roadmap creation, and cross-functional delivery using agile methodologies
Exceptional executive communication, with the ability to synthesize technical details into clear, scannable updates for leadership
Data-driven decision-making; comfortable establishing metrics strategies and analytics frameworks

Desired Skills

Experience with the Department of Education / FSA or other high-volume public services
Familiarity with government security requirements (FedRAMP, NIST 800-53, ATO processes, Section 508) and Public Trust environments
Experience with AWS GovCloud, Terraform, Playwright or similar test frameworks, and observability tooling such as DataDog
Experience managing dependencies across multiple vendor teams
Comfort with SQL or Python for your own analysis

Employment Type & Compensation

We're open to hiring this role as either a W-2 employee or a 1099 contractor. The salary range for this role is $135,000–$175,000.

Location

Remote. All team members must be based in the continental U.S. Some projects may require occasional travel, approximately 1–2 times per year.

Requirements

Legal authorization to work in the United States
Work authorization that doesn't require visa sponsorship, now or in the future
Ability to meet any other requirements for government contracts for which candidates are hired
May be subject to a government background check or security clearance, depending on the contract

Why Focus

We're a growing team of engineers, designers, and product leaders who believe government services can be modern, human-centered, and delightful to use. We value autonomy, transparency, and curiosity — and we're looking for people who want to build products that matter.

About the company

Summary: 1) What does this company do? It helps companies build better software. 2) How does its product work? It provides services and guidance to improve the software development process so teams can deliver higher-quality software more efficiently. 3) How is it different from competitors? It focuses on improving the outcomes of the software development process rather than offering tools or platforms, emphasizing practical development guidance and support. 4) What is its goal? To enable clients to produce reliable, maintainable software that meets business needs.

Company Size

1-10

Company Stage

N/A

Total Funding

N/A

Headquarters

Washington DC, District of Columbia

Founded

2018

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

Focus promotes AI-assisted engineering workflows to accelerate delivery and reduce risk.
Focus targets embedded systems plus software, widening its services beyond generic dev shops.
South America staffing supports cost-efficient delivery for U.S. clients and hiring flexibility.

What critics are saying

Simplify lists Focus at 1-10 employees and N/A funding, limiting execution capacity.
No recent funding or press coverage suggests weak market visibility and slow pipeline growth.
Large consultancies like Improving and Accelarated Focus compete on enterprise application modernization.

What makes Focus unique

Focus ships multidisciplinary engineering across hardware, firmware, software, and test automation.
Focus operates across South America in U.S.-aligned time zones, easing collaboration.
Focus emphasizes product ownership, not just implementation, for shipped, scalable products.

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Benefits

Remote Work Options

Company News

VoIP.Review

Oct 8th, 2026

Orange Tunisia and Focus boost local cloud adoption.

Orange Tunisia and Focus boost local cloud adoption. Orange Tunisia has teamed with digital services firm Focus to expand locally hosted cloud services for Tunisian businesses. The partnership targets companies that want stronger IT platforms without moving data abroad. The two companies will offer cloud and infrastructure services hosted in Tunisia. This local model gives businesses more control over systems, data, and support. It also responds to rising demand from firms modernising internal operations. In practical terms, cloud services let companies use computing resources on demand. They can add storage, processing power, or applications as needs grow. This helps firms avoid large upfront investments in private hardware. For telecom and IT teams, the local hosting angle matters. It can simplify compliance, improve support access, and reduce operational friction. Tunisian technical teams can also provide faster guidance during migrations or service issues. Orange Tunisia Chief Business Officer, Ahmed Ben Said, stated: "This partnership allows VoIP Review to offer Tunisian companies high-performance cloud solutions tailored to their needs, while providing them with the close support and guidance of its B2B teams. "It fully aligns with our commitment to strengthening our ICT & cloud offering and supporting businesses in their digital transformation projects." The partnership also reflects a wider regional shift. More businesses now treat cloud as core infrastructure, not an optional upgrade. Banks, retailers, manufacturers, and public service providers increasingly need flexible platforms. However, local cloud alone does not remove every concern. Companies still need clear migration plans, security policies, and cost controls. Poorly managed cloud use can create unexpected bills or operational complexity. Another important factor is vendor dependence. Businesses may welcome local support and integrated services. Yet they should confirm portability, service levels, and exit options before moving critical workloads. Focus Cloud Sales Director, Imen Nabli, added: "By combining our expertise in cloud infrastructure with Orange Tunisia's sales force and local presence, we aim to facilitate cloud adoption by Tunisian businesses. This partnership allows us to offer an approach that combines technological performance, security, data control, and local support." For Orange Tunisia, the agreement strengthens its enterprise technology portfolio. It also moves the operator deeper into IT services, beyond classic connectivity. That shift is common across telecom markets worldwide. For Focus, the deal expands market reach through Orange Tunisia's customer base. It can position its infrastructure services closer to businesses seeking trusted local partners. Overall, the initiative gives Tunisian companies another route into cloud adoption. It combines local hosting, enterprise sales channels, and technical support. Its success will depend on execution, pricing, reliability, and customer trust.

Focus

Technical Product Manager - Cloud

About the job