Director of Product Management

Job Description

• Knightwerx is seeking an experienced Sr. Director of Product Management to lead product strategy and execution for advanced unmanned aircraft systems, payloads, sensors and related national-security technologies. You will work closely with military customers, engineering, business development, operations, manufacturing partners and executive leadership to translate mission needs into product roadmaps and fieldable capabilities. This role will help Knightwerx prioritize customer requirements and transition products from concept and prototype development into testing, production and operational use.

Work Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, aerospace, business, product management or a related field, or equivalent experience
• 8 years of aerospace, defense, unmanned-systems, product-management or program-management experience
• 5 years of direct experience with unmanned aircraft systems, aerospace platforms or related defense technologies
• Experience leading product strategy and development for complex aerospace or defense systems
• Experience working directly with U.S. Department of Defense, military or government customers
• Experience translating operational needs into product requirements, priorities and roadmaps
• Experience leading multidisciplinary teams through development, integration, testing, production and fielding

Attributes

• Strategic, hands-on and execution oriented
• Understands military missions and the practical realities of developing and fielding aerospace products
• Able to balance customer needs, technical feasibility, cost, schedule and market opportunity
• Effective cross-functional problem solver
• Goal driven and responsive to testing and customer feedback
• Understands scope, schedule, cost, performance and technical-risk tradeoffs
• Communicates clearly and makes timely decisions
• Comfortable in a fast-moving defense-technology startup

Primary Duties

• Lead product strategy and lifecycle management for Knightwerx UAS, payloads, sensors and related technologies
• Develop product roadmaps based on customer needs, operational requirements and technical capabilities
• Translate military and government requirements into clear product priorities
• Coordinate customers, engineering, business development, operations, manufacturing, suppliers and executive leadership
• Lead product definition from customer discovery through development, testing, production and fielding
• Ensure product decisions support realistic schedules, technical objectives and customer commitments
• Gather and prioritize internal and external stakeholder feedback
• Present product strategy, tradeoffs and recommendations to leadership and customers

Tasks

• Conduct customer discovery with military operators, acquisition organizations and government stakeholders
• Define product requirements, use cases, concepts of operation and success criteria
• Maintain product roadmaps, requirements documentation and decision records
• Work with engineering to establish development priorities and technical milestones
• Coordinate aircraft, payload, autonomy, communications, ground-control and mission-system integration
• Evaluate features based on customer value, feasibility, cost, schedule and risk
• Support trial plans, demonstrations, test objectives and evaluation metrics
• Lead product, customer, design and post-event reviews
• Develop business cases, product configurations and pricing inputs
• Support proposals, statements of work, development plans and contract modifications
• Align product roadmaps with program schedules, budgets and deliverables
• Coordinate suppliers, subcontractors and strategic partners
• Support transition from prototype development to scaled production
• Ensure compliance with quality, export-control, cybersecurity, CUI and government-contract requirements
• Mentor product and program-management personnel

Skills

• Strong understanding of unmanned aircraft systems, aerospace product development and defense markets
• Ability to convert operational needs into prioritized, testable product requirements
• Knowledge of aircraft systems, payloads, avionics, autonomy, communications or propulsion
• Experience managing product roadmaps for multidisciplinary systems
• Understanding of aerospace integration, testing, production and fielding
• Ability to evaluate technical and commercial tradeoffs
• Strong customer-discovery, requirements and stakeholder-management skills
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation and leadership skills
• Working knowledge of government acquisition and technology-transition processes

Bonus

• Experience with Group 1–3 unmanned aircraft systems
• Product leadership supporting special operations or other military users
• Experience transitioning aerospace products from prototype to production
• Familiarity with SBIR, OTA, CRADA, IDIQ, GSA or FAR-based contracts

Requirements

• Must be a U.S. person under applicable export-control laws
• Must work onsite at Knightwerx’s Scottsdale, Arizona facility
• Must be able to travel to demonstrations, test sites, supplier facilities and government meetings