Director, Product Strategy (Dir Engineering 1) - 28713

Summary

The Director of Product Strategy is a senior leader responsible for shaping the division’s product portfolio for the U.S. defense market. Working at the intersection of engineering, product management, sales, and executive leadership, the Director translates warfighter needs, mission gaps, and acquisition signals into clearly defined product concepts that win — concepts grounded in value, differentiation, fit, and feasibility.

Reporting to the Product and Engineering SVP, the Director will partner closely with the engineering and product management teams to define product ideas and solutions, work with the growth and sales organization to develop the business case, and deliver rigorous investment analysis. The Director will develop mid-to-long-term strategic roadmaps defining the product vision and translating it into actionable prioritized investments.  This role is pivotal to the division’s growth in DoW programs, OTA rapid prototyping efforts, and adjacent national security markets.

What you will do

• Collaborate with engineering, product line managers, growth and sales teams, and executive leaders to formulate product ideas and solution concepts into product roadmaps.
• Translate customer needs, capability gaps, and emerging DoW requirements into clear product definitions, MVP scope, and roadmap priorities aligned with business objectives.
• Lead structured investment analyses for new product initiatives, including development cost, recurring unit cost, addressable market size, competition, risk, strategic alignment, NPV, and IRR.
• Build and maintain financial models that inform stage-gate decisions, capital investments, IR&D and B&P allocation.
• Recommend portfolio actions — invest, pivot, sustain, or sunset — supported by data and clearly articulated assumptions.
• Maintain a current view of the U.S. defense market: program budgets, acquisition pathways, force-design priorities, and competitor positioning across primes, mid-tier integrators, and non-traditional defense entrants.
• Identify white space, threats, and inflection points that should drive product investment or strategic pivots.
• Brief division and corporate executive leadership on product strategy, market posture, and investment recommendations.
• Partner with and inform product line managers and business group leadership on how to incorporate strategic business case thinking into product strategy roadmaps.
• Manage the hiring, performance, and professional development of a small product strategy team.

What you must have

• 10 years relevant progressive experience with Bachelors in related field; 8 years relevant progressive experience with Masters in related field; or High School Diploma or equivalent and 14 years relevant progressive experience.
• Bachelor’s degree in operations research, business management, data science, economics, systems engineering, applied mathematics, computer science, or similar degrees with a strong emphasis on quantitative analysis and reasoning.
  Master’s degree with MBA preferred.
• Technical Experience
  • 10+ years of progressive experience (8 with a master’s degree) in product strategy, corporate strategy, management consulting, product management, systems engineering, or capture/business development within the U.S. defense, aerospace, or national security industry.
    Business strategy experience with a focus on products, technology or innovation strategy.  
  • Proven ability to build investment cases — addressable market sizing, cost modeling, IRR/NPV analysis, and risk assessment — and defend them to executive and board audiences.
  • Strong working knowledge of DoD acquisition pathways (Adaptive Acquisition Framework, OTA, MTA, Software Acquisition), PPBE, and program of record dynamics.
  • Experience working together with engineering teams on requirements decomposition, trade studies, and feasibility assessment.
  • Understanding of ITAR, EAR, and associated export compliance obligations as they apply to products and technology.
• Leadership & Communication
  • Ability to effectively lead strategic initiatives to expand existing product mix or enter new markets.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication; able to move fluently between technical depth and executive-level synthesis.
  • Track record of positively influencing cross-functional stakeholders, including engineers, product managers, growth and sales teams, manufacturing engineers, and executive leadership, to align product vision and business objectives. 
• Secret clearance eligible. Top Secret/SCI eligibility preferred. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and eligible for access to classified programs.