Product Manager - Autonomy

Responsibilities:

• Autonomy product definition and strategy: Define autonomy product capabilities spanning mission planning, execution, contingency management, operator interaction, vehicle coordination, and post-mission debrief; translate operational needs, CONOPs, and program objectives into prioritized autonomy capability increments with clear acceptance criteria; and maintain the autonomy roadmap balancing near-term demonstration needs with long-term scalability and reuse.
• Capability decomposition and integration intent: Define autonomy capability boundaries, dependencies, and integration intent across aircraft systems, mission systems, ground control, and simulation environments; frame integration expectations aligned to program milestones and flight-test objectives; and identify capability gaps, overlaps, and dependencies while driving cross-team alignment.
• Interfaces, standards, and alignment: Define autonomy-related interface expectations and data-flow requirements aligned with OMS, UCI, ICDs, and API-based integration patterns, ensuring capability definitions account for interface versioning, compatibility, configuration dependencies, and consistency across simulation, HITL, and flight environments.
• Translation of operational needs into product requirements: Convert operational concepts, autonomy behaviors, and mission workflows into clear, observable, and testable product requirements and acceptance criteria while surfacing integration risks and constraint impacts early and driving resolution with stakeholders.
• Simulation, test, and flight enablement: Define how autonomy capabilities are exercised across SITL, HITL, large-scale simulation, and flight test; ensure product requirements support deterministic testing, safety assessment, and post-flight analysis; and partner with test and flight teams to evaluate capabilities against defined success criteria.
• Autonomy–vehicle interaction alignment: Define product expectations for how autonomy interacts with vehicle management functions—including modes, transitions, constraints, and degraded operations—ensuring capability definitions respect vehicle safety, performance, and operational envelopes across mission phases.
• Verification, validation, and readiness support: Define autonomy-related acceptance criteria and evidence expectations for capability readiness, ensure traceability from requirements through verification evidence and flight results, and support readiness discussions for autonomy integration into flight events and demonstrations.
• Cross-team product leadership: Provide product leadership across autonomy developers, mission system teams, simulation teams, and external partners, clearly communicating autonomy product intent, priorities, risks, and readiness to program leadership and stakeholders while maintaining alignment with overall product and mission objectives.
• External engagement and customer interface: Support government and partner engagements related to autonomy capability, integration approach, and transition planning, and help shape autonomy-related deliverables, demonstrations, and data products for external stakeholders.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Robotics, or a related technical field. 
• 10+ years of experience delivering autonomy, mission systems, UAS, robotics, or flight-critical platforms. 
• Experience working with Cameo Systems Modeler, SysML, and building MBSE models 
• Demonstrated experience defining and delivering complex system capabilities across multiple teams. 
• Strong familiarity with OMS, UCI, ICD-driven development, and service-based mission architectures. 
• Understanding of autonomy behaviors, planners, state machines, contingency management, and operator interaction models. 
• Experience working across simulation, integration, and flight-test environments. 
• Strong cross-functional communication skills with engineers, operators, and program leadership. 
• Active Secret clearance required; TS/SCI preferred. 

Preferred Skills and Experience:

• Experience supporting high-speed or safety-critical flight systems. 
• Familiarity with vehicle management systems, control authority concepts, and safety constraints. 
• Experience integrating or coordinating third-party autonomy solutions. 
• Background supporting DoD customers, demonstrations, or transition programs.