Job Description: Senior Director of Product Management

About goTenna

goTenna is the world's leading mobile mesh networking company, providing off-grid connectivity solutions for smartphones and other devices, as well as augmenting traditional communications networks. This technology enables mobile, long-range connectivity without cell, Wi-Fi, or satellite connectivity. goTenna's products are currently in use by law enforcement, military, and public safety agencies worldwide. goTenna is a subsidiary of Forterra, a leading provider of ground autonomy solutions for the US Department of Defense and other organizations.

About the Role

The goTenna Product team is seeking a highly professional and experienced Product Manager to strategically develop, grow, and manage our portfolio of professional situational awareness products, with a specific focus on mission-critical communication solutions for military, public safety and critical communication vertical markets.

This role requires a proven leader with 6+ years of experience in managing the full lifecycle of complex products or product portfolios. The ideal candidate will have a demonstrated track record in translating a product vision into tangible customer value within highly technical environments.

Reporting directly to the VP of Product, the Senior Director of Product Management will have significant responsibility for aligning, communicating and execution on the vision, strategy, and go-to-market activities for current and next-generation products within our mesh communications product portfolio. This includes serving as the unified voice for critical user personas, defining robust business cases, collaborating on high-level product marketing collateral, assisting in product positioning and market messaging and taking P&L accountability for the portfolio's commercial success.

Primary Responsibilities:

Strategic Product Leadership: The Senior Director of Product Management is the key owner of an assigned product or product portfolio.

• Portfolio Strategy: Working in conjunction with the VP of Product and key internal and external stakeholders, the Product Manager shall define and communicate a compelling, long-term product strategy that aligns with market opportunities, customer needs and overall business objectives. The role will require alignment and collaboration with other Product Managers and their assigned products or portfolios to ensure consistency and alignment with the overall company vision and product strategy.
• Market & Competitive Analysis: Conduct deep market research, including regular interaction with current lighthouse customers, target market customers, industry experts, and sales channels. Continuously monitor the competitive landscape (specifically competitors in ruggedized, secure mesh communications) to identify gaps and opportunities and threats.
• Business Case Development: Develop and maintain robust business cases for new product investments, justifying resource allocation, forecasting financial returns (ROI), and defining success metrics.
• Go-to-Market Strategy: Partner with Marketing, Sales, and Business Development to define and execute effective go-to-market plans for product launches, ensuring maximum market penetration.

Product Lifecycle Management & Execution: The Senior Director of Product Management is responsible for end-to-end management of the product lifecycle in their assigned portfolio of products.

• Customer & Stakeholder Empathy: Serve as the primary voice of the customer, translating complex operational requirements (e.g., operational, security, resilience, technical standards and regulatory compliance) from critical communications end-users into actionable product requirements.
• Roadmap Management: Own, prioritize, and maintain the product roadmap for the product or product portfolio, balancing short-term tactical needs with long-term strategic initiatives.
• Requirements Definition: Create clear, concise, and prioritized Product Requirements Documents (PRDs), translating those requirements into initiatives and feature epics. The Product Manager works closely with Product Owners along with engineering and architecture teams to ensure technical feasibility and execution estimates.
• Feature Prioritization: Use data-driven decisions, product strategic goals, and market feedback to make tough, objective decisions on feature trade-offs and backlog prioritization to maximize customer value and business impact.
• Work Closely with adjacent portfolio Product Managers, Product Architects and Product Owners to align product vision and high-level product requirements into feature definitions. Collaborate with Product Owners to ensure Product Requirements are effectively distilled into actionable and prioritized engineering backlogs.
• Lifecycle Management: Manage products across their entire lifecycle, including defining end-of-life strategies and transition plans for legacy systems commonly used in our target markets.

Collaboration & Communication: The Senior Director of Product Management is a central hub for their assigned product or product portfolio, requiring superior communication and collaboration skills across all organizational levels.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Drive alignment among Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Operations, and Finance teams throughout the product development and delivery process.
• Sales Enablement: Develop and deliver high-quality sales training materials, presentations, product demonstrations, and technical documentation to equip the sales team for successful engagements in complex bidding and procurement processes.
• Executive Reporting: Provide regular updates to executive leadership on product performance, key strategic initiatives, financial forecasts, and roadmap progress.
• Stakeholder Management: Establish and maintain strong relationships with key customers to gather direct feedback and influence future product direction.

Financial & Performance Accountability: The Senior Director of Product Management is directly accountable for the commercial success of the product portfolio.

• P&L Ownership: Maintain and collaborate with key stakeholders in Sales, Manufacturing and Supply Chain to manage the product portfolio's financial performance (Revenue, Margin, Cost of Goods Sold/COGS), actively managing pricing, discounting policies, and cost reduction initiatives.
• Performance Tracking: Define, track, and report on key product metrics (e.g., adoption rate, customer satisfaction/NPS, profitability) and use this data to inform continuous product and business improvements.
• Contract & Bid Support: Provide expert product knowledge and support for major proposals, tenders, and contracts within the military and public safety sectors.

Required Experience:

• 6+ years of experience working as Director of Product Management, Product Lifecycle Manager or Product Portfolio Manager in a technical product field - preferably in the telecoms, LMR radio or satellite systems segments.
• 4+ years of experience with Agile methodologies for Software Development (including use of Jira & Confluence) and 3+ years of experience with Waterfall/Stage-Gate methodologies for Hardware Development processes.
• Demonstrated experience managing business initiatives involving a portfolio of products in various lifecycle stages.
• Experience conducting market research, technical research and competitive analysis
• Professional Communication skills: project specifications, documentation and presentations
• Experience directly managing Product Managers and/or Product Owners

Preferred Experience:

• Bachelor’s Degree with a business focus or software / hardware engineering
• Agile Scrum A-CSPO, PSPO or SAFe POPM Certification
• Experience with products targeted to Public-Sector, Government, or Military
• Experience with various radio system topologies such as MANET, LMR or radio mesh networking.
• Military, Public Safety, or First Responder Experience

ITAR: U.S. Citizen or Green Card Required

Placement at the appropriate job level (entry, senior, etc.) will be determined by a combination of years of experience, demonstration of proficiency in this field, and other qualifications.

goTenna is an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

goTenna Benefits:

• Equity
• 401(k) plan
• Unlimited PTO
• Parental Leave with Pay
• Holiday pay (including December recess)
• Medical, Dental, Vision and life insurance
• Pre-tax benefits
• Short- and Long-term disability plans
• Professional Development Stipend