Vice President, Global Product Management

At the heart of national defense and global security, we are committed to building programs and products that deliver real-world impact for the warfighter. The **Global Program and Product Office** ensures our teams execute with discipline, agility, and purpose. As **VP of Global Product Management**, you will lead the enterprise product management discipline — enabling product managers, strengthening product thinking across the organization, and ensuring our products are aligned to customer needs, operational realities, and long-term strategy.We are seeking an experienced, mission-driven **Vice President of Global Product Management** to grow and lead the product management discipline across the enterprise. Reporting to the VP of Global Programs and Product Management, this role is responsible for defining how product management is practiced at scale — including **roles, processes, training, and tooling**.* Accountable to lead the enterprise product management discipline, aligned with the company’s Product Development Framework and governance model.* Establish clear product management roles, responsibilities, decision rights, and interfaces with program management, engineering, and operations.* Own product lifecycle standards from concept and requirements through development, deployment, sustainment, and end-of-life.* Partner with product, program, and business leaders to ensure product roadmaps and requirements remain aligned to customer missions.* Promote outcome-based product thinking, balancing cost, schedule, performance, and mission impact.* Support customer engagements as a senior product advisor and thought leader when needed.* Responsible for defining product health and performance metrics (value delivery, maturity, technical readiness, lifecycle cost).* Establish governance mechanisms to ensure product decisions are data-driven, transparent, and aligned with enterprise priorities. Lead regular Product Line Business reviews to ensure executive level visibility of product performance.* Partner with internal teams to enable frictionless product insights and reporting* Other duties as assigned* Bachelor’s degree is required in a related field or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.* Advanced degree, MBA or MS is highly preferred.* 15+ years of product management experience, with a primary focus in aerospace and defense.* Direct accountability for product strategy, definition, and lifecycle ownership of complex, mission-critical products.* Proven experience leading product management as a discipline, including standards, operating models, and governance.* Demonstrated ability to mentor and develop product managers and elevate product thinking across the organization.* Strong track record of partnering with executive and business leaders to enable effective decision making aligned to customer missions and enterprise priorities.* Excellent communication, influence, and decision-making skills in matrixed environments.* 20+ years of progressive product management experience.* Experience building or scaling a global product management function.* Background spanning both development and sustainment phases of defense products.* Excellent written and verbal communication skills* Strong analytical, critical thinking and interpersonal skills, with the ability to speak and write persuasively* Demonstrated experience working with cross-functional teams; ability to develop and maintain internal and external trusting, professional relationships* Uses vision to think beyond the immediate situation, explore multiple potential paths, and adapt decision-making style based on the situational circumstances* Inspires, motivates, and empowers people to deliver organizational goals, while also delivering value back to employees* Brings organizational values to life using personality, uniqueness, and the creation of a shared vision* Champions the process of change and promotes a culture of quick adaptation while helping others deal with the effects of change* Takes ownership and responsibility for assigned tasks* Is committed to learning from mistakes and driven to improve and enhance performance of oneself, others, and the company* Focuses on teamwork and puts the success of the team above one's own interests* Ability to sit, stand, stoop, reach, lift (up to 10 lbs.), bend, etc.

Hand and wrist dexterity to utilize the computer.* May require travel to sites/program and special functions.AeroVironment considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the location, the role and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, education/training, and key skills.**About AV:****AV isn’t for everyone. We hire the curious, the relentless, the mission-obsessed. The best of the best.**We don’t just build defense technology—we redefine what’s possible. As the premier autonomous systems company in the U.S., AV delivers breakthrough capabilities across air, land, sea, space, and cyber. From AI-powered drones and loitering munitions to integrated autonomy and space resilience, our technologies shape the future of warfare and protect those who serve.Founded by legendary innovator Dr. Paul MacCready, AV has spent over 50 years pushing the boundaries of what unmanned systems can do. Our heritage includes seven platforms in the Smithsonian—but we’re not building history, we’re building what’s next.**If you're ready to build technology that matters—with speed, scale, and purpose—there’s no better place to do it than AV.** #J-18808-Ljbffr