Product Manager

Swarm Aero is redefining air power, building the largest swarming UAV and the most versatile swarming aircraft network in the world. The company is moving quickly to launch the first aircraft designed specifically for swarming, as well as the Command & Control software to mobilize swarms of thousands of heterogeneous autonomous assets and empower human operators to achieve superhuman results. The team has created and exited multiple startups, negotiated defense deals worth billions of dollars, and designed and built 30+ novel aircraft, with aerospace experience from Scaled Composites, Airbus, Archer Aviation, Blue Origin, and Boom Supersonic. Swarm Aero is at the forefront of redefining air power, developing the largest swarming UAV and the most versatile swarming aircraft network globally. We are rapidly progressing towards launching the first aircraft designed specifically for swarming, along with the advanced Command & Control software to mobilize swarms of thousands of diverse autonomous assets, enabling human operators to achieve unprecedented results. Our team boasts experience in building and exiting multiple startups, negotiating defense deals worth billions, and designing and constructing over 30 innovative aircraft. Our expertise spans top aerospace companies such as Scaled Composites, Airbus, Archer Aviation, Blue Origin, and Boom Supersonic. We're building software that operators depend on in high-stakes, real-time environments where ambiguity is the norm and the cost of getting it wrong is high. We need a Product Manager who has been in the room when things go sideways and knows how to build systems that don't. This is not a role for someone learning the craft. It's a role for someone who's already done it under pressure. WHAT YOU'LL DO PRODUCT STRATEGY & ROADMAP - Create the future of large-scale drone swarm command and control for the most powerful military ever. - Own the swarm software product roadmap at Swarm Aero. This includes C2 and autonomy across multiple domains. Define operational requirements and strategic priorities and process them into an optimal roadmap - Drive alignment between product vision, engineering capacity, and real-world operator needs, resolving conflicts with data and judgement REQUIREMENTS & DELIVERY - Author product requirements that engineering, QA, and mission teams can execute against without hand-holding, including edge cases, failure modes, and acceptance criteria - Own the backlog : sprint planning and sequencing decisions made in active partnership with stakeholders - Drive the release process from definition through deployment, including test planning, rollout, and post-release review CUSTOMER & OPERATOR DISCOVERY - Drive operator & customer understanding at Swarm Aero. Lead discovery sessions with operators, mission planners, and integration partners to surface needs and validate assumptions. Logically develop new and creative solutions to key challenges and anticipate expensive mistakes. - Translate field observations and operator feedback into roadmap decisions with clear rationale CROSS-FUNCTIONAL LEADERSHIP - Serve as the connective tissue between engineering, QA, and executive leadership - Identify and partner with strategic external vendors and partners. Define goals and interfaces and manage dependency risk WHAT YOU’VE DONE CORE STRENGTHS: - 5+ years as a Product Manager owning a complex, technically deep product and not a feature area within a product - Shipped software in a mission-critical or operationally sensitive context where failure had real consequences (defense, aerospace, robotics, autonomy, industrial control systems, or equivalent) - Written PRDs for distributed systems, hardware-integrated software, or real-time data pipelines that engineers shipped from without significant re-interpretation - Managed competing priorities across multiple stakeholder groups in a high-ambiguity environment and made the call rather than deferred it - Directly conducted oper