Lead Product Manager - Airborne Systems

Hermeus is a high-speed aircraft manufacturer focused on the rapid design, build, and test of high-Mach and hypersonic aircraft for the national interest. Working directly with the Department of Defense, Hermeus delivers capabilities that will ensure that our nation, and our allies, maintain an asymmetric advantage over any and all potential adversaries.

The Lead Product Manager - Airborne Systems is responsible for defining, prioritizing, and coordinating airborne mission capabilities across Hermeus aircraft programs. This role sits above individual domain Product Managers and ensures that autonomy, mission systems, payloads, ground segment, data/debrief, and simulation capabilities are aligned into coherent product increments tied to operational needs, flight events, and customer objectives.

This position owns airborne product intent, capability structure, and prioritization, ensuring that the right problems are being solved in the right order. The role partners closely with Engineering, Test, and Flight Operations to support execution and ensure integrated capabilities are demonstrable, testable, and aligned with program milestones.

This is the role that ensures airborne product vision and operational outcomes remain aligned as systems are built, integrated, and flown.

Responsibilities:

• End-to-end airborne mission capability definition and prioritization: Own the definition, sequencing, and prioritization of the airborne mission capability roadmap aligned to CONOPs, customer intent, and program objectives, translating operational needs into clearly defined capability increments with measurable acceptance criteria across mission-enabling subsystems.
• Cross-domain product alignment: Align and coordinate Product Managers across Autonomy, Ground Segment, Interfaces & Configuration, and Mission Systems & Payloads to ensure capability plans converge into integrated airborne mission increments while identifying, resolving, and driving alignment on cross-domain dependencies, gaps, and conflicts.
• Integration intent and capability structure: Define integration intent, key interfaces of interest, and cross-system workflows for each capability increment, maintaining the airborne capability structure used for planning, execution, readiness discussions, and consistent product intent across mission phases and operational use cases.
• Acceptance criteria and definition of done: Define and maintain Definition of Ready and Definition of Done for airborne mission capabilities, ensuring acceptance criteria are measurable, testable, operationally tied, and evaluable through partnership with test and flight teams using available evidence.
• Digital thread ownership and product artifacts: Own the airborne product structure and digital-thread expectations spanning requirements through release packages, governing the single source of truth for capability maps, increment definitions, product backlogs, prioritization decisions, software and service baselines, and Mission Data Load (MDL) requirements and versioning intent.
• Release planning and readiness support: Define and execute product release planning aligned to flight events, demonstrations, and customer milestones, lead readiness discussions for SRR, SFR, PDR, CDR, TRR, FCA, and PCA, and track cross-domain risks and readiness blockers through mitigation with accountable owners.
• Customer and stakeholder engagement: Serve as the primary product interface for airborne mission capability with internal leadership and external stakeholders, supporting customer engagements through roadmap and capability presentations and ensuring customer feedback is reflected in roadmap and prioritization updates.
• Leadership and communication: Lead regular cross-domain product integration and planning forums, clearly communicate status, risks, and priorities to leadership, and mentor Product Managers while reinforcing outcome-driven, execution-focused product discipline.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 8+ years of experience delivering complex aerospace, mission systems, or autonomous platforms.
• 5+ years of experience working with Cameo Systems Modeler, SysML, and MBSE workflows.
• Demonstrated experience defining and managing end-to-end product capabilities across multiple subsystems.
• Strong understanding of mission systems, autonomy, ground operations, and flight-test environments.
• Experience working closely with engineering, test, and operations teams in fast-paced development programs.
• Strong cross-functional communication and leadership skills.
• Active Secret clearance required; TS/SCI preferred.

Preferred Skills and Experience:

• Experience supporting flight-test programs, demonstrations, or rapid prototyping efforts.
• Background in mission planning, operator workflows, and debrief/data products.
• Familiarity with DoD acquisition environments and transition-focused programs.

$180,000 - $250,000 a year

The salary information provided is a general guideline only. Hermeus takes various factors into account, including, but not limited to, the position's scope and responsibilities, the candidate's professional background, education and training, essential skills, and market and business considerations, when presenting a job offer.

Salary is only one part of our total compensation and benefits package. Hermeus offers competitive salary and equity, unlimited PTO policy, paid parental leave, potential for year-end bonuses, and more!

100% employer-paid health care

401k & Retirement Plans

Unlimited PTO

Weekly Paid Office Lunches

Fully stocked breakrooms

Stock Options

Paid Parental Leave

U.S. EXPORT CONTROL COMPLIANCE STATUS

The person hired will have access to information and items subject to U.S. export controls, and therefore, must either be a "U.S. person" as defined by 22 C.F.R. § 120.62 or otherwise eligible for deemed export licensing. US persons include U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents (green card holders), and asylees and refugees with such status granted, not pending.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Hermeus is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions at Hermeus are based solely on merit, competence, and qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability, or any other legally protected status.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.