rincipal Product Marketing Manager, Loitering Munitions & Precision Strike

AeroVironment•Simi Valley, CA

11d

About The Position

AeroVironment is hiring a Principal Product Marketing Manager to own product marketing for its Loitering Munitions and Precision Strike portfolio, a $500 million franchise with combat-proven systems used by U.S. and allied forces. This senior individual-contributor role has portfolio-level accountability and executive visibility, and reports directly to the VP of Marketing & Communications. The manager will work as an embedded partner within the Loitering Munitions business unit, bringing product marketing practices from software and technology businesses to defense customers, including program offices, prime contractors, and allied governments. The role owns portfolio positioning and messaging, product launch execution, integrated campaign support, and sales and capture enablement. It uses operational evidence and customer and operator insights to develop credible claims and customer-facing narratives, while aligning product-level messaging with AeroVironment’s corporate narrative. The manager also maintains buyer and user personas, develops export-aware localized positioning for priority allied regions, and leads competitive intelligence for the loitering munitions category. The position operates with explicit decision rights over messaging and claims within approved positioning, enablement priorities, launch sequencing within the portfolio, and competitive response content. Portfolio-level positioning changes, budget impacts, and matters affecting corporate narrative or public-release risk are escalated to the VP. The manager partners with the Head of Product Marketing on shared standards and consistency across portfolios. The role requires U.S. citizenship and compliance with ITAR and/or EAR requirements. Applicants may need to provide documentation verifying U.S.-person status. The position is based within commuting distance of the AV Simi Valley Campus. Physical demands include working in an office, sitting and standing for long periods, and using a computer and telephone keyboard.

Requirements

12 or more years of total civilian work experience.
8 or more years of product marketing experience, including meaningful experience in both enterprise software or hardware-software product marketing and defense, aerospace, or dual-use technology.
Demonstrated ownership of a product line or portfolio with revenue of at least $100 million.
Fluency in DoD acquisition dynamics, including program-of-record lifecycles, POM cycles, primes versus non-traditional entrants, and FMS/DCS mechanics.
Ability to demonstrate positioning craft through work such as a positioning document, launch plan, campaign plan, and enablement asset that produced a measurable result.
Ability to work within export-control, classification, and public-release constraints while maintaining message strength.
Ability to independently manage a portfolio with executive-level accountability and minimal day-to-day direction.
Ability to earn the trust of technical and program stakeholders and partner within a business unit’s operating rhythm.
Must be within commuting distance of the AV Simi Valley Campus.
U.S. citizenship is required; applicants must meet applicable ITAR/EAR U.S.-person documentation requirements.
Ability to work in an office environment; sit and stand for long periods; and use a computer and telephone keyboard.

Nice To Haves

Direct experience marketing loitering munitions, one-way attack, or electronic warfare products.
Prior military service or program-office exposure.
Active or recent Secret clearance, or ability to obtain one.
Experience competing in the modern defense technology landscape against established primes and emerging entrants.

Responsibilities

Build trusted working relationships with business-unit leadership, program managers, capture leads, and engineering.
Partner with product managers on roadmap milestones, launch readiness, claims substantiation, and customer evidence or operational proof.
Participate in business-unit operating rhythms, including program reviews, capture gate reviews, and planning.
Own the positioning and messaging architecture for the Loitering Munitions and Precision Strike portfolio, grounding differentiated claims in operational evidence.
Consolidate voice-of-customer inputs and feed structured customer and operator insights into Marketing and Communications, Product, and Business Development strategy.
Maintain buyer and user persona profiles.
Translate mission outcomes, including effects delivered, cost per effect, sustainment, and interoperability, into customer-facing narratives.
Align product-level positioning with AeroVironment’s corporate narrative architecture.
Deliver export-aware localized positioning for priority allied regions within ITAR and export-control boundaries.
Run the tiered product launch framework, producing full launch plans and bills of materials in coordination with creative, technical communications, and events teams.
Own product launch content and claims accuracy.
Support ongoing marketing campaigns using AeroVironment’s integrated campaign model.
Build and maintain sales and capture enablement materials, including battlecards, an operational proof library, and demo and trade-show messaging.
Support marketing’s contribution to international growth targets.
Own competitive intelligence for the loitering munitions category, covering rivals’ capabilities, production capacity, pricing posture, and acquisition traction.
Meet stated first-year outcomes, including adopted positioning architecture, participation in business-unit reviews, collateral adoption and rework targets, two launches, quarterly battlecard refreshes, and localized positioning for at least two allied regions.