rincipal Product Marketing Manager, Loitering Munitions & Precision Strike

AeroVironment•Simi Valley, CA

12d•Onsite

About The Position

The Principal Product Marketing Manager owns positioning, messaging, launch execution, and sales enablement for AeroVironment’s Loitering Munitions / Precision Strike portfolio, a stated $500M franchise with combat-proven systems fielded by U.S. and allied forces. This is a senior individual-contributor role with portfolio-level accountability, decision rights, and direct executive visibility. The position reports to the VP of Marketing & Communications and is embedded in the Loitering Munitions business unit, working within its operational cadence rather than relying on after-the-fact briefings. The role applies product marketing practices to a defense technology portfolio whose buyers include program offices, prime contractors, and allied governments. It develops positioning grounded in operational evidence, runs launches through a repeatable framework, and builds enablement intended to support capture outcomes. The role also partners with the Head of Product Marketing on shared standards and cross-portfolio consistency. The position is based within commutable distance of the AV Simi Valley Campus. It requires U.S. citizenship and access to export-controlled information, for which documentation verifying U.S. person status will be required. Some positions may require current U.S. citizenship due to contract requirements. The work involves an office environment, with frequent sitting and standing, talking, hearing, and using hands and fingers to operate a computer and telephone keyboard.

Requirements

12+ years of total civilian work experience.
8+ 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 at $100M+ revenue scale.
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 examples of a positioning document, launch plan, campaign plan, and enablement asset built to move a measurable outcome.
Ability to operate within export-control, classification, and public-release constraints without diluting message strength.
Ability to manage a portfolio with executive-level accountability and minimal day-to-day direction.
Proven ability to earn the trust of technical and program stakeholders and work as a business partner within a business unit’s operating rhythm.
Commutable distance from the AV Simi Valley Campus.
U.S. citizenship is required; applicants must provide documentation verifying U.S. person status for ITAR/EAR compliance. Some positions may require current U.S. citizenship due to contract requirements.

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 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 program reviews, capture gate reviews, and planning rhythms, setting marketing priorities from within the business unit.
Own positioning and messaging architecture for the Loitering Munitions / Precision Strike portfolio, grounding differentiated claims in operational evidence.
Consolidate voice-of-customer inputs into structured customer and operator insights for MarCom, Product, and BD strategy; maintain Buyer and User Persona profiles.
Use AV’s messaging architecture to translate mission outcomes—including effects delivered, cost-per-effect, sustainment, and interoperability—into customer-facing narratives for external audiences.
Ensure product-level positioning aligns with AV’s corporate narrative architecture.
Deliver export-aware localized positioning for priority allied regions within ITAR and export-control boundaries.
Run AV’s tiered product launch framework, including full launch plans and bills of materials, in coordination with creative, technical communications, and events teams.
Serve as the single accountable owner for product launch content and claims accuracy.
Support ongoing marketing campaigns using AV’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 AV’s international growth pipeline targets.
Own competitive intelligence for the loitering munitions category, including competitors’ capabilities, production capacity, pricing posture, and acquisition traction.
Operate autonomously on messaging and claims within approved positioning, enablement priorities, launch sequencing within the portfolio, and competitive response content; escalate portfolio-level positioning changes, budget impacts, and matters affecting corporate narrative or public-release risk to the VP.
Meet first-year outcomes: gain approval and adoption of positioning architecture across BD, capture, and communications within 90 days; establish a standing seat in BU program and capture reviews within 60 days; achieve sales and capture collateral adoption above 75% with rework below 5%; execute two full-discipline product launches; publish and refresh quarterly competitive battlecards for top competitors; and deliver localized positioning for at least two allied regions.