Product Lead / Mission Lead

iMETALX•Chantilly, VA

2h•Onsite

About The Position

iMETALX, Inc. is pioneering the future of space accessibility, resilience, and sustainability in support of U.S. national security objectives. We deliver advanced Space Domain Awareness (SDA) and In-Space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (ISAM) solutions to government and commercial customers, with a strong focus on supporting the warfighter and maintaining space superiority. Our work centers on developing, testing, and deploying mission-critical autonomy and perception software that operates in real-world, operational environments. We are a mission-driven organization committed to technical excellence, integrity, and delivering the highest quality capabilities at scale, believing it is our responsibility to support of our customers and the missions they serve. As a Product Lead / Mission Lead, you will serve as iMETALX’s primary customer-embedded technical and product representative, responsible for discovering customer needs, distilling mission requirements, and translating those insights into actionable product and engineering direction. This role intentionally blends customer discovery, business development, and deep technical understanding. You will spend significant time working on-site at customer locations, often embedded within customer offices, engaging directly with operators, engineers, program managers, and decision-makers. Your goal is to deeply understand how missions are executed today, identify capability gaps, and help define what success truly looks like for the customer. You will act as the ear and voice of iMETALX—bringing customer needs, constraints, and priorities back to the company with clarity, context, and technical rigor—while also representing iMETALX’s capabilities, roadmap, and vision to customers. This position requires comfort operating in ambiguous environments, asking the right questions, and shaping requirements before they are fully formed. Initially, this is an individual contributor role with no direct reports, requiring a high degree of autonomy and ownership. As customer programs mature and products scale, the role is expected to grow into a leadership position, building and guiding a team of engineers and mission personnel aligned to customer programs. Regular travel between customer sites is expected (approximately 50% travel at times), with flexibility to work from customer offices for extended periods as mission needs require.

Requirements

6+ years of experience in product management, mission engineering, systems engineering, technical program leadership, or similar roles supporting government or defense customers.
Demonstrated experience working with U.S. government organizations, and associated.
An active TS/SCI security clearance, and comfort operating in classified or controlled environments.
Strong technical fluency in space systems, autonomy software, robotics, or complex hardware–software systems, enabling you to meaningfully engage with engineering teams.
Experience translating customer needs into technical requirements and guiding teams from concept through deployment.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build trust and credibility with government customers, operators, and internal teams.
Willingness to work on-site at customer locations, travel approximately 50% of the time, and operate directly from customer offices when needed.
High personal integrity, resilience, and sound judgment when operating in mission-critical environments.
A genuine commitment to supporting the warfighter and advancing U.S. space superiority.
6+ years of professional experience in product management, mission engineering, systems engineering, technical program management, technical business development, or similar customer-facing technical roles.
Demonstrated experience supporting U.S. government, defense, aerospace, or national security customers..
Active TS/SCI U.S. security clearance.
Proven ability to conduct customer discovery and translate ambiguous or evolving customer needs into clear product or technical requirements.
Strong technical fluency enabling effective collaboration with engineering teams (software, autonomy, robotics, space systems, or complex hardware–software systems).
Experience working on-site at customer locations in customer-embedded or customer-facing roles.
Willingness and ability to travel approximately 50% of the time and work from customer offices as mission needs require.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to brief technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Demonstrated professionalism, sound judgment, and high ethical standards when operating in mission-critical environments.
U.S. citizenship (required due to ITAR/export control and security clearance requirements).

Nice To Haves

Prior experience supporting DoD programs, operational units, or mission execution environments.
Experience serving as a technical lead, mission lead, product owner, or systems lead for systems delivered into operational use.
Background in space systems, autonomy, robotics, SDA, ISAM, or adjacent technical domains.
Experience shaping requirements during early capture, prototyping, or concept development phases.
Familiarity with CONOPS development, mission planning, or operational workflows.
Experience working in classified environments or on programs involving sensitive or controlled information.
Demonstrated ability to grow into leadership roles, including mentoring engineers or building small technical teams.
Experience working in small, fast-moving organizations where roles span product, mission execution, and customer engagement.

Responsibilities

Serve as Product Lead and Mission Lead for iMETALX customer programs, acting as the primary interface between customers and internal teams.
Embed with customers on-site to perform customer discovery, gather mission and operational requirements, and understand real-world constraints.
Translate ambiguous, evolving customer needs into clear product requirements, problem statements, and engineering priorities.
Support early-stage business development and capture activities by shaping requirements, refining concepts, and aligning solutions with customer missions.
Collaborate closely with engineering, autonomy, and operations teams to guide end-to-end product development, integration, testing, and deployment.
Coordinate and support product demonstrations, mission rehearsals, testing events, and validations in mission-relevant environments.
Ensure product and mission deliverables align with customer objectives, operational timelines, and broader national security goals.
Engage with government stakeholders, partners, and (as applicable) regulatory bodies to validate requirements and manage expectations.
Monitor evolving mission needs, threat environments, and competitive dynamics to inform product strategy and prioritization.
Identify risks early—technical, operational, or programmatic—and work cross-functionally to mitigate them.
Uphold and reinforce a culture of integrity, accountability, and ethical decision-making across all customer engagements and internal activities.