Product Manager - Digital Proving Grounds

Applied Intuition•Sunnyvale, CA

11d•Onsite

About The Position

Applied Intuition’s Digital Proving Grounds (DPGs) provide the Department of War with a vendor-neutral environment to test autonomous systems from multiple companies against real missions before field deployment. The DPG workflow spans software-in-the-loop (SIL) simulation, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), live-virtual-constructive (LVC), and live exercises. Built on Applied’s defense toolchain, Axion, with Axion Sim at its core, DPGs help teams identify integration issues in simulation before live events. Applied has demonstrated the approach through VREX for the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, and was selected by CDAO to build the platform for Autonomy Factory. The Product Manager for Digital Proving Grounds will own product strategy, roadmap, and requirements for DPGs and Axion Sim. This is an individual-contributor role, working as product peer to the Axion Sim engineering lead and influencing engineering, design, business development, and delivery. The goal is to turn successful program deployments into a repeatable product adopted and used by program offices, test organizations, and mission engineers without Applied engineers needing to support events. The role includes discovering customer needs and product-market fit; defining the sim-to-live workflow; shaping simulation capabilities and the Axion roadmap; building on shared Axion platform components; setting requirements, scope, and success metrics; partnering with design; and communicating product strategy, status, risks, and trade-offs to leadership and customers. Travel to customer sites, test ranges, and events is expected about 25% of the time. Applied Intuition is an in-office company. Full-time employees are expected to work primarily from an Applied Intuition office five days a week, with occasional remote-work flexibility. This expectation does not apply to contractor positions.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in a technical field such as Computer Science or Engineering, or equivalent experience.
At least 8 years of product management experience shipping complex technical products, including end-to-end ownership of a simulation, test, or engineering platform used by technical teams.
Deep technical fluency in simulation, including the ability to discuss fidelity, sensor models, determinism, distributed simulation at scale, and HIL with engineers, and to assess when simulation results are trustworthy.
Strong customer research skills, including learning new domains by interviewing users and observing their work, including users in regulated, cleared, or field environments, and translating findings into a prioritized roadmap.
A track record of turning custom, per-customer technical deployments into a repeatable product that customers adopt and renew.
Ability to own a whole product as an individual contributor and drive cross-functional outcomes through influence rather than direct reports.
Excellent written and verbal communication with engineers and senior government and industry leaders.
Must be a U.S. citizen.
Must hold or be eligible for a U.S. Secret security clearance.

Nice To Haves

Experience with modeling and simulation standards and government tools such as DIS, HLA, AFSIM, NGTS, or co-simulation frameworks.
Experience planning or running LVC, range, or large-scale test events.
Experience with multi-agent or collaborative autonomy, swarms, or communications modeling.
Familiarity with Department of Defense test and evaluation, mission engineering, or acquisition processes.
An active U.S. Secret or Top Secret clearance.

Responsibilities

Own the product vision, strategy, and roadmap for Digital Proving Grounds and Axion Sim.
Determine which capabilities should become repeatable product and which should remain program-specific.
Conduct discovery with program offices, test and evaluation organizations, mission engineers, and autonomy vendors to understand buyers, their proof requirements, and what drives future adoption.
Work with business development and capture teams to translate customer research into offers that can win programs.
Define the workflow from mission and concept of operations through test scenarios, SIL at scale, HIL rig checkout, LVC, and live events, carrying results across stages.
Set the simulation roadmap with engineering, making decisions about fidelity versus speed, sensor and communications modeling, scale, government-tool co-simulation, and self-service on cloud and accredited networks.
Partner with other Axion product leads to build DPGs on shared platform components, including simulation, campaigns, metrics, and jobs.
Write clear requirements, define success metrics, and make scope trade-offs that focus engineering on priority work for upcoming programs and events.
Partner with design to shape tools used by test planners, vendors, and government evaluators.
Communicate product strategy, status, risks, and trade-offs to Applied leadership and customers.
Represent the product at test events, program reviews, and industry events.