Vice President, Global Product Management

AeroVironment • Dayton, OH

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About The Position

Our Mission At the heart of national defense and global security, we are committed to building programs and products that deliver real-world impact for the warfighter. The Global Program and Product Office ensures our teams execute with discipline, agility, and purpose. As VP of Global Product Management, you will lead the enterprise product management discipline — enabling product managers, strengthening product thinking across the organization, and ensuring our products are aligned to customer needs, operational realities, and long-term strategy. Role Overview We are seeking an experienced, mission-driven Vice President of Global Product Management to grow and lead the product management discipline across the enterprise. Reporting to the VP of Global Programs and Product Management, this role is responsible for defining how product management is practiced at scale — including roles, processes, training, and tooling. This leader will act as the chief steward of product excellence, partnering closely with Engineering, Programs, Operations, and Business Leaders to ensure our products deliver value throughout their lifecycle. The role is highly visible with a strong emphasis on direct mentorship, training, and capability building for product managers at all levels. Success in this role is measured by the strength, consistency, and effectiveness of the product management discipline across the enterprise.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree is required in a related field or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience.
• 15+ years of product management experience, with a primary focus in aerospace and defense.
• Direct accountability for product strategy, definition, and lifecycle ownership of complex, mission-critical products.
• Proven experience leading product management as a discipline, including standards, operating models, and governance.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor and develop product managers and elevate product thinking across the organization.
• Strong track record of partnering with executive and business leaders to enable effective decision making aligned to customer missions and enterprise priorities.
• Excellent communication, influence, and decision-making skills in matrixed environments.
• U.S. Citizen, U.S. Permanent Resident (Green Card holder) or asylee/refugee status as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3) required.
• Must be able to travel within the Continental U.S. and internationally when required.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree, MBA or MS is highly preferred.
• 20+ years of progressive product management experience.
• Experience building or scaling a global product management function.
• Background spanning both development and sustainment phases of defense products.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong analytical, critical thinking and interpersonal skills, with the ability to speak and write persuasively
• Demonstrated experience working with cross-functional teams; ability to develop and maintain internal and external trusting, professional relationships
• Uses vision to think beyond the immediate situation, explore multiple potential paths, and adapt decision-making style based on the situational circumstances
• Inspires, motivates, and empowers people to deliver organizational goals, while also delivering value back to employees
• Brings organizational values to life using personality, uniqueness, and the creation of a shared vision
• Champions the process of change and promotes a culture of quick adaptation while helping others deal with the effects of change
• Takes ownership and responsibility for assigned tasks
• Is committed to learning from mistakes and driven to improve and enhance performance of oneself, others, and the company
• Focuses on teamwork and puts the success of the team above one's own interests

Responsibilities

• Product Management Discipline Leadership Accountable to lead the enterprise product management discipline, aligned with the company’s Product Development Framework and governance model.
• Establish clear product management roles, responsibilities, decision rights, and interfaces with program management, engineering, and operations.
• Own product lifecycle standards from concept and requirements through development, deployment, sustainment, and end-of-life.
• Talent Development & Mentorship Build, mentor, and coach a global community of Product Managers and Product Owners.
• Define career paths, competency models, and training plans for product management roles.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior product leaders on product strategy, trade decisions, and customer alignment.
• Build a comprehensive internal and external training program to support the continuous development of our product leaders.
• Process, Efficiency, & Execution Excellence Accountable to drive consistency, efficiency, and scalability in how products are defined, prioritized, and managed.
• Partner with Operational Excellence and Program Excellence leaders to ensure strong handoffs, clear accountability, and disciplined execution across the product–program interface.
• Identify and eliminate systemic friction, bottlenecks, and inefficiencies in product development and delivery.
• Partner with our Digital Business Transformation team to identify, select, deploy, integrate, and train new tools for product managers into the way we conduct business.
• Customer & Mission Alignment Partner with product, program, and business leaders to ensure product roadmaps and requirements remain aligned to customer missions.
• Promote outcome-based product thinking, balancing cost, schedule, performance, and mission impact.
• Support customer engagements as a senior product advisor and thought leader when needed.
• Governance, Metrics & Insight Responsible for defining product health and performance metrics (value delivery, maturity, technical readiness, lifecycle cost).
• Establish governance mechanisms to ensure product decisions are data-driven, transparent, and aligned with enterprise priorities.
• Lead regular Product Line Business reviews to ensure executive level visibility of product performance.
• Partner with internal teams to enable frictionless product insights and reporting
• Other duties as assigned

Benefits

• AV offers an excellent benefits package including medical, dental vision, 401K with company matching, a 9/80 work schedule and a paid holiday shutdown.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive