Vice President of Product

Katalyst Space Technologies•Broomfield, CO

About The Position

Katalyst is building robotic spacecraft for dynamic space operations, aiming to make maneuvering, upgrading, refueling, and exploration routine. The company focuses on developing foundational capabilities for sustained, responsive operations in space to strengthen national security and ensure freedom of action. The culture at Katalyst is described as intense, hands-on, and deeply rewarding, with an emphasis on ownership, tackling hard problems, and fostering a collaborative environment that values humility, craftsmanship, and integrity. Team members work closely with driven colleagues to achieve their best.

Requirements

Technical depth and fluency in systems-level SW and HW architectures: data systems, spacecraft HW constraints, and their integration.
Strong ability to architect products, evaluating feasibility and translating that into product decisions, roadmaps, and priorities.
Ability to take unstructured, incomplete problem spaces and create clarity, direction, and momentum.
Ability to drive product execution, alignment, and delivery across engineering, leadership, and stakeholders, owning outcomes, timelines, and quality in a resource-constrained environment.
Strong understanding of who the buyers are, how government and commercial customers evaluate and procure technology, and how to translate technical capabilities into clear value propositions, product positioning, and GTM alignment.
Product-minded with a strong understanding of market value propositions combined with technical fluency in space systems design.
8+ years of experience as a Product Manager (or equivalent) owning technically complex, hardware-enabled products.
Demonstrated hardware product expertise, including direct ownership of product definition, delivery, and lifecycle decisions.
Experience working with hardware products, preferably in deep-tech industries such as robotics, aerospace, energy, or other advanced technology sectors.
Experience leading and managing product teams, with accountability for product outcomes and cross-functional coordination.
Experience owning upstream product and marketing, including customer discovery, demand signals, and visibility into the customer pipeline.
Experience managing a portfolio of integrated technologies and driving new product development (not sustainment-only work).
Must be willing to work extended hours and weekends as needed.

Nice To Haves

Senior product management experience strongly preferred.
Background in space operations or technical engineering is desired.
Ideally, an engineer who transitioned into product management and brings deep technical credibility to product decisions.

Responsibilities

Own and maintain a unified HW/SW product strategy connecting Katalyst software and hardware offerings to company priorities, customer needs, and defense requirements.
Own, publish, and continuously refine an integrated, cross-product roadmap that aligns software, hardware, and defense-focused initiatives with clear timelines, dependencies, and delivery milestones.
Drive product consolidation and positioning by transforming loosely defined software and defense capabilities into clearly positioned products with defined requirements, timelines, and go-to-market narratives, in close coordination with engineering, marketing, and leadership.
Create and own market requirements for each product in the HW/SW portfolio.
Build feature-level business cases tied to customer value and company priorities.
Partner with engineering to assess system architecture and technical feasibility.
Implement a stage-gate process to ensure sales and BD opportunities align with product maturity and technical baselines.
Ensure sales and BD teams have accurate product materials to engage customers effectively.
Manage and mentor product managers aligned to individual products and their activities.