VP Product Line Leader, Global Safety Communications & Services

Viasat, Inc. • Carlsbad, CA

4d • Hybrid

About The Position

This is a founder-level role inside a company with global reach. The Product Line Leader for Global Safety Communications & Services is charged with building a new business — from vision to execution — within the structure of an established organization and leveraging its shared NTN (Non-Terrestrial Network) infrastructure across satellite, ground, and user terminal layers. The goal: become the defining global provider of safety communications services across aviation, maritime, and land/edge operations. The role carries the full weight of a product-line CEO: setting the 5–10 year vision, driving the hardware, software, and platform roadmap, owning a team spanning product, sales, business development, and account management, and ultimately building a profitable, recurring-revenue business. This is not a coordination role — it is a building role, with accountability for outcomes.

Requirements

• 12–20 years of progressive experience in product management, strategy, or business development within satcom, aviation communications, maritime technology, defense systems, connectivity services, or a closely adjacent regulated industry.
• Demonstrated track record of building new product lines or businesses from early stage to commercial scale — not just managing existing products.
• Experience owning a P&L with real accountability for revenue and margin outcomes not just advisory or staff roles.
• History of operating effectively across the full commercial cycle: market definition, product strategy, customer development, GTM execution, and revenue attainment.
• Experience working with shared/platform engineering organizations and translating market needs into product requirements that span multiple teams.
• Deep familiarity with at least one of the three target verticals (aviation safety comms, maritime GMDSS/e-Navigation, land/public safety comms) at a level sufficient to engage credibly with customers, regulators, and engineers from day one.
• Working knowledge of satellite communications systems — LEO, MEO, or GEO, and their application in safety or mission-critical services.
• Awareness of the regulatory frameworks governing safety communications across aviation and maritime domains (ICAO, IMO/IMSO, FAA, EASA, ITU). Deep expertise preferred; ability to learn rapidly required.
• Exposure to or experience with NTN (Non-Terrestrial Network) architectures, including satellite, ground segment, and user terminal design trade-offs.
• Proven ability to build, inspire, and develop a cross-functional team that operates with startup energy inside a larger organization.
• Intellectually curious: reads markets ahead of the curve, synthesizes information from regulatory filings, customer conversations, industry research, and competitive intelligence into coherent strategic perspective.
• High tolerance for ambiguity combined with the operational discipline to drive clarity and execution.
• Exceptional communication: can translate complex technical and regulatory realities into compelling narratives for boards, customers, government officials, and engineering teams with equal effectiveness.
• Mission-driven: brings genuine urgency to a role where the downstream impact is measured in lives protected.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with ACARS, CPDLC, ADS-B/ADS-C, VDL Mode 2/3, SELCAL, ELT/Cospas-Sarsat, or equivalent aviation safety protocols.
• Familiarity with GMDSS subsystems: EPIRB, SART, NAVTEX, MF/HF DSC, AIS, VDES.
• Experience with public safety communications (FirstNet, TETRA, P25, DMR) or disaster relief agency operations.
• Familiarity with safety-critical software/hardware certification frameworks: DO-178C, DO-254, DO-326A, IEC 61508, IEC 62443.
• Background in enterprise SaaS business models, managed services, or subscription revenue businesses.
• Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Computer Science, or related field, or equivalent demonstrated expertise through career experience.
• Advanced degree (MBA, MS, PhD) strongly preferred, especially where it combines business and technical depth.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the 5–10 year product vision and market strategy for safety communications services across all three domains, aviation, maritime, and land/edge, with a clear line of sight to where these markets will be, not where they are today.
• Set the annual and multi-year product roadmap, identifying the HW (user terminal), SW (platform, applications), and service (SLA, certification, compliance) building blocks required to win each market vertical.
• Work through the organizations shared platform product team to specify and prioritize the NTN platform capabilities required to support safety-grade services acting as the strategic customer of the team.
• Identify emerging market opportunities in advance: air traffic management, urban air mobility safety infrastructure, AI-driven distress signal processing, hybrid satellite/terrestrial safety layers for developing markets, and beyond.
• Build the intellectual and competitive framework that positions our NTN platform as the natural architectural choice for every safety communications application across domains.
• Own the complete product line P&L: revenue, gross margin, bookings, subscription ARR, and customer satisfaction (NPS) targets across aviation, maritime, and land verticals.
• Lead market pricing strategy in close alignment with the commercial strategy lead, including managed service / SaaS, hardware + subscription, and contract structures that maximize long-term value while enabling market penetration.
• Build annual operating plans, multi-year financial models, and investment cases for new product initiatives, securing alignment and funding from executive leadership.
• Drive the path to profitability with discipline: prioritize investments that build durable competitive moats, manage cost of delivery, and scale recurring revenue as the core business metric.
• Build, lead, and develop a cross-functional team of Product Managers, Business Development, Account Managers, Solutions Architects, Sales specialists, and Regulatory Affairs experts, operating as an integrated product-line business unit.
• Set a culture of customer obsession, curiosity, ownership, a team that operates like a startup but leverages enterprise-scale infrastructure and global reach.
• Partner with Marketing to establish the brand identity, thought leadership positioning, content strategy, and customer communications for the product line, including industry conference presence, white papers, and regulatory engagement materials.
• Drive talent development: identify capability gaps, recruit specialized expertise (domain specialists, regulatory specialists, enterprise sales), and build a team that can grow with the business.
• Lead & Parter to engage with the existing installed base, 10,000+ commercial aircraft and 130,000+ ships, to understand current service dependencies, migration readiness, and upgrade appetite.
• Design and co-own the migration strategy: how existing customers with existing HW and active subscriptions transition to next-generation platforms without service disruption, and how the business bridges the revenue transition from existing to next-gen product lines.
• Coordinate closely with the current P&L business leader responsible for existing services, aligning on timing, customer communications, and transition economics so the migration is an ecosystem event, not a rip-and-replace disruption.
• Manage vendor and partner ecosystem relationships, avionics integrators, ship equipment manufacturers, airframe OEMs, defense primes, and satellite distribution partners, to ensure ecosystem readiness for next-generation product deployment.
• Identify and actively manage disruption of existing vendor relationships or revenue streams, developing strategies to transition those relationships and commercials.
• Develop deep fluency in the regulatory environments governing all three domains: ICAO SARPs and NextGen/SESAR frameworks, IMO GMDSS Modernization and IMSO governance, FAA/EASA certification requirements, ITU spectrum regulations, and applicable national aviation/maritime authorities.
• Engage team proactively in standards bodies, ICAO working groups, IMO/IMSO committees, RTCA SC-228/SC-230, EUROCAE, ITU-R Study Groups as a contributor shaping standards rather than a respondent to them.
• Translate regulatory timelines and mandate windows into strategic product milestones: identify where regulatory change creates market pull (e.g., GMDSS Modernization Phase 2, BVLOS UAS rulemaking, CPDLC mandate expansion) and time product launches accordingly.
• Build and maintain regulatory risk maps for each vertical, ensuring that product certification and compliance strategies are integrated into the roadmap from day one.
• Develop domain-specific GTM strategies and playbooks for each vertical from airline fleet operators and maritime fleet managers to defense acquisition offices and emergency management agencies, tailored to buying cycles, procurement structures, and decision-maker profiles.
• Lead strategic pursuit of landmark customer wins that establish market presence and create reference cases: flagship carrier airlines, top 10 container shipping operators, national coast guard agencies, partner with our defense teams on major defense programs.
• Drive the full commercial cycle from market development and pipeline building through proposal, negotiation, and contract close working in close partnership with the sales and BD team.
• Build category-defining marketing and branding for the product line: positioning, messaging, competitive differentiation, and the narrative that makes our safety services platform the default choice across domains.
• Establish customer advisory boards for each domain to create structured feedback loops between customers and the product roadmap and to build advocates who influence industry peers.

Benefits

• range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the position offered
• comprehensive benefit offerings that are focused on your holistic health and wellness

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Education Level: No Education Listed