Senior Product Manager

About Forterra

Forterra is a leading provider of autonomous systems for ground-based movement in the working world. Amongst some of the earliest innovators in the field of driverless technology, Forterra is focused on building systems that protect front-line soldiers and enable civilian workers in our industrial base. Forterra is the go-to provider of ground autonomy solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense, which harnesses the technology for asymmetric warfare in critical conditions.

Our autonomous vehicle (AV) product is generating real value for real customers today. As a Product team, our mission is to ensure we’re building the right things, in the right order, to the right scope—while staying tightly aligned with our customer-facing Growth and Engineering teams. If you’re looking to apply your product expertise to serve the people who serve us—and make a meaningful impact in the world—you’re in the right place.

We’re looking for a seasoned Product Manager who can make an impact from day one. You’ll embed directly with cross-functional teams (CFTs) that interact regularly with our customers and users. You’ll translate what you learn in the field into clear priorities and strong execution. This role requires curiosity, clarity, and the ability to guide product conversations with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders.

We need someone who is neither a “yes person” that agrees without scrutiny, nor a “no person” that blocks progress without alternatives. You must be proactive in asking the right questions, engaging the right people, and uncovering the best path forward—balancing user needs, technical feasibility, and business value.

• Drive Product Impact:
  Position yourself where you can best influence outcomes—whether that’s observing users, testing in the field, meeting with customers, or brainstorming with engineers.
• Test in the Real World:
  Help validate product features in real-world environments to ensure they meet user needs and uncover critical gaps. Ensure we’re testing the right things in the right order with the right value proposition.
• Partner with Growth and Engineering:
  Attend customer meetings alongside Growth and Engineering to gather insight first‑hand and shape upcoming work.
• Engage with Users:
  Observe and interview users of the product to understand their workflows and identify pain points and unmet needs.
• Define Customer Needs & Identify Roadmap Gaps:
  Partner with Product Leadership to identify roadmap gaps, proposing initiatives that address key customer and business needs.
• Create Product Artifacts:
  Develop and own backlogs, user journeys, and other tools to align key stakeholders on desired outcomes and priorities.
• Enable Execution:
  Collaborate with technical product managers and tech leads to ensure work is well‑understood, well‑scoped, and targeted to user needs.
• Cross‑Functional Communication:
  Act as a connective leader—aligning teams, surfacing risks, and resolving interdependencies across the organization.
• Make Tradeoffs Wisely:
  Make scope and priority tradeoff decisions in collaboration with Product Leadership and Product Owners.
• Keep Stakeholders Informed:
  Communicate clearly with Engineering, Growth, Executives, and others on roadmap progress, risks, and delivery status.

• 5–8+ years of product management experience
  , with a strong record of delivering high‑impact B2B or technically sophisticated products in areas like AV / robotics or autonomous systems.
• You have experience working directly with military users or in a defense‑focused environment
  , and you understand the unique constraints and expectations of that context.
• You’re skilled at talking to customers and translating their pain points into actionable insights and opportunities, with at least three years of experience in a customer‑facing role.
• You’ve led cross‑functional teams through ambiguity and come out the other side with excellent products.
• You don’t need to have all the answers—you know how to find them by asking the right questions to the right people
  .
• You’re technical enough to earn the trust of engineers
  , hold your own in brainstorming sessions,…