Senior Product Manager

RTI is seeking a Sr. Product Manager to drive the future of real‑time software in the Aerospace & Defense (A&D) industry. RTI Connext software powers over 500 defense programs across land, sea, air, and space. We are looking for a product manager who possesses insights into emerging trends, particularly UAS, Autonomy, Maritime, and related mission systems.

In this role, you’ll drive product strategy for how Connext serves A&D customers. You’ll translate mission requirements into clear product needs, shape the roadmap with R&D, and ensure RTI’s platform solves real problems for defense programs.

This role is a fit for someone who enjoys defining what to build and why, grounding product decisions in customer needs, mission outcomes, and market realities.

• Own the A&D product direction
• Build a deep view of UAS, autonomy, maritime, C-UAS, and JADC2/MOSA requirements and how they shape needs for distributed systems, security, real‑time data, and interoperability.
• Translate customer/mission requirements into clear product requirements, use cases, and roadmap proposals.
• Represent the voice of the defense customer
• Conduct product discovery: pain points, operational workflows, constraints, integration patterns.
• Validate roadmap direction with key customers and convert insights into actionable product decisions.
• Shape RTI’s platform for A&D use cases
• Identify capability gaps and growth opportunities across key defense applications.
• Work with other Product and Engineering stakeholders to prioritize capabilities required for A&D adoption i.e. security, interoperability, platform support, performance, tooling, and integration needs.
• Collaborate with Sales and BD to optimize pricing, licensing, and the overall product strategy to ensure streamlined adoption within target accounts.
• Partner cross‑functionally for successful adoption
• Partner with Sales, BD, and Marketing to translate technical capabilities into compelling value propositions and differentiators.
• Develop product positioning that help Sales and BD teams win new business in the top DoD priorities
• Contribute to strategic go‑to‑market plans for key programs and partners. This includes strategic resource allocation decisions, including analyzing the ROI of existing programs/consortia (e.g., FACE) and ensuring resources are redirected to high‑growth areas like Autonomy and C‑UAS.
• Contribute to sales materials (battle cards, demo scripts, decks) and help train field teams on messaging and differentiation.
• Market & competitive insight
• Build and maintain deep insight into the competitive landscape, customer missions, and government modernization trends.
• Use this insight to drive RTI’s long‑term A&D product strategy.
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical field (or equivalent military/industry experience).
• 4+ years of experience in Product Management within Aerospace & Defense domains.
• Strong understanding of UAS and/or Maritime systems, including autonomy, edge computing, mission control, and data distribution.
• Ability to connect technical features (e.g., data‑centric middleware, security, interoperability) to mission outcomes and business value.
• Ability to collaborate across Product, Engineering, Sales, Marketing and Professional Services to align on strategy and execution.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills – clear, concise, and strategic.
• Travel about 25% to customer sites and corporate/market events.
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  * Due to applicable laws, government regulations and contract specifications, we are required to fill this position only with an individual who qualifies as a "U.S. Citizen." Ability to obtain and maintain a security clearance may be required.

• Experience supporting DoD, OEMs, or Tier‑1 primes in A&D programs. US Military Veteran status (or Reserve status) is a plus.
• Understanding of DoD acquisition processes, funding mechanisms (e.g. OTAs), and strategic initiatives.
• Familiarity with DDS, real‑time systems, or distributed communication software.
• Hands‑on experience developing or marketing autonomy, UxV, or C2 software.
• Exposure to international defense markets or…