Principal Hardware Product Manager

Location:

Cupertino, CA (Hybrid)

Remote:
Candidates based in the US or Canada will be considered

Employment Type:

Full-Time

At Alcatraz, we're on a mission to redefine access control with modern, AI-powered facial authentication. Our technology protects some of the world's most innovative companies — Fortune 500 enterprises, data centers, healthcare institutions, stadiums, and airports — and we're just getting started.

Built and designed in the United States, our Rock family of devices uses 3D sensing and AI to deliver frictionless, privacy-first authentication h a $50M Series B behind us, we're accelerating across hardware, software, and platform — and looking for bold, curious builders to grow with us.

We're looking for a Staff or Principal Hardware Product Manager to own product strategy and execution for Alcatraz's hardware portfolio — our compact multi-modal device and our ruggedized outdoor and government module — along with the mobile credential experiences that extend them..

This is a senior, high-autonomy individual-contributor role. You'll set direction for a multi-product hardware portfolio, write the specifications that Hardware Engineering, Industrial Design, ML, and Software teams build directly from, and represent product in every major cross-functional forum — from architecture reviews to executive roadmap updates. You'll report to product leadership and work closely with Hardware Engineering, Firmware, Platform/Software, and Product Marketing.

• Own product strategy and the multi-year roadmap for Alcatraz's hardware portfolio, deciding how each product — compact multi-modal, ultra-compact face module, and ruggedized outdoor/government module — is positioned against the others and against the market.
• Write and maintain detailed PRDs — scope, relevant leads, feature rationale, and requirements with P0–P3 acceptance criteria — that Engineering, Design, and QA build, design, and test from without re-litigating the spec.
• Partner with Hardware Engineering, Industrial Design, ML/Face Pipeline, and Platform teams to drive programs from concept through EVT, DVT, PVT, and mass-production readiness, including system-on-module and key component trade-off decisions.
• Define the roadmap and requirements for mobile credentials, including companion app experiences and physical/digital credential interoperability (NFC, BLE, PKI-based issuance).
• Own the requirements behind regulated and enterprise-grade use cases — government credentialing (PIV), cryptographic root-of-trust and certificate issuance, and the compliance work (e.g., FIPS 140-3) that gates the government vertical.
• Translate customer discovery, competitive analysis, and market sizing into MRDs that justify new hardware programs and prioritize the roadmap.
• Partner with Finance and Sales on commercial model decisions — pricing, packaging, and tiering — for hardware and platform software.
• Drive structured program reviews and risk registers, and translate technical complexity into clear, decision-ready narratives for executive leadership.
• Lead recurring cross-functional forums (weekly program and hardware syncs, working groups) and act as the connective tissue between Engineering, Product Marketing, Sales, Partnerships, and Customer Success — without direct authority over any of them.

• 8+ years of product management experience, including 4+ years owning physical hardware products through a full lifecycle — concept through EVT/DVT/PVT to mass production and launch.
• Demonstrated ownership of multiple concurrent hardware (and adjacent firmware/software) product lines in a fast-moving environment.
• Fluency writing detailed, engineering-ready PRDs and driving cross-functional…