Director of Product, Platform

Director of Product Platform (0442) at Saildrone in Washington DC

**Director of Product Platform** *Product Management* *Washington DC* *Full Time*

Job Description

**About Us:** At Saildrone, we sustainably explore, map, and monitor the oceans to understand, protect, and preserve our world. We provide real-time access to critical data from any ocean on earth 24/7, 365 and use proprietary software applications to transform that data into actionable insights and intelligence. Our fleet of uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs), powered by renewable wind and solar power, have a minimal carbon footprint and operate without the need for a crewed support vessel. Saildrone works with governments, civil agencies, foundations, universities, and private companies around the globe to drive better information about our oceans and seas from sailing into the eye of a category 4 hurricane to obtain new data about how storms intensify, collecting new CO2 data in hard-to-reach areas, counting fish biomass to inform sustainable fishery management, to mapping the ocean floor, and reducing illegal fishing and drug trafficking.

As a result of our work, Saildrone has been included in Fast Company's annual list of the World's Most Innovative Companies, earned an Ocean Awards Innovation Award, won Best Tech For Good from the Timmy Awards, and was recognized by Andreessen Horowitz's American Dynamism 50 list of the Top 50 Companies Kickstarting American Renewal. Our first annual Atlantic hurricane mission with NOAA was included as one of The New York Times 21 Things That Happened for the First Time in 2021 and Popular Science's 100 Greatest Innovations of 2021.

We are based in Alameda, CA, with offices in Washington DC and St. Petersburg, FL, and operate our missions worldwide. Saildrone is backed by top-tier investors in the frontier tech and sustainability sectors, including Social Capital, Capricorn Lux Capital, BOND Capital, and Emerson Collective. This is an exciting opportunity with a fast-growing team at the cutting edge intersection of big data services and autonomous hardware. You will be an integral part of a high-performing multidisciplinary team delivering high impact for humanity and future generations.

**The Role:** We are seeking an experienced individual to lead product planning and strategy for our Maritime Domain Awareness platform. You'll work with other teams across our matrixed organization to plan and facilitate both longer-term strategic initiatives and short-term tactical work. In this role, you will perform tactical product management (e.g., writing product requirements documents, communicating updates to leadership, and gathering requirements from other key stakeholders). We will rely on you to drive quarterly and annual planning and to set a culture of accountability as we build cutting-edge products. You have strong business acumen and can establish relationships with internal and external users, including critical customers, to define and deliver valuable outcomes that are quantifiable and measurable. You will help define playbooks for product management at Saildrone and grow a team of PMs to support the overall organization.

**Responsibilities:**

• Collaborate and lead cross-functional teams to build and maintain our Product Roadmap
• Grow our team of Product Managers
• Organize and facilitate quarterly planning and roadmap exercises
• Coordinate with other teams like Hardware Engineers, Software Engineers, Operations team members, Technical Program Managers, etc., to ensure that product requirements and success criteria are clearly defined, documented, and understood
• Partner with engineering management and tech leads to scope timelines and level of effort
• Communicate overall progress to key stakeholders throughout the business
• Performing business analyses and cases for future investments in our roadmap
• Defining KPIs and success metrics for the product management team and roadmap efforts

**Required Skills and Experience:**

• 10 years of experience delivering technical products to government or enterprise customers, including at least 5 years in Product Management roles and a bachelor's degree
• Proficiency in working with Figma, Jira, Confluence, and Atlassian tools in detail
• Experience with agile software development methodologies
• Experience working with complex cross-functional matrixed team structures
• Experience working on products with close connection to electromechanical systems
• Proficiency in performing market research and business analyses to guide prioritization and product decisions
• Experience working on B2B products
• Ability to quickly pick up new concepts and dive into a problem with a solutions-oriented, outcome-focused mindset
• Strong technical understanding and ability to establish credibility with engineers
• A clear and concise communicator who can ensure that all parties are on the same page and working towards a shared plan
• Ability to travel up to 25% of the time

**Nice to Have:**

• Navy, Coast Guard, or Intelligence experience
• GIS or mapping experience
• Robotics or autonomous vehicle experience
• Radar or underwater acoustic sensing experience
• Experience managing other product managers

**Physical Requirements:** Work is performed on a computer and requires the ability to operate a keyboard and other peripheral devices. Ability to travel up to 25% annually, domestic, and international.

**Location:** This position is based in Washington D.C. Saildrone’s DC office is conveniently located at Metro Center in downtown Washington D.C., between the White House and Capitol Hill. Only candidates with proper permits to work in the United States and a willingness to report to the office in person will be considered.

**Benefits:**

• Medical, dental, and vision plans for you and your dependents
• Short and relaxing ferry ride from the Ferry Building for SF residents
• Enhanced Parental Leave Programs
• Competitive benefits, including excellent medical, life insurance, 401k plan

**Catch up on the latest news about us:**

• The Tiny Craft Mapping Superstorms at Sea - The New York Times
• Alameda’s Saildrones collect hurricane data - KTVU Fox 2
• Record-Setting Saildrone Explorer SD-1045 Entered into Guinness Book - Saildrone
• Saildrone Takes the Wraps Off its Voyager Autonomous Research Vehicle - TechCrunch

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.