Product Development Lead

ConSol Partners; Newport; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Security clearance eligibility

Job summary

ConSol Partners is supporting a defence technology client in Bristol seeking a Product Lead to own the product strategy from concept through market adoption. The role requires balancing customer needs, technical possibilities, and commercial opportunity to deliver market-leading capabilities.

You will own the vision, engage with customers and stakeholders, and influence investment decisions to disrupt current operational challenges with emerging technologies.

Qualifications

• Leads product strategy from concept to market adoption.
• Experience in agile product development and delivering outcomes.
• Engages directly with customers, operators, engineers and senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Own the product vision and strategy for future capabilities.
• Define and influence investment decisions and product roadmap.
• Translate operational challenges into compelling product propositions.
• Drive market-led innovation beyond contract requirements.

Skills

Product strategy

Roadmap leadership

Agile development

Stakeholder engagement

Defence tech

Systems engineering

Commercial mindset

Customer engagement

Job description

Product Lead | Defence Technology | Bristol (Hybrid)

We are supporting an innovative UK defence technology company that is looking for a Product Lead to help shape the future of autonomous and electronic warfare capabilities.

This is not a traditional Product Owner role, and it's certainly not a requirements management or roadmap execution position.

We're looking for someone who can genuinely own a product strategy from concept through to market adoption. Someone who can balance customer needs, operational context, technical possibilities, and commercial opportunity to create products that customers haven't even realised they need yet.

You might be a great fit if you have:

• Proven experience leading product strategy and product roadmaps in a technology-focused environment
• A strong technical background in areas such as defence, aerospace, robotics, autonomy, EW, C4ISR, systems engineering, AI or related sectors
• Experience working within Agile product development frameworks and a clear understanding of how Agile drives product outcomes
• The ability to engage directly with customers, operators, engineers and senior stakeholders to shape future capability
• Experience translating operational challenges into compelling product propositions
• A commercial mindset that goes beyond delivering contract requirements and focuses on market-led innovation

? What makes this role particularly interesting?

Many defence organisations still operate in a contract-driven environment where requirements flow down through programmes. This opportunity is different.

The successful candidate will play a key role in defining where the product goes next, developing a vision, influencing investment decisions, and identifying how emerging technologies can disrupt existing operational challenges.

Experience or knowledge of Electronic Warfare (EW), autonomous systems, UAS/UAV capability, ISR, defence mission systems, or wider operational concepts would be highly advantageous.

This role could be particularly attractive to someone who started their career within a major aerospace or defence organisation before moving into a more agile technology, software, autonomy, or start-up environment where they gained true product ownership experience.

If you're passionate about building market-leading defence technology products and want to move beyond programme execution into genuine product leadership, I'd be delighted to hear from you.

**Candidates must be eligible to gain / hold UK security clearance (SC level)