Senior Product Manager Software

Optics11 Life; Amsterdam; On-site; EUR 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Optics11 is seeking a Senior Product Manager Software to own the software product strategy, roadmap and lifecycle for defense partners and clients. You will collaborate with hardware teams and data science to deliver end-to-end solutions, influencing discovery, delivery, and performance across the product portfolio.

You will manage cross-functional teams, translate priorities into executable increments, and drive business cases while aligning with the Underwater Security program.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in engineering or design or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of experience in Software Product Management in defense/high-tech environments.
• Strong understanding of software products in regulated environments.
• Experience in defining software product strategy and building business cases.
• Proven cross-functional leadership and stakeholder management at management level.

Responsibilities

• Own software product strategy, roadmap and lifecycle from discovery to delivery.
• Provide design authority ensuring software concepts align with product vision.
• Lead customer and market discovery to validate directions with customers and partners.
• Own software roadmap development and prioritization across teams and capabilities.
• Develop business cases and support pricing and launch readiness.
• Coordinate core team across Engineering, Sales, and Project Management for successful delivery.

Skills

Cross-functional leadership

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

Problem-solving mindset

Critical thinking

Education

Master’s degree in engineering or design

Tools

Jira

Confluence

BigPicture

Jira Product Discovery

Jira Service Management

Job description

Optics11 is a fast-growing high-tech company based in Amsterdam, developing advanced fiber optic sensing systems for the most demanding environments. Our technology detects the earliest signs of failure in critical assets – from high-voltage energy infrastructure to subsea and defense applications – and gives our customers precise, real-time data they can act on.

The Role

As Senior Product Manager Software you will build a deep understanding of the software we supply to our defense partners and clients.

You will have full product ownership including strategy, roadmap, and lifecycle and contribute to adjacent hardware product strategy and propositions to, jointly with our hardware product managers, build end-to-end solutions for our defense partners and clients. You build and structure our product discovery and delivery ways of working for the software domain.

You will be part of the Product team in Underwater Security and work closely with our hardware Product Managers, Data science, Software, R&D, Engineering Sales, Projects and Application Engineering teams.

No two weeks will look the same. You might speak with a defense partner about an operational challenge, turn feedback from a deployed product into a roadmap decision, test the feasibility of a new capability with System Engineering, or work with the Product Owner to translate priorities into executable increments. You will also collaborate with hardware Product Managers, Engineering, Sales and Customer Projects to ensure our software and hardware come together as one coherent solution.

You will own the software product strategy, roadmap and lifecycle, from discovery and business case through prioritization, delivery and performance.

Within your first 6–12 months, you will have established a clear, evidence-based software strategy, strengthened our discovery and delivery practices, and aligned teams around the capabilities that matter most. Your work will reduce uncertainty, improve investment decisions and help Optics11 deliver scalable, commercially strong software products that solve real problems for customers operating in demanding, high-stakes environments.

Responsibilities

• Own the software product strategy by defining and articulating the direction for assigned software products or value streams, identifying customer problems and market opportunities, and balance near‑term opportunities with long‑term company goals.
• Provide product design authority by ensuring software concepts, capabilities and development choices remain aligned with the Underwater Security product vision and strategy throughout the product lifecycle.
• Lead customer and market discovery by developing a deep understanding of customer needs, operational use cases and buying contexts, validating direction with customers and partners, and synthesizing feedback from deployed products.
• Own software roadmap development and prioritization by defining the capabilities required to address validated needs, balancing improvements, new functionality and technology evolution, and communicating priorities across relevant teams.
• Develop business cases and commercial input by defining success measures and commercial objectives, providing evidence for portfolio investment decisions, and supporting Product Marketing with product knowledge for pricing and launch readiness.
• Coordinate the product core team by working with System Engineering on requirements and feasibility, Product Ownership on executable increments, and Project Management on customer delivery, while aligning Sales, Business Development, Customer Projects and Engineering around progress, quality and outcomes.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in engineering or design, or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of experience in Software Product Management, with a proven track record of developing, deploying and maintaining software (platform) driven solutions in defense industry or another industrial high-tech / high compliance environment
• Strong understanding of software products, particularly in complex and regulated environments, e.g., industrial environments.
• In-depth knowledge of software product management and – strategy methodologies.
• Demonstratable experience in defining software product strategy and creating complete business cases.
• Strong cross-functional leadership and stakeholder management skills at operational and management level
• Demonstrated critical thinking, adaptability to challenges, and a problem‑solving mindset to creatively address user pain points.
• Proficiency in software industry standard tooling for software development and road mapping such as Jira / Jira Product Discovery / Jira Service Management, Confluence, BigPicture
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, capable of conveying product level knowledge, decisions and roadmaps to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Willingness to travel
• Drivers’ license B (or international equivalent)

Nice to Have

• Experience in defense industry or another industrial high-tech / high compliance environment
• Proficiency in JAMA Connect, Siemens Polarion, SAFe, Miro, Figma, Dovetail, Amplitude, PowerBI
• Proficiency in Dutch language is a plus

Screening

You will work with clients in the defense and security sectors. Obtaining a Certificate of No Objection issued by the AIVD, the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service, is mandatory. This means you will need to undergo a security screening. We will explain the process and guide you through the applicable requirements.