Senior Product Manager – Railway

Critical Software; Coimbra; On-site; EUR 60,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private health insurance

Employee Assistance Programme

Home office support

Extra holidays

Parental leave

Return-to-work support

Sabbatical programme

Training and growth opportunities

Job summary

Critical Software is seeking a Senior Product Manager to shape and grow a rail-focused product portfolio. Lead from vision to market, ensuring safety-critical certification and commercial success across the portfolio.

You will balance certification milestones with customer commitments while coordinating with engineering, safety, and certification teams to deliver innovative, data-driven solutions that keep passengers safe and trains running reliably.

Qualifications

• Proven track record taking new products from zero to market in regulated or safety-critical industries.
• Familiarity with certification processes in safety-critical domains.
• Experience with software-defined, connected or data-driven products; cloud/edge, cybersecurity or AI for operations.
• Ability to work with long product lifecycles and multi-stakeholder environments.
• Fluent in English (C1/C2).

Responsibilities

• Own the product roadmap, balancing certification milestones, customer commitments, and long-term product strategy.
• Identify and validate new product opportunities (market and competitive analysis, technology scouting, customer discovery).
• Own the business case, pricing and P&L for each product line, taking new products from concept through to first paying customers.
• Build the go-to-market strategy for product placement and business expansion, working with commercial and business development teams on positioning, pricing, and partnerships.
• Coordinate a small team with direct access to leadership—working closely with engineering, safety, and certification teams to align product decisions.

Skills

Proven track record

Safety certifications

Software-defined products

Cloud/edge security

Stakeholder management

English proficiency

Job description

About The Role

European railways are entering a new era. Train control is converging on a single, harmonized standard, communications are moving to modern digital networks, and the industry is taking its first real steps towards Automatic Train Operation. Critical Software contributes to this modernization by developing certified, safety-critical solutions that help operators run more trains, more reliably, while giving passengers a safer and smoother journey.

About The Role

European railways are entering a new era. Train control is converging on a single, harmonized standard, communications are moving to modern digital networks, and the industry is taking its first real steps towards Automatic Train Operation. Critical Software contributes to this modernization by developing certified, safety-critical solutions that help operators run more trains, more reliably, while giving passengers a safer and smoother journey.

We are looking for a Senior Product Manager to shape our rail product portfolio and turn this transformation into products the market wants to buy. We are not looking for someone to manage the products we already have; we are looking for the person who defines the ones we don't have yet — software-defined, data-driven and connectivity-based offerings that will sit alongside our certified portfolio. You will define the product vision, own the roadmap and take each solution from concept to market, carrying commercial accountability for the outcome. This is a role for someone who wants to build, not maintain, in a sector where the products you ship keep trains and passengers safe every day. If you want your product decisions to matter, this is where they will.

What You'll Do

• Own the product roadmap, balancing certification milestones, customer commitments, and long-term product strategy
• Identify and validate new product opportunities (market and competitive analysis, technology scouting, customer discovery), translating their specific needs into product requirements and shaping the full portfolio rather than a single feature
• Own the business case, pricing and P&L for each product line, and take new products from concept through to their first paying customers
• Build the go-to-market strategy for product placement and business expansion, working with commercial and business development teams on positioning, pricing, and partnership opportunities
• Coordinate a small team with direct access to leadership — working closely with engineering, safety, and certification teams to align product decisions

What We're Looking For

• Proven track record taking new products from zero to market, ideally in a regulated or safety-critical industry
• Familiarity with certification processes in safety-critical domains (EN 50126/50129/50716, DO-178, IEC 62443, or equivalent) is a strong plus
• Experience with software-defined, connected or data-driven products; familiarity with cloud/edge, cybersecurity or AI applied to operations is a plus
• Comfort working with long product lifecycles and complex, multi-stakeholder environments (operators, regulators, notified bodies)Strong communication skills, able to translate technical and regulatory complexity into clear product decisions
• Fluent in English (C1/C2)

How You Can Inspire

• You combine deep technical credibility with the confidence to lead a room, technical or commercial
• You spot problems early and you're not afraid to name them and propose a solution
• You build trust because you know what you're talking about, not because you're told to
• You see client relationships as long-term partnerships, not one-off wins

What We Offer

• Private health insurance
• Employee Assistance Programme (mental health, legal, financial support)
• Home office support
• Extra holidays: 2 additional days after year one, more as time goes on
• Extra parental leave: 2 additional months fully paid
• Gradual return-to-work support: We’ll help you ease back from long breaks
• Sabbatical programme for long-term employees
• Training, mentorship, and growth opportunities: we'll invest in where you want to go next

About Critical Software

Every day we work on missions across industries as diverse as aerospace, space, defence, transport, telecoms, government, energy, finance, and healthcare. Building better and safer isn’t a slogan. It’s how we show up in the world.

Critical Software is a proud Benefit Corporation. A for-profit business legally committed to positive impact on society, workers, the community, and the environment — in addition to profit.

We are an equal opportunity workplace. If you need any adjustment in your recruitment process to show us what you can do, please let us know.

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