Associate Product Manager, Defense Tech & Autonomous Systems

Firestorm; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision insurance

401(k) Retirement Savings Plan

Equity grants

Unlimited PTO

Holiday calendar

Parental Leave

Lifestyle Spending Account

FSA

HSA

Life/AD&D

Disability insurance

Mental Health Resources

Job summary

Firestorm, based in San Diego, CA, seeks a product-minded professional to own strategic roadmaps for select product areas and work closely with engineering on rapid prototyping. You’ll gather feedback from field tests and translate it into concrete plans, define success metrics, and drive data-informed decisions.

The role blends product leadership with hands-on collaboration with technical teams. The candidate will engage with manufacturing, operations, and R&D to prioritize features, balance

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Business, or equivalent practical experience.
• U.S. Citizenship required due to ITAR regulations.
• 1–3 years of experience in product management, technical program management, engineering, or related role.
• Ability to take an ambiguous problem, talk to stakeholders, and turn it into a concrete plan.
• Strong written and verbal communication; explain a technical tradeoff to a technician and a manufacturing constraint to an engineer.
• Comfort reading system diagrams and API discussions; understand why changes are hard.
• Analytical mindset: define metrics, work with data, and let evidence guide decisions.
• Bias toward action and ownership; follow-through and proactive work ethic.
• History of holding yourself and teammates to high standards.

Responsibilities

• Own the strategy, roadmap, and backlog for a defined area of our product portfolio.
• Spend time on the factory floor and at test events to understand workflows and constraints.
• Transform feedback into user stories or prototypes to build with engineering.
• Define success metrics for what you ship and use data to decide next steps.
• Conduct build-vs-buy evaluations of third-party tools and vendors.
• Communicate status, risks, and decisions clearly to stakeholders across leadership.

Skills

Product management

Technical program management

Communication

Analytical mindset

Ownership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/CS/Business or equivalent

Tools

Jira

Linear

Job description

Firestorm, based in San Diego, CA, seeks a product-minded professional to own strategic roadmaps for select product areas and work closely with engineering on rapid prototyping. You’ll gather feedback from field tests and translate it into concrete plans, define success metrics, and drive data-informed decisions.

The role blends product leadership with hands-on collaboration with technical teams. The candidate will engage with manufacturing, operations, and R&D to prioritize features, balance