Director, Product Management- Enterprise Systems

NetApp; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 228,000 - 339,000; Full time

Job summary

NetApp seeks a Director of Product Management to own the AFF portfolio and the next‑gen engineered systems that will carry it forward. This is a people‑leader role with end‑to‑end ownership of strategy, roadmap, lifecycle, competitive positioning, and business outcomes for a core part of NetApp’s Enterprise Storage business.

The role combines strategic leadership with operational accountability. The director works at the intersection of systems hardware, ONTAP data services, and go‑to‑market

Qualifications

• 12+ years of product management or technical product planning in enterprise infrastructure, storage, or related hardware/software domains.
• 5+ years leading product managers or equivalent people leadership of a technical product team.
• Proven ownership of a high-revenue hardware and/or systems product line, including roadmap, new product introduction, lifecycle, and business outcomes.
• Strong understanding of enterprise storage architectures, including all-flash systems, file and block protocols, and modern data-center infrastructure.
• Experience partnering with engineering on next generation system definition, including architectures shared across more than one product line.
• Experience driving cross-functional execution across engineering, supply chain, operations, finance, and go-to-market.
• Executive presence and the ability to represent complex platform and business tradeoffs to senior leadership.

Responsibilities

• Lead, develop, and coach a team of product managers responsible for AFF systems and next generation platform programs.
• Set team priorities, operating cadence, and delivery standards; serve as the point of accountability for the AFF franchise.
• Represent the portfolio to senior leadership; communicate strategy, tradeoffs, and business performance clearly.
• Own product strategy for NetApp’s AFF systems, including how those offerings are positioned relative to one another and to the broader portfolio.
• Define and drive next generation strategy for engineered systems with shared architectures used across multiple product lines.
• Develop and maintain multi-generation roadmaps with clear prioritization across performance and capacity tiers, form factors, and technology transitions.
• Track business metrics such as adoption, mix, capacity growth, and economics, and translate them into roadmap, pricing, and go-to-market actions.
• Drive concurrent new-product programs across shipping systems and next generation architectures, from requirements through qualification, GA, sustaining, and end of life.
• Ensure product requirements for engineering, operations, and planning are clear, prioritized, and aligned to launch commitments.
• Own lifecycle discipline across the portfolio—generation transitions, configuration optimization, and sustaining strategy.
• Synthesize requirements from enterprise customers, the field, and partners into platform priorities and design decisions.
• Own competitive positioning for the portfolio; convert gaps into requirements and actions that improve win rates.
• Connect platform investments to customer outcomes and business impact through clear business cases and prescriptive positioning.
• Partner with product marketing and the field on messaging, positioning guidance, and enablement so the portfolio is simple to sell and deploy.
• Be the point of accountability across engineering, supply chain, operations, finance, marketing, and sales for the AFF systems portfolio.
• Influence architecture and system-level decisions that span multiple product lines and generations.

Skills

Product management

Team leadership

Strategic thinking

Cross‑functional collaboration

Executive communication

Job description

Own Every Moment at NetApp

At NetApp, your ideas power innovation. We lead in intelligent data infrastructure- delivering unified storage, integrated data services, and solutions that help organizations unlock the full potential of their data, from AI to multicloud.

Own Every Moment at NetApp

At NetApp, your ideas power innovation. We lead in intelligent data infrastructure- delivering unified storage, integrated data services, and solutions that help organizations unlock the full potential of their data, from AI to multicloud.

Ready to innovate and contribute to our path to $10B? Here, you'll collaborate with passionate teams, tackle real-world challenges, and see your impact in how customers transform and grow. If you're ready to bring curiosity, creativity, and drive to every moment, NetApp is where your journey begins. Join teams that innovate to elevate, drive results, and excel together across every function.

Job Summary

We are seeking a Director of Product Management to own NetApp’s AFF portfolio and the next generation engineered systems that will carry it forward. This is a people-leader role with end-to-end ownership of strategy, roadmap, lifecycle, competitive positioning, and business outcomes for a core part of NetApp’s Enterprise Storage business. This Director works at the intersection of systems hardware, ONTAP data services, and go-to-market execution - partnering with engineering, supply chain, finance, product marketing, and sales. The charter covers shipping AFF systems as well as engineered systems with shared architectures. The role combines strategic leadership with operational accountability: defining multi-generation systems strategy, leading a team of product managers, and driving new product introduction, generation transitions, and lifecycle discipline across a major revenue portfolio.

Job Responsibilities

Leadership & Team

• Lead, develop, and coach a team of product managers responsible for AFF systems and next generation platform programs.
• Set team priorities, operating cadence, and delivery standards; serve as the point of accountability for the AFF franchise.
• Represent the portfolio to senior leadership; communicate strategy, tradeoffs, and business performance clearly.

Product Strategy & Roadmap

• Own product strategy for NetApp’s AFF systems, including how those offerings are positioned relative to one another and to the broader portfolio.
• Define and drive next generation strategy for engineered systems with shared architectures used across multiple product lines: where we invest, how common designs serve multiple markets, and how we transition customers and the field.
• Develop and maintain multi-generation roadmaps with clear prioritization across performance and capacity tiers, form factors, and technology transitions.
• Track business metrics such as adoption, mix, capacity growth, and economics, and translate them into roadmap, pricing, and go-to-market actions.

New Product Introduction & Lifecycle

• Drive concurrent new-product programs across shipping systems and next generation architectures, from requirements through qualification, general availability, sustaining, and end of life.
• Ensure product requirements for engineering, operations, and planning are clear, prioritized, and aligned to launch commitments.
• Own lifecycle discipline across the portfolio—generation transitions, configuration optimization, and sustaining strategy.

Customer, Market & Competitive

• Synthesize requirements from enterprise customers, the field, and partners into platform priorities and design decisions.
• Own competitive positioning for the portfolio; convert gaps into requirements and actions that improve win rates.
• Connect platform investments to customer outcomes and business impact through clear business cases and prescriptive positioning.

Go-to-Market & Cross-Functional Execution

• Partner with product marketing and the field on messaging, positioning guidance, and enablement so the portfolio is simple to sell and deploy.
• Be the point of accountability across engineering, supply chain, operations, finance, marketing, and sales for the AFF systems portfolio.
• Influence architecture and system-level decisions that span multiple product lines and generations.

Qualifications

Required

• 12+ years of product management or technical product planning experience in enterprise infrastructure, storage, or related hardware/software domains.
• 5+ years leading product managers or equivalent people-leadership of a technical product team.
• Proven ownership of a high-revenue hardware and/or systems product line, including roadmap, new product introduction, lifecycle, and business outcomes.
• Strong understanding of enterprise storage architectures, including all-flash systems, file and block protocols, and modern data-center infrastructure.
• Experience partnering with engineering on next generation system definition, including architectures shared across more than one product line.
• Experience driving cross-functional execution across engineering, supply chain, operations, finance, and go-to-market.
• Executive presence and the ability to represent complex platform and business tradeoffs to senior leadership.

Preferred

• Familiarity with NetApp ONTAP or comparable unified storage platforms, and how system hardware enables performance, density, and supportability.
• Experience with storage economics, mix across performance and capacity offerings, and platform generation transitions.
• Experience positioning storage for AI, virtualization, mission-critical applications, and other enterprise workloads.

Compensation: The target salary range for this position is 227,800 - 338,800 USD. The salary offered will be determined by the candidate's location, qualifications, experience, and education and may be outside of this range. The range is based on 'On Target Earnings’ (OTE) representing the total potential earnings, which is the sum of the base salary and potential commission earned when performance targets are achieved. Final compensation packages are competitive and in line with industry standards, reflecting a variety of factors, and include a comprehensive benefits package. This may cover Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Retirement or Pension Plans, Paid Time Off, various Leave options, employee stock purchase plan, and/or restricted stocks (RSU’s). These offerings are subject to regional variations and governed by local laws, regulations, and company policies. We will provide detailed information about the specific benefits for your region during the recruitment process.

At NetApp, we embrace a hybrid working environment designed to strengthen connection, collaboration, and culture for all employees. This means that most roles will have some level of in-office and/or in-person expectations, which will be shared during the recruitment process.

Equal Opportunity Employer

NetApp is firmly committed to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and to compliance with all federal, state and local laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on age, race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, disability or genetic information, pregnancy, protected veteran status, and any other protected classification.

Why You'll Thrive at NetApp

At NetApp, you won't wait for the perfect moment—you'll make it. The early planning, the extra thought, the bold idea that turns good into great: That's how our people operate and how we continue to push the boundaries of data infrastructure.

NetApp is the trusted partner for organizations transforming data into opportunity. As the only enterprise-grade storage service natively embedded in Google Cloud, AWS, and Microsoft Azure, we empower customers to run everything from traditional workloads to enterprise AI with unmatched performance, resilience, and security.

Our culture

We celebrate mold breakers, bold thinkers, and problem solvers. We reward initiative, impact, and ownership. We provide flexibility so you can balance professional ambition with your personal life. Here, differences are not just welcomed—they drive everything we do.

AI Disclosure

For select roles, some stages of our hiring process may use artificial intelligence tools to help evaluate applications and candidate selection. These tools support - rather than replace - human decision-making.