Principal Product Marketing Manager

InvestedintheMission; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 127,000 - 193,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401K with company matching

9/80 work schedule

Job summary

AeroVironment, Inc. is seeking a senior Product Marketing leader to own the Layered Defense/C-UAS portfolio. You will drive positioning, messaging, launches, and sales enablement for this critical defense technology franchise, reporting to the VP of Marketing & Communications.

You will embed with the business unit, turning mission outcomes into customer narratives while navigating ITAR/export controls, and collaborating with product, BD, and communications to advance international growth.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of civilian work experience in relevant fields.
• 8+ years in product marketing with defense/dual-use experience.
• Proven ownership of a product line or portfolio at high revenue scale.

Responsibilities

• Build deep partnerships with BU leadership and program managers.
• Own positioning architecture for Layered Defense/C-UAS portfolio.
• Lead product launches with cross-functional teams and bill of materials.
• Develop enablement assets (battlecards, proof library, demos).
• Deliver export-aware positioning for allied regions within ITAR/export rules.

Skills

Civilian experience

Product marketing leadership

Defense/aerospace industry

Executive collaboration

DoD acquisition dynamics

Export control compliance

Portfolio ownership

Stakeholder management

Office presence

Job description

Worker Type

Regular

Job Description

Summary

AV's Layered Defense/C-UAS portfolio is most consequential product lines in defense technology, with combat-proven systems fielded by the U.S. and allied forces. This role is its dedicated product marketing owner.

You will own positioning, messaging, launch execution, and sales enablement for the franchise end to end, reporting directly to the VP of Marketing & Communications. This is a senior individual contributor role with real decision rights and a single-owner accountability model: one portfolio, one owner, direct executive visibility.

The mandate is to bring software-industry product marketing discipline to a defense technology franchise whose buyers are program offices, primes, and allied governments: positioning rigor grounded in operational evidence, launch operations that run on a repeatable framework, and enablement that measurably moves capture outcomes.

This is not an arms-length marketing role. You will operate as an embedded member of the business unit, building your positioning and enablement from inside the business unit's operating rhythm rather than from briefings after the fact.

Position Responsibilities

Business Unit Partnership

• Build deep, trusted relationships with Business Unit leadership, program managers, capture leads, and engineering.
• Partner with product managers as their marketing counterpart on roadmap milestones, launch readiness, claims substantiation, and customer evidence / operational proof.
• Embed in the business unit's operational cadence: program reviews, capture gate reviews, and planning rhythms. Marketing priorities are set from inside the business, not downstream of it.

Positioning & Messaging

• Own the positioning architecture for the Layered Defense/C-UAS portfolio: differentiated claims backed by operational evidence, not capability adjectives.
• Own the brand positioning and messaging architecture for the Layered Defense/C-UAS: differentiated claims backed by operational evidence, not capability adjectives.
• Own the consolidation of voice of customer inputs to feed structured customer and operator insight back into MarCom, Product and BD strategy. Maintain all Buyer and User Persona profiles.
• Use AV’s messaging architecture to translate mission outcomes (effects delivered, cost-per-effect, sustainment, interoperability) into customer-facing narratives for external audiences.
• Ensure product-level positioning plugs cleanly into AV's corporate narrative architecture.
• Deliver export-aware localized positioning for priority allied regions, within ITAR and export-control boundaries.
• Translate mission outcomes into customer-facing narratives for external audiences.
• Ensure product-level positioning plugs cleanly into AV's corporate narrative architecture.

Product Launch & Integrated Campaign Execution

• Run AV’s tiered product launch framework with full launch plans and bill of materials, executed cross-functionally with creative, technical communications, and events teams.
• Serve as the single accountable owner for product launch content and claims accuracy.
• Support ongoing marketing campaigns build on AV’s integrated campaign model.

Sales & Capture Enablement

• Build and maintain the enablement stack: battlecards, Operational proof library, and demo and trade-show messaging.

International Growth

• Deliver export-aware localized positioning for priority allied regions, within ITAR and export-control boundaries.
• Support marketing's pipeline contribution to AV's international growth targets.

Voice of Customer & Competitive Intelligence

• Own the competitive picture for the loitering munitions category: capability, production capacity, pricing posture, and acquisition traction of rivals.
• Feed structured customer and battlefield-user insight back into MarCom, Product and BD strategy.

Basic Qualifications (Required Skills & Experience)

• 12-15 years total civilian work experience
• 8+ years in product marketing with meaningful time in both enterprise software or hardware-software product marketing and defense, aerospace, or dual-use technology.
• Demonstrated ownership of a product line or portfolio at $100M+ revenue scale.
• Fluency in DoD acquisition dynamics: program of record lifecycles, POM cycles, primes vs. non-traditional entrants, FMS/DCS mechanics.
• Demonstrable positioning craft: you can show a positioning document, launch plan, campaign plan, and enablement asset you built that moved a measurable number.
• Ability to operate within export control, classification, and public-release constraints without diluting message strength.
• Self-directed operator: you run a portfolio with executive-level accountability and minimal day-to-day direction.
• Proven ability to earn the trust of technical and program stakeholders and operate inside a business unit's rhythm, functioning as a partner to the business rather than a service function to it.
• In-office 4-5 days per week. Commutable distance from AV’s San Diego or Albuquerque campus

Other Qualifications & Desired Competencies

• Direct experience marketing passive RF detection, multi-sensor systems, directed energy, or kinetic interceptors.
• Prior military service or program office exposure.
• Active or recent Secret clearance, or ability to obtain one.
• Experience competing in the modern defense technology landscape against established primes and emerging entrants.

How Success is Measured

First 90 Days

• Standing seat in the BU's program and capture review cadence
• BU leadership and product managers acknowledging this role as their marketing counterpart.
• Positioning architecture approved and adopted across BD, capture, and communications
• Sales and capture collateral refreshed and introduced to users

FY27

• Two full-discipline product launches executed on the tiered launch framework.
• Competitive battlecards live and refreshed quarterly for top competitors.
• Support ongoing marketing campaigns utilizing AV’s integrated campaign model.
• Localized positioning delivered for at least two allied regions.

How You'll Operate

AV Marketing runs on a single-accountable-owner model with explicit decision rights. In this role you decide autonomously on messaging and claims within approved positioning, enablement priorities, launch sequencing within your portfolio, and competitive response content. Portfolio-level positioning changes, budget impacts, and anything touching corporate narrative or public-release risk escalates to the VP. You'll partner closely with the Head of Product Marketing on shared PMM standards and cross-portfolio consistency.

Physical Demands

• Ability to work in an office environment (Constant)
• Required to sit and stand for long periods; talk, hear, and use hands and fingers to operate a computer and telephone keyboard (Frequent)

Clearance Level

No Clearance

Salary Range

$126,500 - $192,750

AeroVironment considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the location, the role and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, education/training, and key skills.

ITAR Requirement

This position requires access to information that is subject to compliance with the International Traffic Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) and/or the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). In order to comply with the requirements of the ITAR and/or the EAR, applicants must qualify as a U.S. person under the ITAR and the EAR, or a person to be approved for an export license by the governing agency whose technology comes under its jurisdiction. Please understand that any job offer that requires approval of an export license will be conditional on AeroVironment’s determination that it will be able to obtain an export license in a time frame consistent with AeroVironment’s business requirements. A “U.S. person” according to the ITAR definition is a U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder), or protected individual such as a refugee or asylee. See 22 CFR § 120.15. Some positions will require current U.S. Citizenship due to contract requirements.

Benefits

• AV offers an excellent benefits package including medical, dental vision, 401K with company matching, a 9/80 work schedule and a paid holiday shutdown.

We also encourage you to review our company website at http://www.avinc.com/myavbenefits.

We also encourage you to review our company website at http://www.avinc.com to learn more about us.

About AV:

AV isn’t for everyone. We hire the curious, the relentless, the mission-obsessed. The best of the best.

We don’t just build defense technology—we redefine what’s possible. As the premier autonomous systems company in the U.S., AV delivers breakthrough capabilities across air, land, sea, space, and cyber. From AI-powered drones and loitering munitions to integrated autonomy and space resilience, our technologies shape the future of warfare and protect those who serve.

Founded by legendary innovator Dr. Paul MacCready, AV has spent over 50 years pushing the boundaries of what unmanned systems can do. Our heritage includes seven platforms in the Smithsonian—but we’re not building history, we’re building what’s next.

If you're ready to build technology that matters—with speed, scale, and purpose—there’s no better place to do it than AV.

We are proud to be an EEO/AA Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability/veterans. AeroVironment, Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer and welcomes all qualified applicants. Qualified applicants will receive fair and impartial consideration without regard to race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetic data, sexual orientation, gender identity or other legally protected status.

ITAR

U.S. Citizenship required