Principal Product Marketing Manager

avav; Simi Valley (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

AV's Loitering Munitions / Precision Strike portfolio is a $500M franchise and a core defense technology line. This role is its dedicated product marketing owner, responsible for positioning, messaging, launch execution, and sales enablement end to end, reporting to the VP of Marketing & Communications.

This is a senior IC with direct executive visibility. The mandate is to bring software-industry product marketing discipline to defense tech, embedding with the business unit and coordinating

Qualifications

• 12+ years total civilian work experience.
• 8+ years in product marketing with 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.

Responsibilities

• Build deep, trusted relationships with BU leadership, program managers, capture leads, and engineering.
• Partner with product managers as marketing counterpart on roadmap milestones, launch readiness, claims substantiation, and customer evidence.
• Embed in the business unit's cadence: program reviews, capture gate reviews, planning rhythms.
• Own the positioning architecture for the LMS/Strike portfolio with evidence-backed claims.
• Own the brand positioning/messaging architecture for the LMS/Strike portfolio.
• Consolidate voice of customer inputs to feed MarCom, Product, BD strategy; maintain Buyer/User Persona profiles.
• Deliver export-aware localized positioning for priority allied regions within ITAR/export-control boundaries.
• Translate mission outcomes into customer-facing narratives for external audiences.
• Deliver product-level positioning plugs into AV's corporate narrative architecture.
• Run AV’s tiered product launch framework with full launch plans and bill of materials.
• Serve as the single accountable owner for launch content and claims accuracy.
• Support ongoing marketing campaigns built on AV’s integrated campaign model.
• Build and maintain the enablement stack: battlecards, evidence library, and demo messaging.
• Deliver export-aware localization for international growth targets.
• Own the competitive picture for the loitering munitions category.

Skills

Product marketing

Defense industry

Executive stakeholder management

Positioning & messaging

Go-to-market planning

Cross-functional leadership

Export control/ITAR

Strategic thinking

Campaign execution

Job description

Worker Type

Regular

Job Description

AV's Loitering Munitions / Precision Strike portfolio is a $500M franchise and one of the 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 Loitering Munitions 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 LMS/Strike portfolio: differentiated claims backed by operational evidence, not capability adjectives.
• Own the brand positioning and messaging architecture for the LMS/Strike portfolio: 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 (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.

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+ 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.
• Commutable distance from