Product Manager

The Arena; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive base salary plus equity

Comprehensive healthcare coverage

Unlimited PTO

401(k)

Monthly reimbursement for home internet and cell phone

Job summary

A defense technology startup is seeking its first Product Manager to drive product direction and execution. This role involves translating complex workflows into actionable items, engaging with customers directly, and making strategic tradeoffs in a fast-paced environment. The ideal candidate will have 3–6 years of product management experience in technical realms, showcasing features they have directly owned. The offered compensation includes a competitive salary alongside equity opportunities, comprehensive healthcare, and unlimited PTO.

Qualifications

• 3–6 years of product management experience in technical or complex domains.
• Examples of features personally owned and shipped.
• Comfort working directly with customers/operational users.
• Strong judgment under ambiguity; bias toward shipping.
• Ability to partner with engineers as peers (not order-takers).

Responsibilities

• Own product direction and prioritization end-to-end.
• Translate workflows into clear, shippable work.
• Run tight feedback loops with users and stakeholders.
• Make hard tradeoffs with incomplete information and real constraints.
• Add just enough product process to help the team move faster (not slower).

Skills

Product management experience

Ability to partner with engineers

Strong judgment under ambiguity

Customer/user engagement

Ambiguity tolerance

Job description

Overview

Product Manager (First PM, Execution-Owned) — Defense Tech Startup

Location: New York, NY or Washington, DC

Clearance: Secret preferred, not required

We’re partnering with an early-stage, mission-driven defense technology startup building AI-powered software for highly sensitive government workflows — including document classification, foreign disclosure, export control, and compliance — deployed inside customer-owned environments (including disconnected and air-gapped systems).

This is the company’s first Product Manager hire.

This is not a traditional PM role. There is no mature process, no product ops layer, and no analytics safety net. This role is for a PM who has personally owned execution and wants real responsibility.

What You’ll Do

• Own product direction and prioritization end-to-end in partnership with founders and engineering
• Translate messy, real-world workflows from our customer into clear, shippable work
• Run tight feedback loops with users and stakeholders to validate and iterate quickly
• Make hard tradeoffs with incomplete information and real constraints
• Add just enough product process to help the team move faster (not slower)

What We’re Looking For

• 3–6 years of product management experience in technical or complex domains
• Clear examples of features you personally owned and shipped
• Comfort working directly with customers/operational users
• Strong judgment under ambiguity; bias toward shipping
• Ability to partner with engineers as peers (not order-takers)

Strong Signals

• Forward-deployed / customer-embedded product work
• First/second PM experience at an early-stage startup
• Experience shipping into regulated or high-stakes environments
• Exposure to AI-enabled products (bonus, not required)
• Competitive base salary plus meaningful equity upside
• Comprehensive healthcare coverage
• Unlimited PTO
• 401(k)
• Monthly reimbursement for home internet and cell phone