Product Manager- Fire Products

Seek Thermal; Santa Barbara (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Seek Thermal in Santa Barbara, CA is seeking a Product Manager for Fire Products to own the strategy, roadmap, and lifecycle of fire market products, collaborating with Engineering, Design, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Quality, Customer Service, and Finance from concept to launch.

The role emphasizes translating firefighter and department needs into differentiated requirements, leading cross-functional teams, and driving go-to-market plans, performance metrics, and sustaining improvements.

Qualifications

• Experience managing physical hardware/software products across full lifecycle.
• Ability to translate user needs into actionable product requirements.
• Strong strategic thinking, market analysis, planning, and attention to detail.
• Excellent cross-functional collaboration with engineering, design, sales, and marketing.

Responsibilities

• Own the product strategy and roadmap for Seek Thermal fire products.
• Conduct market assessments to identify opportunities for new products and enhancements.
• Define target users, use cases, and value propositions with cross-functional teams.
• Drive planning docs including business cases, MRDs, PRDs, and launch plans.
• Lead cross-functional execution to meet scope, schedule, quality, and cost.
• Collaborate on go-to-market strategies, messaging, training, and sales tools.
• Monitor market trends and customer feedback to inform the roadmap.
• Travel up to 20-25% for field work and events.

Skills

Product management

Hardware experience

Customer orientation

Strategic thinking

Technical tradeoffs

Go-to-market strategies

Analytical skills

Cross-functional leadership

Communication

Project management

Microsoft Office

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Product Manager- Fire Products

Seek Thermal Santa Barbara, California, United States

About this position

Description:

SUMMARY

Under the general supervision of the Vice President of Product & Marketing, the Product Manager, Fire Products will own product strategy, roadmap planning, lifecycle management, and cross-functional execution for Seek Thermal products serving the fire market. This role translates firefighter, department, channel, and market needs into differentiated product requirements and business priorities, partnering closely with Engineering, Design, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Quality, Customer Service, and Finance from concept through launch and sustaining activities.

Responsibilities

• Own the product strategy and roadmap for Seek Thermal fire products, balancing customer needs, market opportunities, competitive dynamics, technical capabilities, cost, and business objectives.
• Conduct market assessments and identify opportunities for new products, product innovation, and enhancements across hardware, software, accessories, and the overall user experience.
• Build a deep understanding of firefighters, fire departments, distributors, and other fire-market stakeholders through voice-of-customer research, field observation, surveys, prototype evaluations, field testing, and ongoing customer engagement.
• Define target users, use cases, value propositions, features, performance requirements, user experience, and packaging in partnership with cross-functional teams.
• Drive product planning documentation, including business cases, ROI analyses, MRDs, PRDs, competitive analyses, and launch recommendations.
• Partner with Engineering and Design to translate market and user needs into clear product requirements, make informed feature/cost/schedule tradeoffs, and maintain alignment throughout development.
• Lead cross-functional product execution for new product development and sustaining initiatives, helping teams deliver to agreed scope, schedule, quality, and cost targets.
• Prioritize product requirements and development work across multiple projects and lifecycle stages based on customer impact, strategic value, technical risk, and business priorities.
• Monitor competitive fire-market offerings, technology trends, customer feedback, field performance, and market changes; use insights to inform roadmap and product decisions.
• Act as the voice of the customer and market in product decisions and work with Engineering, Quality, Operations, and Customer Service to understand and prioritize field issues and sustaining improvements.
• Collaborate with Sales and Marketing to develop go-to-market strategies, product messaging, training, sales tools, launch plans, and demand-generation activities for fire products.
• Support launches and post-launch performance by defining success metrics, tracking business and product performance, gathering market feedback, and recommending corrective actions or follow-on investments.
• Engage directly with customers, channel partners, and the sales team to support product discussions, demonstrations, field evaluations, and market-development activities.
• Maintain effective communication with executive leadership and cross-functional stakeholders regarding roadmap priorities, product decisions, risks, tradeoffs, schedules, and performance.
• Approximately 20-25% travel may be required for customer visits, field research, industry events, product testing, and internal collaboration.

Skills, Knowledge and Abilities

• Product management experience with physical products, preferably technically complex hardware/software products or professional-use electronics.
• Success managing products through the full lifecycle, from market discovery and definition through development, launch, sustaining, and end-of-life.
• Strong customer orientation and ability to convert user needs, behaviors, workflows, and motivations into actionable requirements.
• Strong strategic thinking, market analysis, organization, planning, and attention to detail.
• Ability to understand technical tradeoffs and risks and work effectively with engineering counterparts.
• Ability to develop product and go-to-market strategies and communicate recommendations to technical, commercial, and executive audiences.
• Strong analytical and financial acumen, including business cases, ROI, cost tradeoffs, dashboards, and performance metrics.
• Ability to lead through influence and collaborate across Engineering, Design, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Quality, Customer Service, and Finance.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent projects and priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office tools.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business, Marketing, Product Management, or a related technical field; technical degree preferred.
• 5+ years of product management or closely related product development experience; hardware and integrated software experience strongly preferred.
• Experience in thermal imaging, fire service products, public safety, rugged professional equipment, or adjacent markets is preferred.
• Proven product launch experience; global manufacturing, supply chain, or procurement experience is preferred.