Product Manager- Fire Products

Seek Thermal; Santa Barbara (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Seek Thermal in Santa Barbara, CA, is seeking a Product Manager for Fire Products. You will own strategy, roadmaps, lifecycle, and cross-functional execution for fire market products, collaborating with Engineering, Design, Sales, Marketing, Operations, Quality, Customer Service, and Finance from concept to launch.

You will translate firefighter and department needs into differentiated product requirements and business priorities, driving go-to-market plans and post-launch performance with

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, business, marketing, product management, or related technical field.
• 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.

Responsibilities

• Own the product strategy and roadmap for Seek Thermal fire products.
• Identify opportunities for new products 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 VOC research and field testing.
• 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.
• Translate market and user needs into clear product requirements with Engineering and Design.
• Lead cross-functional product execution for new product development and sustaining initiatives.
• Prioritize product requirements and development work across multiple projects and lifecycle stages.
• Monitor competitive fire-market offerings and trends to inform roadmap.
• Act as the voice of the customer in product decisions and coordinate with departments to address field issues.
• Collaborate with Sales and Marketing on go-to-market strategies, product messaging, training, and launch plans.
• Support launches and post-launch performance by defining success metrics and tracking performance.
• Engage with customers, channel partners, and sales for discussions, field evaluations, and market development.
• Maintain communication with leadership regarding priorities, decisions, risks, and schedules.
• Approximately 20-25% travel may be required.

Skills

Product management

Lifecycle management

Customer orientation

Strategic thinking

Technical tradeoffs

Go-to-market strategies

Analytical skills

Cross-functional leadership

Communication

Project multitasking

MS Office

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

Microsoft Office

Thermal imaging systems

Job description

Product Manager- Fire Products

Seek Thermal Santa Barbara, California, United States

About this position

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.