Senior Product Manager, Hardware

NRG; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 185,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus

Incentives package

Medical benefits

Vision benefits

Dental benefits

401K

Flexible spending accounts

Job summary

NRG Energy, through its Vivint Smart Home subsidiary, is hiring a Principal Product Manager, Hardware, to lead a combined hardware and software product roadmap in a connected IoT context. You will own feature definition, prioritize initiatives, and drive delivery from prototype to launch with autonomy.

You will collaborate with hardware and software teams, translate user pain points into precise requirements, and monitor product health with dashboards and success metrics.

Qualifications

• Ability to translate broad goals into structured execution plans.
• Strong data-driven decision making to justify prioritization.
• Solid understanding of software development lifecycles, APIs, and hardware/firmware constraints.
• Ability to communicate complex requirements clearly to engineering and leadership.

Responsibilities

• Own a 1-2 year product roadmap for hardware and software features.
• Coordinate hardware and digital teams, writing PRDs and managing delivery from prototype to launch.
• Create dashboards and metrics to monitor product health and customer impact.
• Lead cross-functional collaboration with engineering, UX, QA, and data analytics.

Skills

Execution Amid Ambiguity

Analytical Rigor

Technical Foundations

Clear Professional Communication

Education

B.S. or M.S. in a Technical Field

Job description

Welcome to the intersection of energy and home services. At NRG, we’re driven by our passion to create a smarter, cleaner and more connected future.

Vivint Smart Home, an NRG owned company, is a leading smart home company in the United States, dedicated to redefining the home experience with intelligent products and services. We find purpose in proactively protecting and keeping our customers connected to home, no matter where they are. Join the Smart Home team to create smarter, safer and more sustainable homes.

The Principal Product Manager, Hardware, is a role that balances both physical hardware and digital software initiatives based on your product domain. Your focus will be on deeply understanding how customers interact with your specific product area, identifying functional gaps, and delivering immediate, seamless improvements. Operating with strong autonomy, you will own a 1 to 2 year product roadmap, ensuring your features are delivered on time, run smoothly, and enhance the overall Vivint Home customer experience.

Primary Responsibilities

Customer Insights & Feature Optimization

• Targeted Customer Empathy: Develop a granular understanding of how, when, and why customers utilize your specific product features and hardware components daily.
• Data-Driven Iteration: Dive deep into telemetry, system logs, and user data within your domain to track feature adoption, diagnose usage friction, and uncover operational gaps.
• Evolving Existing Features: Use behavioral data to continuously iterate on and improve existing hardware capabilities and software touchpoints, making the system more reliable and responsive to customer needs.

Roadmap Ownership & Tactical Delivery

• 1-to-2 Year Roadmap Execution: Define, prioritize, and drive a tactical 1 to 2 year product roadmap, translating near-term strategy into clear, executable feature requirements.
• Hardware & Software Integration: Act as the product glue between hardware development lines and digital application teams, writing detailed product requirement documents (PRDs) and managing the delivery cycle from prototype validation through launch.
• Ecosystem Alignment: Ensure your domain's software and hardware components align with Vivint's overall design language and platform architecture, avoiding siloed features.

Technical Authorship & Matrixed Execution

• Requirements Definition: Author crisp, high-quality technical documents, feature specs, and business briefs, translating user pain points into precise requirements for engineering teams.
• Feature Health Mechanisms: Establish and monitor localized dashboards and success metrics to ensure your product line operates with high availability and excellent customer satisfaction.

Cross-Functional Influence

• Core Team Collaboration: Lead day-to-day execution and maintain delivery velocity by partnering directly with immediate engineering squads, UX designers, QA teams, and data analysts.
• Focused Stakeholder Communication: Maintain clear alignment across your immediate cross-functional peers, managing technical dependencies and escalating core trade-offs or timeline risks to senior product leadership.

Required Skills & Functional Dimensions

• Execution Amid Ambiguity: Proven ability to take broad project goals and independently establish a structured execution path, maintaining steady delivery even when technical constraints shift.
• Analytical Rigor: Strong proficiency in using data analytics tools to evaluate product health, dissect customer behavior, and justify product prioritization decisions with clear metrics.
• Technical Foundations: Sound technical understanding of software development lifecycles, API interactions, and hardware or firmware constraints required to build connected IoT consumer experiences.
• Clear Professional Communication: Ability to synthesize complex technical requirements or feature performance data into concise, scannable written updates for engineering peers and product leadership.

Required Education & Experience

• Experience: 4–6+ years of technical product management experience, with a proven track record of shipping consumer-facing software features, IoT solutions, or connected hardware modules.
• Data Sourcing Track Record: Direct experience leveraging product analytics platforms or working alongside data engineering teams to track, verify, and improve user experiences.
• Education: B.S. or M.S. in a Technical Field preferred (Computer Science, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering, or a related quantitative discipline); equivalent practical product management experience considered.

Job Functions:

Position requires in-office presence in Seattle, WA on a hybrid schedule for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with a work from home day on Friday. The position will start remote and then will move into the hybrid schedule.

The base salary range for this position is: $185K (min) - $210 (mid) - $240K (max)* *The base salary range above represents the low and high end of the salary range for this position. Actual salaries will vary based on several factors including but not limited to location, experience, and performance. The range listed is just one component of the total compensation package for employees. Other rewards may include annual bonus, short- and long-term incentives, and program-specific awards. In addition the position may be eligible to participate in the benefits program which include, but are not limited to, medical, vision, dental, 401K, and flexible spending accounts.

NRG Energy is committed to a drug and alcohol-free workplace. To the extent permitted by law and any applicable collective bargaining agreement, employees are subject to periodic random drug testing, and post-accident and reasonable suspicion drug and alcohol testing. EOE AA M/F/Protected Veteran Status/Disability. Level, Title and/or Salary may be adjusted based on the applicant's experience or skills.

EEO is the Law Poster (The poster can be found at http://www.eeoc.gov/employers/upload/poster_screen_reader_optimized.pdf)

Official description on file with Talent.