Sr. Product Manager - Circuit Based KVM

Socket.dev; Plano (TX); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Socket.dev is seeking an experienced Product Manager to own a hardware portfolio across defense, transportation, and SLED markets. You will define requirements, pricing, and go-to-market plans, translating field insights into actionable product roadmaps.

The role emphasizes P&L ownership, cross-functional leadership, and delivering secure, NIAP-aligned products with rigorous compliance. A strong technical background in electrical/computer engineering is essential.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of product management experience with hardware or physical-layer products.
• Demonstrated P&L or commercial ownership (pricing, margins).
• Experience selling into government/defense or regulated environments.
• Bachelor’s degree in electrical or computer engineering; hands-on hardware launch experience.

Responsibilities

• Own product portfolio strategy, pricing, and packaging for hardware.
• Translate field insights into product requirements for engineering.
• Coordinate with R&D, manufacturing, and sales to drive launches and compliance.

Skills

Product management

P&L ownership

Government/defense customers

Market research

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical/Computer Engineering

Hardware portfolio launch experience

Job description

What You Will Own

• Product Innovation - Differentiate beyond the switching fabric. Reimagine how operators interact with the portfolio through modern interfaces, refined industrial design, and operator-first workflows. Draw inspiration from adjacent industries (broadcast, pro AV) and translate those ideas into PRDs that engineering can execute. Our goal is to deliver a best-in-class user experience that sets the standard in the KVM industry.
• Commercial Strategy and P&L - You own full P&L responsibility for your portfolio. Define value-based pricing, discount structures, and solution packaging. Build the financial models that justify new product investments. Own margin performance.
• Market Expansion - Identify adjacent opportunities and pursue new business within our strategic verticals. Package physical KVM infrastructure into high-margin secure command-and-control solutions that Sales can take to market immediately.
• Customer and Market Intelligence - Engage directly with customers, channel partners, and end users to understand workflows, pain points, and unmet needs. Translate field insights and competitive analysis into product requirements that keep the portfolio ahead of market demand.
• Hardware Lifecycle and Compliance - Define and prioritize the product roadmap with R&D across baseband, copper, fiber, and secure desktop KVM products. Drive new product development from concept through launch, delivering complete gate packages on schedule. Oversee NIAP certification, DoD compliance, and adherence to applicable security standards across the portfolio.
• Sales Enablement - Serve as executive technical sponsor on high-value secure KVM deals. Arm Sales and Product Marketing with battlecards, competitive teardowns, and use-case collateral to close tier-1 government and enterprise accounts.

What You Must Know

This portfolio spans mission-critical environments across defense, transportation, broadcast, and SLED. You need working fluency in most of these areas:

• Point-to-point KVM extension and fiber optics: DisplayPort, HDMI, and USB-C technologies, USB extension and USB specifications, video compression, and the importance of latency
• Secure KVM and NIAP: Protection Profiles for peripheral switches, DoD Information Assurance, port isolation, unidirectional data flows, tamper evidence
• Matrix and desktop switching architectures: high-performance circuit-based KVM, desktop KVM switching, EDID/HID handling, video quality tradeoffs in non-IP environments
• Physical infrastructure: racks, cabinets, power distribution, cable management, physical-layer test equipment

Qualifications

Required:

• 8+ years of product management experience with hardware or physical-layer products; prior experience in the AV, KVM, or broadcast industry is a strong plus
• Demonstrated P&L or commercial ownership (pricing, margin management, business case development)
• Experience selling into or building products for government, defense, or similarly regulated environments
• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field, and hands-on experience launching and scaling hardware portfolios

Valued but not required:

• MBA or formal commercial training
• CTS, CTS-I, or CTS-D certification
• Security certifications (CompTIA Security+, CISSP) or fiber optic certification (CFOT)

Who Thrives Here

You study the competitive landscape before Sales brings you a request. You understand the difference between mission-critical solutions and standard commercial products, and you know how that distinction shapes requirements, design, and go-to-market. You think in solutions and ecosystems, not individual SKUs. You know how to coordinate execution across supporting teams while keeping your own time on the work that moves the business.

You are a self-starter who operates effectively with incomplete information. You do not wait for perfect data or detailed instructions to move forward. When gaps exist, you close them yourself, whether that means conducting your own market research, picking up the phone with a customer, or making a defensible call and adjusting as you learn. This role is highly strategic, and that means you need to be comfortable driving outcomes without constant direction.