Product Program Lead

You will own Kela’s counter-UAS product line end to end: mission definition, performance envelope, system trade-offs management, development plan, and the path from prototype through trials into production.

You are the person who can sit with an operator, write a spec an engineer can build from, hold a design review, unblock a workstream, and still know what the BOM costs. You set the product. You run the program. You do not wait to be told what the next step or problem is.

What “good” looks like here

• You have more than one complex hardware or defense system from concept to a demonstrated or fielded result — and you were the person who made it happen.
• You can think in physics, constraints, and unit cost, not only in user stories. You can argue a seeker, kinematics, or launcher trade offs with engineering and not get lost.
• You define the product tightly enough that the team is not guessing. Requirements are testable. Priorities are explicit. Out-of-scope is written down.
• You control the work. Workstreams have owners, dates, and consequences. Slips are visible early. You do not outsource accountability.
• You raise the quality of everyone around you.

Responsibilities

Product definition- Own the requirements: threat set, mission envelope, performance targets, reaction time, and the physical and environmental constraints that follow.

System trade-offs management- Push the hard calls between intercept performance, platform mass and endurance, seeker choices, operator workload, and unit cost. Keep the system inside its target price.

Program ownership- Own the plan across mechanical, hardware, embedded, guidance, and integration. Set milestone gates, demonstration dates, and the critical path. Pull work forward.

Team and execution- Direct day-to-day priorities across the team. Make sure every person knows what “done” means this week. Escalate blockers fast. Do not let the program drift.

Field trials- Define test objectives with Systems Engineering, be on the field, and turn results into product decisions within days.

Requirements

• Exceptional background and performance in previous roles.
• Extraordinary ownership. You have a record of shipping hard systems under constraint, not managing processes around them.
• Deep technical fluency in complex hardware or weapons systems. You need to be able to challenge engineering on performance, risk, and manufacturability.
• 5+ years as a Product Manager, Systems Engineer, Program Lead, or equivalent on defense or complex hardware — including at least one product taken from concept to a fielded or demonstrated system, with you in a driving seat.
• Ability to write requirements that engineering can build and test against, and to own a BOM and target price alongside the spec.
• Operational background in the IDF (or equivalent) and a real feel for how soldiers use equipment under stress.
• Willingness to work in outdoor field environments and at live trials.
• Bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline, or equivalent hands-on technical depth that would survive a hard interview.

Strong advantages

• Hands-on experience with UAV / FPV platforms, flight controllers, or guided interceptors.
• Familiarity with electro-optics, seekers, RF, radar cueing, and terminal guidance.
• Counter-UAS operational or development experience.
• DFM, NPI, and the jump from prototype to low-rate initial production.
• You have led a small, high-output hardware team.