ABOUT VERDEGO AERO, INC.

VerdeGo Aero is an aircraft propulsion technology company committed to powering the highest performance electric aircraft of all sizes. The VerdeGo team is passionate about enabling hybrid-electric powerplants to create a next generation of flying machines. This is not an incremental change but rather the 3rd major revolution of aircraft propulsion in the 120-year history of powered flight, disrupting the industry in ways not seen since the advent of the jet engine 75 years ago. Innovations in propulsion always lead to step changes in aircraft design. Aircraft and missions that were previously only seen in Sci-Fi fiction like flying taxis and airliners that take off vertically are becoming a reality through environmentally friendly high performance hybrid systems. VerdeGo’s hardware centric, reality bound philosophy has already delivered flight ready systems for R&D flight test applications. VerdeGo is one of the few companies in this technology space that has both product-based customer revenue and strategic investment. VerdeGo Aero’s headquarters is at the “World’s Most Famous Beach”, in warm and relaxed Daytona Beach, Florida. Daytona Beach is the home of the Daytona 500 NASCAR race, bike weeks, jeep week and the collegial environment of the largest university focusing on aviation and aerospace, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Job Description

VerdeGo is seeking a PRODUCT MANAGER to drive our hybrid powerplant business. 

Product management is the practice of strategically driving the development, market launch, and continual support and improvement of a company’s products.  Within VerdeGo Aero, this role encompasses the traditional business development activities from the aerospace industry with broader responsibility to drive product development.  Think of this role as being a “mini-General Manager” of the product line.

The Product Manager’s focus is external.  “What is the right product to build?  Why?”  Product Managers define the product specifications and timelines to meet market demand.  Their core expertise is marketing.  While the majority of the work is inbound marketing (connecting with customers, conducting primary research and secondary where available), Product Managers will also drive the outbound messaging since they are the ones who drives the product definition. 

PRODUCT MANAGERS will likely be the face of their assigned category or product line, so they must be comfortable with speaking to large audiences of commercial and technical attendees.  They MUST be capable of developing and delivering great presentations to drive their category forward.

VerdeGo PRODUCT MANAGERS will spend the majority of their time focused on the following:

• Internal Communications: Developing a working strategic plan using a product roadmap and presenting it to key stakeholders across their organization: executives, investors, development teams, etc. Ongoing communications will continue across their cross-functional teams throughout the development process and beyond.
• External Communications: Driving Business Development activities in reaching out to potential customers, presenting to them, building relationships, and driving to gather Letters of Interest or Intent, and ultimately orders.
• Conducting Research: Researching to gain expertise about the company’s market, user needs, and competitors.  The product manager brings the voice of the customer into the company.
• Developing Strategy: Shaping the industry knowledge they’ve learned into a high-level strategic plan for their product—including goals and objectives, a broad-strokes overview of the product itself, and timeline for bringing it to market.
• Coordinating Development: coordinate with the relevant teams—marketing, product development, etc.—to begin executing the plan.
• Leading development of proposals. As VerdeGo’s products are generally dual-use, the PRODUCT MANAGER will interact with both military and commercial customers, leading proposal efforts for both segments.  The PRODUCT MANAGER will be the lead author on proposals while gathering input from internal stakeholders.
• Acting on Feedback and Data Analysis: Finally, after building, testing, and introducing the product to the marketplace, learning via data analysis and soliciting direct feedback from users, what works, what doesn’t, and what to add. Working with the relevant teams to incorporate this feedback into future product iterations.

The PRODUCT MANAGER reports to the VP of Product Management.

Responsibilities

• Develop product plans and strategies
• Develop and implement launch plans and strategies for new products
• Drive market adoption as the primary point of contact with customers
• Authoring proposals for both military and commercial business, gathering input from Product Management, Product Development, Project Management, and Finance/Accounting
• Develop and drive promotional efforts, including:
  • Coordinating VerdeGo presence in trade shows
  • Identifying and participating in appropriate technical conferences
  • Driving social media presence
  • Shepherding press releases through an internal development process, coordinating with customer public affairs offices as appropriate
• Presenting at conferences and coordinating with other VerdeGo team members who are presenting to ensure VerdeGo delivers the right messaging

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering preferred
• MBA a plus, not required
• 5+ years experience in aerospace business development or marketing
• Excellent communication skills
• MS Office
• Experience with CRM software a plus
• Able to travel; approximately 25%
• Familiarity with defense acquisition a plus