Product Manager

Product Manager

Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc. (SPA) delivers high-impact, technical solutions to complex national security issues. With over 50 years of business expertise and consistent growth, we are known for continuous innovation for our government customers, in both the US and abroad. Our exceptionally talented team is highly collaborative in spirit and practice, producing results that matter.

SPA's NATO Allied Command Transformation Group, within JOID, provides capability development, portfolio management, program management, quality management, cost estimation analysis, standardization, reporting, software solutions and information management, and capability management support. We also provide an improved capability requirements capture process, including the generation, documentation and tracing of user requirements, with appropriate technical scrutiny, over the entire lifecycle of the requirements from capability definition through capability realization and capability usage.

We have a near-term need for a Product Manager to provide remote support to NATO-ACT.

Responsibilities

NATO ACT has adopted Agile DevSecOps principles emphasizing rapid, iterative delivery cycles and user-driven development. Many capability development efforts are software-intensive, while others integrate hardware and software into larger systems and services. Modern continuous integration and delivery toolsets are applied to ensure transparency, traceability, and responsiveness, allowing solutions to be developed, fielded, and refined quickly while remaining aligned with operational requirements. The growing demand for digital solutions has led to an expanding backlog of projects requiring sustained contractor support. The candidate will embed within ACT's cross-functional teams, working alongside staff in product-centric development efforts. These teams deliver Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) through rapid development cycles while simultaneously exploring emerging technologies that combine hardware and software integration. This dual-track approach ensures NATO can meet immediate operational needs while also experimenting with novel solutions that strengthen long-term capabilities.

The Product Manager will have the following taskings : ensure the product direction provides value to the end user and aligns with organizational goals. Manage product backlogs, including writing acceptance criteria and ensuring proper prioritization. Drive the product vision and communicate it effectively to stakeholders and development teams. Collaborate closely with Agile / DevSecOps teams to ensure incremental and user-centric delivery. Lead iterative planning meetings to ensure stories are accurately estimated and prioritized to best fit user needs. Develop and maintain product roadmaps that support both short-term objectives and long-term strategies. Translate user needs into business value and balance priorities between user requirements and organizational benefit. Facilitate product information campaigns using modern communication channels (e.g., Twitter, blogs, community forums). Coordinate and lead productive meetings (standups, retrospectives, demos, reviews) that drive product outcomes. Maintain awareness of industry best practices for product management and apply lessons learned to ongoing projects. Provide technical fluency when collaborating with development teams to ensure alignment on architecture, APIs, CI / CD, and other delivery pipelines.

Qualifications

Required :

• Bachelor's degree in ICT, Business, or a related discipline.
• Citizen of a NATO member nation.
• 4+ years of experience, including designing innovative digital products / systems in a NATO or National defense institution.
• Proven experience managing product roadmaps, backlogs, and prioritization.
• Deep understanding of customers, technology, competition, and the ability to execute product strategy.
• Experience collaborating with high-performing Agile / DevSecOps development teams (standups, retrospectives, design reviews, user research, demos).
• Experience with planning and execution of product information campaigns using modern communication channels (Twitter, blogs, etc.).
• Experience driving product vision and effectively communicating this vision across Agile teams.
• Ability to translate user needs into business value and ensure user-centric prioritization of features and backlog.
• Knowledge of industry best practices for Product Managers and commitment to continuous professional learning.
• Ability to facilitate productive meetings that drive product outcomes.
• Familiarity with technical concepts to effectively communicate with development teams (APIs, architectures, CI / CD, cloud-native basics).
• Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO) or equivalent certification.
• Fluent in English (written and oral).