Vannevar is a defense technology company building AI to deter our adversaries. In the 21st century, conflict moves at algorithmic speed and foresight equals firepower. Our agentic AI is purpose-built to compete with China—from cross-Strait conflict to gray zone coercion. Trained on the most mission-relevant datasets in defense, our technology models adversary behavior, simulates campaigns, and recommends the best course of action to decision makers. Our AI systems are some of the most trusted in the industry and actively used on the front lines of the Indo-Pacific to keep the peace and save lives.
Exceptional technology starts with exceptional people. Vannevar is a small agile team combining world-class engineers with veteran strategists who bring deep expertise in defense and tradecraft. We’re building a company defined by mission impact, user empathy, and disciplined growth. In just three years, we grew from $3M to $80M in ARR, achieved early profitability, and reached unicorn status—proving that disruption doesn’t require an ego, and staying power doesn’t mean standing still.
About the role
We’re hiring a Product Manager to define the strategy for our Decision Advantage product suite.
This platform helps operators understand complex environments and act on them. The core challenge is not access to data - it is deciding what matters and turning that into clear, actionable direction.
You will determine where we play and how we win: which users we prioritize, which problems we focus on, and what we build (and do not build).
This is not a roadmap execution role. You are responsible for setting direction in an ambiguous, high-stakes problem space.
You will work closely with operators, forward deployed engineers, and engineering teams to identify high-leverage problems and drive them through to shipped capability. You will often need to ignore loud or conflicting inputs and make decisions that others disagree with.
This role reports to the CTO and operates at the intersection of mission, product, and engineering. Success is measured by whether we build the right things and those things create real mission impact.
What you'll do
- Define product strategy. Identify which users and problems matter most, and set direction.
- Synthesize signal into direction. Take in messy, conflicting inputs and determine what actually matters.
- Make hard prioritization calls. Say no to plausible requests that do not move the mission.
- Anchor to outcomes. Ensure what we build changes decisions and behavior.
- Own product direction end-to-end. Turn ambiguous problems into concrete bets and drive them through delivery.
- Work directly with users. Build deep intuition for real-world workflows and needs.
- Translate mission signal into product direction. Take in real-world user signal and translate it into clear product direction, including pushing back when needed.
- Partner with engineering. Shape solutions that are both impactful and technically sound.
- Drive alignment in ambiguous situations. Bring clarity across stakeholders when perspectives conflict.
What you should have
- Proven strategy ownership. You’ve defined direction in an ambiguous space.
- Strong product judgment. You consistently identify the right problems and make sound prioritization decisions.
- Ability to separate signal from noise. You form independent, defensible opinions from incomplete and conflicting inputs.
- Experience operating under constraints. You’ve shipped products shaped by real-world limitations.
- Comfort in the field. You can build trust with users in operational environments.
- High ownership and bias toward action. You take responsibility for outcomes and push work through to completion.
- Technical fluency. You can engage with engineers and understand system constraints and tradeoffs.
- Clear, direct communication. You can articulate decisions, tradeoffs, and reasoning in a way others can act on.
- Active Security clearance (or ability to obtain one) and willingness to travel onsite
Nice to have
- Experience working with defense, intelligence, or mission-driven users
- Experience with data-intensive products (search, analytics, large-scale systems)
- Experience with product analytics (e.g., SQL)
- Experience rapidly prototyping ideas (Figma, AI coding tools, etc.)
- Exposure to constrained or high-security environments
What we offer
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- 100% remote first culture. You can work from anywhere in the US and all full time employees have WeWork access
- Unlimited PTO including competitive vacation and holiday schedules
- Lifestyle stipends - Monthly mental health, wellness & fitness stipend, in-home office setup stipend and family planning assistance
- Salary top-up during military reserve duty
- Fully paid parental leave
- Child and pet care reimbursement during travel
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We are committed to protecting the privacy of all applicants. Official emails from the company will come from an @vannevarlabs.com domain. Under no circumstances will a legitimate representative from our company contact you to request passwords, financial information, or other sensitive personal data. Please be vigilant of potential scams.