Senior Product Manager - Hardware & Edge AI (d/f/m) at Project Q

About Us
Project Q GmbH ("Q") is a defence technology company with offices in Berlin and Munich, and a trusted partner of the German Armed Forces. Our customers field sensors, drones and C2 systems from many vendors that were never built to work together. We build Hydris, an orchestration layer that integrates the systems they already field, and the ones they'll add next, into one picture operators can act on across defence, public safety, and critical infrastructure. Hydris runs at the edge, keeps working when the link drops, and its core is open source under Apache 2.0.

As Senior Product Manager for Mission Devices, you'll own the hardware that puts Hydris in the field. 

You'll work end-to-end, from discovery with operators through hardware build cycles to fielded units, and you'll decide what gets built rather than work through someone else's backlog. The bar is concrete: devices that run for months off-grid in contested RF environments.

What you'll do
Discovery and requirements

• Spend time with end users in their operating environment to understand their workflows in depth, not just their stated requirements.
• Validate assumptions about value, usability, feasibility and viability through prototypes, bench tests and field trials before committing to hardware fabrication.
• Analyze contractual specifications with Program Managers, separating firm constraints from areas where there's room for the best technical solution.

• Maintain an outcome-focused roadmap aligned to hardware build cycles (EVT/DVT/PVT), firmware releases and OTA update pipelines.
• Define requirements and field metrics for each device, including detection performance, energy efficiency, mission endurance and SWaP, and make the trade-offs between them.
• Prioritize investment across the device family, deciding where to extend existing devices and where a new one is needed.

• Make sure devices integrate with Hydris as and interoperate with third-party systems through industry standards and protocols.
• Design provisioning, commissioning and deployment workflows that are simple and reliable in the field.
• Investigate issues that span hardware, firmware and communications, and work with engineering to resolve them.

• Act as the main source of product context and the product's champion, making sure the team, leadership and customers understand what we're building and why.
• Work in a product trio with engineering (hardware and ML) and design. 
• Partner with Program and Capture Managers to keep the product vision aligned with contractual commitments.
• Write clear PRDs and decision records, and mentor teammates on discovery practice and hardware–software trade-offs.

• 5+ years of product management experience with hardware–software products, for example in embedded systems, IoT, robotics, defence systems or edge AI.
• Experience taking a connected hardware product from EVT/DVT through production into operational use, including in-field updates.
• Experience running product development end to end, from discovery to engineering-ready work, and the ability to adapt to however a team works.
• Ability making decisions with incomplete information, and the judgment to know when a decision is risky enough to slow down.
• Clear communication with hardware engineers, ML researchers and operators alike.
• Motivation to contribute to European security and sovereignty.
• Willingness to travel regularly to military exercises, test ranges and customer sites in Germany and NATO partner countries, sometimes in demanding field conditions.
• Eligibility for German security clearance (SÜ2).
• Fluency in German and English (C1 or higher).

• A degree in electrical, mechanical or systems engineering, robotics or a related field, or equivalent hands-on experience bringing hardware products from prototype to production.
• Experience in military, public safety or other mission-critical operational environments.
• Exposure to sensor fusion, mesh networking or degraded RF environments, including familiarity with interoperability standards such as Cursor on Target, SAPIENT, ONVIF or ASTERIX.

• Direct feedback from the field: you'll see the products you build tested in real operating environments by the people who use them.
• Prime Berlin-Mitte location – right between Alexanderplatz and Hackescher Markt.
• High degree of autonomy and ownership, and flat structure.
• Annual €1500 Learning & development budget  (available after probation).
• Bike Leasing and Urban Sports Club membership.
• 30 days of paid time off.

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