Director, Product Management

The Elevator Pitch

Join us as a Product Manager at Evolv, a mission-driven company dedicated to creating safer experiences for everyone. This pivotal role offers a leadership position to lead and direct our portfolio offering focused on concealed weapons detection with primary ownership of hardware and automated software for a major offering in Evolv’s screening portfolio. Candidates with a physical security industry and technology background, who understand emerging security pain points & ecosystem players, who are innovative, and are looking to bring compelling next generation offerings to market as part of the Evolv family of products will thrive. The ideal candidate brings structured thinking, a strong bias for action, and the ability to imagine and develop new offerings that are focused on driving unique customer value.

This multidisciplinary product leader will execute our vision for making gathering spaces more intelligent and secure and who will partner with Evolv’s executive leadership, engineering, sales, marketing, and our customers in developing the most impactful outcomes possible. They will own the product-line vision, develop the roadmap, work with our engineering and data scientists to build the solution(s), and engage customer-facing teams to expand the reach and critical impact of this portfolio offering. At Evolv, your contributions will shape cutting-edge products that make a real difference, ensuring the safety and security of communities worldwide.

Success in the Role: What are performance outcomes over the first 6-12 months you will work toward completing?

Within the First Month:

• Participate in Evolv ED, our new hire orientation.
• Gain complete familiarity with Evolv’s existing portfolio of Express Concealed Weapons Detection system and Evolv Visual Gun Detection offerings.
• Spend time with our product teams including sensors, insights, cloud management and digital to understand the broader value proposition to our customers and the role your products will play.
• Meet as many Evolvers as possible (including the executive leadership team) to understand their roles, functions.
• Familiarize, and be comfortable articulating, Evolv’ s 3-year strategic plan.
• Suggest some solution opportunities in the current product with fresh outside-in experience from other companies and industries. These may include known customer needs and pain points, gaps in existing products, UI usability, or application of technology that could be incorporated to add value to customers.
• Author at least one Product Requirement Document (PRD), showcasing your ability to detail requirements that reflect an understanding of market/customer needs with articulated outcomes.
• Build relationships with and establish close and frequent communication with your Technical Product Manager counterpart, the team of Technical Product Owners and all immediate R&D co-workers.

Within the First Three Months:

• Visit customers within Evolv’ s primary market segments to understand their challenges, pain points, and how Evolv can address them. Includes participation in scheduled Customer Advisory Board (CAB) meetings.  
• Successfully participate, engage, and start to lead the offering ‘s market release cycle set of activities.
• Provide a point of view for the strategic direction and long-term business outcome for the Evolv offering.
• Develop relationships with the Evolv Innovation Center (EIC) and Digital Teams to understand how they can help identify and evaluate new market, product, and technical opportunities.
• Gain a thorough grasp of the existing Evolv Express security application / partner integrations and develop a point of view on how your offering’s data stream could be leveraged from them as well as other 3rd party sources.
• Present to the executive leadership team your initial point of view on the current state and envisioned strategic direction of the portfolio, as well as general Evolv observations, areas for improvement, and opportunities.

By the End of the First Year:

• Establish yourself as the go-to person SME for the portfolio product direction for both internal people, customers and other external influencers
• Develop the long-term vision for the portfolio and what the next Evolv product offering should be. Bringing innovation and outside-in thinking to the suite of products with defined customer outcomes.
• Recommend and implement methods to optimize Product Management outcomes and identify improvement opportunities through automation, tools, and data.
• Develop and advocate for a PM team structure and resource plan under you to execute the go forward product vision and requirements definition for your portfolio.

The Work: What type of work will you be doing? What assignments, requirements, or skills will you be performing on a regular basis?

• Strategic Thinking and Market Assessment:
• Understand and have a contemporary view of the market, identification of market forces (e.g., competition, potential partners, industry trends, legislation, etc.) and their impact on product decisions and requirements.  Active learning mentality and technology curiosity: understanding implications of new information for both current and future problems and decisions, embracing change, and understanding new concepts.
• Incorporation of a unifying product vision "true north" and first principles into product decisions and the ability to see opportunities for product enhancements.
• Product General Manager and Product Ownership
• Define and prioritize product features.
• Responsible for the overall success of the assigned portfolio of products in the market.
• Recognize business / financial outcomes in product decisions while developing a comprehensive business plan and KPI’s to measure go forward success.
• Responsible for product packaging.
• Product Definition and New Product Introduction:
• You have strong customer relationship skills, which enable you to understand customers’ needs and objectives and translate them into solution features and requirements for solving complex business problems.
• Own definition and prioritization of product features. Develop and communicate product requirements and use cases, and work with the technical team to ensure products reflect the market needs and are attacking specific client pain points. Ensure we develop solutions that work for a breadth of customer personas.  Own the portfolio roadmap of record.
• Understand and execute product management role in delivery within an R&D organization. Serve as product champion, providing insight and direction during project development phases.
• Develop a go-to-market plan with all field facing Evolv functions including potential partner relationships.
• Execution of the end-to-end motion of new product introduction / launch with Product Marketing and other x-functional stakeholders.
• Technical Expertise:
• You have a strong technical background, with the ability to discuss technical issues and identify solutions that meet product requirements.
• Applied experience and exposure in AI and automated software algorithm techniques and understanding of the landscape of platforms, tools, and infrastructure.
• Demonstrate a deep understanding of the technical aspects of the portfolio for concealed weapons detection in the unregulated space and recognize customer implications in product decisions and requirements prioritization.
• Effective use of data to drive product decisions, understand product health, and create opportunities for improved service and support of the offering.
• Strategic Communication, Advocacy, and Stakeholder Management:
• An infectious enthusiasm for the product and influence on the energy and pace around it.
• Influence decision-making at more senior cohorts. 
• You have a natural predisposition toward data-driven decision making.
• Communicate complicated concepts to bring clarity to conversations. Able to bring clarity to situations where confusion may exist.
• Proactively recognize contributions of others within the technical teams they are working with. Contributes to site / function engagement initiatives.

What is the leadership like for this role? What is the structure and culture of the team?

• You will be joining the Product Organization and reporting to our VP of Product Management.
• The team culture is based on trust, collaboration, on-going development through, authenticity, courage, drive, and fun! We excel by leading by influence across the broad set of our x-functional stakeholders.

Where is the role located?

• This role is based out of the HQ in Waltham, Massachusetts but open to remote location role as well.

What is the salary range?

The base salary range for this full-time position is $165,000 - $222,000 + bonus + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.

Please note that the compensation details listed in role posting reflect the base salary only, and do not include bonus, equity, or benefits.

Benefits

If you want to solve one of the most difficult issues of our time and save lives doing it, you want to work at Evolv. We are passionate, knowing that what we do and how we do it can affect life or death situations for our customers. At Evolv, you will have unparalleled exposure to all aspects of our business, working with a talented team that shares our vision for a safer world. If you are inspired by invention and gain satisfaction from seeing how your work impacts the bigger picture, Evolv will be a great fit.

• Equity is an important component of every compensation package
• Flexible work environment
• Unique culture
• Medical and dental insurance
• 401(k) plan
• Unlimited vacation policy
• $300 per quarter to spend on the perks that are most meaningful to you
• Tuition Reimbursement

Evolv Technology (“Evolv”) is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. We welcome and encourage diversity in the workplace, and all employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national, social or ethnic origin, sex (including pregnancy), age, disability, HIV Status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, veteran status, or any other status protected by law in the locations where we operate. Evolv will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics.

Evolv is committed to offering an inclusive and accessible experience for all job seekers, including individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation as part of the job application process, please connect with us at [email protected].