Director of Product Strategy, Design & Innovation

Meet Slingshot At Slingshot Aerospace, we're on a mission to make space safer and more secure for everyone. Our work directly impacts global security, disaster response, climate monitoring, and the critical infrastructure that connects our world. We're a team of builders, thinkers, and problem-solvers who believe that the next generation of space operations will be powered by better data and smarter software. We move fast, we're not afraid to fail, and we believe the best ideas can come from anywhere—whether you're in engineering, sales, product, or operations. If you want to work on something that truly matters, with people who care deeply about the impact we're making and help shape the future of an industry that's just getting started, you're in the right place. What You’ll Be Launching The Director of Product Strategy, Design & Innovation leads future-facing product strategy by identifying emerging technologies, market shifts, customer needs, and competitive dynamics, translating these insights into continuous roadmap evolution and new product innovation. This role also leads design to strengthen product experiences to a best-in-class standard, with a strong emphasis on concept development, validation, and new product ideas. You will build the operating model for innovation across product strategy, research, design, science, AI, engineering, and leadership - ensuring validated opportunities are continuously assessed, prioritized, and fed into the broader product roadmap. We are looking for a strategic product leader who can connect market signals, customer insight, and emerging technology to actionable product direction. Slingshot Aerospace cares deeply about our commitment to company values, mission, and purpose. The core competencies we will be looking to identify include: intellectual agility, ability to develop innovative solutions, leadership, performance-orientation, and industry expertise. Your Mission (Should you choose to accept it) Product Strategy & Innovation Leadership Lead product strategy and innovation to identify future product opportunities, growth areas, and differentiated market positions. Continuously assess emerging technologies, scientific developments, customer needs, market shifts, and competitor activity to inform product direction. Build and maintain an innovation roadmap that translates validated opportunities into broader product strategy and future roadmap recommendations. Design, Research & Concept Validation Lead design to elevate existing product experiences and validate new concepts, with a strong emphasis on future-state innovation. Establish a repeatable process for opportunity assessment, concept testing, prioritization, and continuous improvement across design and research. Partner with research and design teams to turn customer insight, market evidence, and usability learnings into actionable product concepts. Cross-functional Collaboration & Influence Partner with Product Management, Research, Science, AI, Engineering, and Leadership to translate insight into roadmap recommendations and new product initiatives. Influence senior stakeholders through clear strategic narratives, opportunity sizing, customer evidence, and experiment findings. Provide monthly readouts of innovation advancements, emerging opportunities, and experiment findings (with included prototype links). People Leadership & Operating Rhythm Manage, coach, and develop a multidisciplinary design team of direct reports. Set team priorities, establish operating rhythms, and create accountability for high-quality strategy, design, and innovation deliverables. Create clear mechanisms for continuous roadmap evolution, innovation intake, and leadership decision-making. Pre-flight Checklist 4+ years of experience in product strategy, product management, design strategy, innovation, research, or related product leadership roles. Demonstrated experience leading product strategy or innovation functions in complex technical, data, AI, aerospace, defense, or mission-critical environments. Experience managing and developing teams, including setting priorities, operating rhythms, and accountability mechanisms. Strong ability to synthesize customer needs, market dynamics, emerging technologies, competitive signals, and business goals into clear product direction. Excellent executive communication skills, including the ability to present strategic recommendations, tradeoffs, and opportunity assessments to senior leadership. Has previously held a Senior Manager or Director-level role. Bonus Cargo Experience with AI, space domain awareness, data products, geospatial intelligence, defense technology, or other mission-critical software. Background leading design, research, or concept-validation programs in addition to product strategy. Experience building repeatable innovation processes, opportunity assessment frameworks, and roadmap governance models. Familiarity working with government, defense, intelligence, or commercial aerospace stakeholders. Location: Remote Salary: $210,000 - $240,000 (USD) US-based Candidates: we are currently only able to hire residents of the following U.S. states: AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, HI, IL, IN, KS, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OR, RI, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WV, and WI. We are unable to consider candidates residing in other U.S. states at this time. Internationally-based Candidates: we are currently only able to hire residents of the following locations: United Kingdom. We are unable to consider candidates residing in other countries at this time. US-based Candidates: we are currently only able to hire residents of the following U.S. states: AL, AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, HI, IL, IN, KS, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, RI, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI, WV We are unable to consider candidates residing in other U.S. states at this time. Internationally-based Candidates: we are currently only able to hire residents of the following locations: United Kingdom. We are unable to consider candidates residing in other countries at this time. Equity, Diversity & Inclusion are key to our success. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and our employees are people with different strengths, experiences, and backgrounds, who share a passion for creating a safer, more connected world. Diversity not only includes race and gender identity, but also national origin, citizenship, sex, color, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or any other protected characteristic that is part of one’s identity. All of our employees’ points of view are key to our success, and we embrace individuality.