Senior Director of Product Management

Role Description

SandboxAQ’s AI Simulation (AISim) division develops and applies Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) that are grounded in physics, chemistry, mathematics, and biology to simulate molecular behavior with scientific precision and accelerate discovery in the physical world across biopharma, chemicals, advanced materials, healthcare, and more.

The AISim division is seeking an exceptional Senior Director of Product Management to own the strategy, roadmap, and commercial trajectory of the ChemSim business — SandboxAQ's AI-driven materials discovery platform. This is a dual-mandate leadership role:

• Be the primary product driver for SandboxAQ's $500M CHIPS Act R&D award from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
• Ensure the team delivers against the program's contractual milestone gates across four critical-material verticals — Catalysis, Batteries, Magnets, and PFAS Replacements.
• Build the commercial foundation that transforms ChemSim from a government-funded R&D program into a product-led growth business generating durable, recurring revenue from the broader materials discovery market.

Reporting to the Vice President of Product, this leader will manage a team of 4 PM ICs — one per contracted vertical — while partnering closely with the Senior Director of Platform PM in a two-in-a-box model. Beyond the CHIPS mandate, they will own the ChemSim go-to-market strategy, pricing and packaging, and expansion into adjacent verticals including oil and gas, energy, specialty chemicals, and advanced manufacturing.

This is a once-in-a-career opportunity to shape a category-defining AI platform for materials science at the intersection of national security, scientific discovery, and commercial scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end ChemSim product strategy, vision, and roadmap — spanning CHIPS Act contractual deliverables, vertical platform depth, and commercial expansion into new markets.
• Hire, develop, and lead a team of 3-4 PM ICs across the Catalysis, Batteries, PFAS, and Magnets verticals — driving key deliverables personally until the team is fully ramped.
• Partner with the Senior Director of PM, Core Platform in a two-in-a-box model to define, prioritize, and sequence the platform capabilities required to support ChemSim's contractual and commercial milestones.
• Own the ChemSim commercial strategy: define the go-to-market approach, pricing and packaging model, and customer segmentation for semiconductor ecosystem customers and expansion verticals (oil and gas, energy, specialty chemicals, advanced manufacturing).
• Build and manage strategic partner relationships at the product level — with fabs, equipment OEMs, chemical suppliers, national laboratories, and manufacturing partners — translating partner requirements into platform and vertical product features.
• Establish a data-driven operating rhythm: define the metrics that matter across both contract performance (validated MVP candidates, dataset quality, workflow adoption) and commercial KPIs (ARR, net revenue retention, expansion pipeline), and drive course corrections against OKRs.
• Develop and defend build-vs-buy and build-vs-partner decisions for domain-specific scientific engines, LQMs, and validation tooling across ChemSim verticals.
• Serve as the primary product voice to DOC/CRDO program stakeholders, semiconductor ecosystem partners, and prospective commercial customers for ChemSim.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in product management, including 5+ years managing teams of individual contributors.
• Strong domain expertise in materials science, chemistry, chemical engineering, or an adjacent scientific discipline.
• Track record shipping AI/ML-driven scientific or engineering platform products at enterprise scale.
• Experience building and executing B2B go-to-market strategy for technical software.
• Comfort navigating deep ambiguity: translating unclear scientific and customer problems into structured roadmaps, success criteria, and measurable outcomes.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• MBA, or equivalent business leadership and P&L experience.

Highly Desired Skills & Experience

• Experience in or deep familiarity with ChemSim's target commercial verticals: semiconductor manufacturing, oil and gas, energy storage, specialty chemicals, or advanced manufacturing.
• Prior experience engaging with semiconductor ecosystem partners at the product or business development level.
• Track record building product-led growth motions for technical or scientific software platforms.
• Physically located in the Greater Seattle Metropolitan area or SF Bay Area.
• Experience working on U.S. government R&D programs — CHIPS Act, DARPA, DOE, or equivalent.

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents with generous employer premium contributions.
• Retirement savings with company matching.
• Paid parental leave and inclusive family-building benefits.
• Fully remote, flexible paid time off, company-wide seasonal breaks, and support for flexible work arrangements.
• Opportunities for continuous learning and growth through on-the-job development, cross-functional collaboration, and access to internal learning and development programs.