Chief Product Officer

Job Description

Job Description

Chief Product Officer

Location: NYC - Quarterly executive meetings and customer travel required.
Department: Product
Reports to: CEO

About AppGate

AppGate secures and protects an organization's most valuable assets with its high-performance Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) solution. AppGate is the only direct-routed ZTNA solution built for peak performance, superior protection, and seamless interoperability. AppGate safeguards Fortune 500 enterprises, federal agencies, and critical infrastructure operators worldwide. Learn more at appgate.com.

About the Role

The Chief Product Officer is responsible for defining AppGate's long-term product vision and translating that vision into market leadership, customer adoption, and revenue growth. The CPO serves as the strategic leader of the product organization and a public-facing authority on Zero Trust architecture. The role owns product strategy, portfolio monetization, analyst relations, customer advisory programs, and market expansion initiatives. The CPO also partners closely with the CEO, Board, and Executive Team to support the company's growth and exit objectives.

Key Responsibilities

Product Vision

• Develop and communicate a 1-3-5 year product vision for AppGate ZTNA and adjacent markets.
• Define market expansion opportunities across enterprise, government, OT, and AI security.
• Lead, represent, and communicate product strategy in line with the business's long-term goals and investor objectives.

Portfolio & Roadmap

• Define products and services and lead execution of the product strategy across all product lines and platforms.
• Drive the product lifecycle from concept through general availability and phase-out.
• Partner with Engineering on architecture priorities, release scope, and delivery tradeoffs - serving as a technical peer to R&D.
• Oversee competitive and landscape assessments; position the roadmap proactively to exceed customer expectations.

Monetization

• Own product packaging, pricing, module strategy, and cross-sell growth.
• Develop revenue and ARR targets by product line and module.

Market Intelligence

• Define TAM, SAM, and market segmentation models.
• Establish ideal customer profiles, buyer personas, and purchasing triggers.
• Connect research and market intelligence findings to client-specific opportunities and leverage insights to guide strategic decision-making.

External Presence & Thought Leadership

• Represent AppGate at RSA, Gartner, SINET, Zero Trust Summit, customer events, and analyst briefings.
• Build industry thought leadership through speaking engagements, media engagement, and published content.
• Demonstrate subject matter expertise to drive new ideas into the business and establish AppGate's position as a category leader.

Strategic Sales Engagement

• Participate in executive customer briefings and strategic sales opportunities.
• Act as a trusted advisor to CISOs, CIOs, CTOs, and government cyber leaders.
• Partner internally with key stakeholders to resolve issues arising throughout product implementation and evaluate performance through data and metrics.

Board & Investor Engagement

• Present product strategy and roadmap updates to the Board of Directors.
• Support investor due diligence, M&A discussions, and strategic planning initiatives.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of product management experience, with at least 5 years in a senior product leadership role at a B2B security, infrastructure, or SaaS company.
• Deep expertise in Zero Trust architecture, network security, identity security, SASE, or related cybersecurity markets.
• Experience leading product strategy for a product platform.
• Ability to challenge engineering organizations on architecture, priorities, release scope, and delivery tradeoffs.
• Demonstrated success bringing complex platform products to market in enterprise and/or government segments.
• Experience supporting highly regulated environments including federal government, defense, critical infrastructure, or financial services.
• Experience navigating dual-use markets — commercial enterprise and regulated government/defense customers.
• Strong executive presence with the ability to engage customers, analysts, partners, and boards.
• Track record of building and scaling high-performing product teams.
• Comfort operating in a focused-portfolio company with high-stakes customer relationships.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with FedRAMP, NIAP, or DoD security certification processes.
• Background in cybersecurity platforms serving financial services or critical infrastructure.
• Familiarity with OT/ICS environments or industrial security.
• Experience scaling a cybersecurity business through rapid growth, private equity ownership, strategic acquisition, or public-company transition.

Compensation

• Base salary range: $275,000 to $325,000
• Bonus: 25-30%
• Equity participation

AppGate is An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and a federal contractor subject to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 as amended, and their corresponding regulations. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status, age or any other federally protected class. Further, AppGate is an affirmative action employer committed to taking positive steps to employ, advance in employment and otherwise afford equal employment opportunity to protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. In furtherance of AppGate’s policy regarding affirmative action and equal employment opportunity, AppGate has developed a written affirmative action program. This program is available for review upon request by any applicant or employee during normal business hours by contacting the company’s EEO Coordinator.