Lead development of software products for aerospace and defense sectors, focusing on user-centric solutions, customer insights, and cross-functional execution.
[ABOUT ISTARI DIGITAL]
Istari is a digital engineering software company enabling our customers to turn the physical world into the digital to accomplish their specific mission or business objectives.
Istari was founded with the vision of making open, scalable digital engineering ecosystems a reality – where new technologies and systems are created digitally, free from the real-world constraints of costs and schedules. We are creating the world’s best engineering model sharing platform, allowing our customers to simply and securely integrate their models across different engineering disciplines, organizations, and security levels.
At Istari, we are passionate about our mission of creating the world's first open and scalable industrial metaverse. Whether our customers are designing prototypes, performing virtual testing, or training AI and autonomy for complex systems, we know that going digital will save them time, resources, and reduce their environmental impact.
While we are a distributed team with most team-members working remotely, we place an emphasis on staying connected and collaborative, prioritizing in-person opportunities to build trust as a team. At Istari, we still believe that trust is best built in-person. To do this, we have an engineering headquarters in Cambridge, MA for focused technical development and several times per year we gather for an off-site that allows us to develop our professional skills and our team relationships.
[VALUES]
At Istari, we live by our values, which include:
Purposeful Autonomy
We value letting people self-organize and self-motivate.
Our flat structure and lack of meeting clutter are meant to empower individuals and teams to be proactive.
Our autonomy is measured, goal-oriented, and results-driven – not meandering.
Clear objectives help us prioritize our time.
Smart Transparency
We believe in honest-but-kind communication, transparency, and open-door policies.
We love learning about challenges and tackling them early, not hearing good or bad news late.
We share work-in-progress across our team.
Fast feedback keeps autonomy purposeful.
Continual Curiosity
At Istari, we love learning to do things ourselves.
We ask, read, share, teach – even watch YouTube videos – to learn new skills to solve problems.
When we make breakthroughs, we write them down.
Writing focuses ideas, helps us learn, and helps us share.
Equal Opportunity
Istari is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran status, or disability status.
We are seeking a strategic, execution-oriented Principal Product Manager to lead the development of complex, high-impact software products serving aerospace engineering and defense customers. This role is ideal for a seasoned product leader with deep experience shaping product vision, validating hypotheses through customer insight, and driving cross-functional teams toward delivery in high-stakes, secure environments.
As a key member of the product leadership team, you will play a pivotal role in defining and delivering user-centric solutions that meet mission-critical needs. Your background in software engineering or product development—particularly in the Department of Defense (DoD), aerospace, or other cleared work environments—will be instrumental to your success.
Key Responsibilities
- Product Discovery & Strategy: Formulate and test product hypotheses through rigorous customer research, data analysis, and competitive intelligence. Translate market needs and customer challenges into clear product strategies and roadmaps. Advocate for customer-centric thinking across engineering, design, and go-to-market teams.
- Customer Insight & Validation: Lead qualitative and quantitative user research initiatives, including interviews with technical end-users, engineers, and government stakeholders. Prioritize customer outcomes over feature requests, ensuring problem-solution fit before committing to development.
- Collaboration & Execution: Work closely with UX, design, and engineering teams to deliver intuitive, elegant experiences in technically complex domains. Manage and communicate product priorities, ensuring alignment with overall business and mission objectives. Navigate technical trade-offs and constraints, particularly in secure or air-gapped computing environments.
- Leadership & Mentorship: Guide cross-functional teams through ambiguity, fostering a culture of iterative learning and delivery. Mentor junior product managers and contribute to the evolution of product practices across the organization.
Required Qualifications
- 10+ years of experience in product management, software engineering, or a combination thereof, with increasing levels of responsibility and impact.
- Proven ability to define and deliver products in technical domains—ideally including simulation tools, CAD/CAM software, or digital engineering workflows, or alternatively developer tooling.
- Demonstrated success in conducting effective customer interviews and distilling insights into actionable product direction.
- Deep experience collaborating with UX and design teams to develop highly usable technical tools.
- Outstanding communication, stakeholder management, and presentation skills.
- Hands-on experience in early-stage startup environments, with a demonstrated ability to thrive in ambiguity, wear multiple hats, and deliver with limited resources.
Preferred Qualifications
- Prior experience building software for aerospace engineering or Department of Defense (DoD) customers.
- Comfort working in cleared or secure environments and understanding of related compliance requirements (e.g., ITAR, FedRAMP, CMMC).
- Exposure to modeling and simulation (M&S), PLM systems, or other digital engineering platforms.
- Background in a STEM discipline or direct experience as a software engineer.
Why Join Us
Istari is building next-generation tools for digital engineering — supporting some of the most ambitious and mission-critical work in aerospace, defense, and beyond. You’ll work on a thoughtful, fast-moving team that values autonomy, engineering craft, and product intuition. We take design seriously and invest deeply in quality.
We're remote-first but gather regularly in-person for collaboration and team-building. You’ll also have access to co-working space in Boston and Washington D.C. if you’re local to those areas.
Interested?
We’d love to hear from you. Apply with your resume!
Istari Digital is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We will consider qualified applicants without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, disability status, medical condition, pregnancy, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.
BENEFITS
We offer highly competitive benefits, including:
Health and Family
- Medical/Dental/Vision
- Employee Premiums are 100% Company Paid
- Life Insurance
- Flexible Work Hours
- Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO) with federal government holidays
Financial
- Competitive Compensation
- 401k
- Company Stock Options
- Home Office Setup Budget
Learning
- Reimbursement for approved trainings and subscriptions
- Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)
Note - some benefits are not available to interns or contractors.
Thank you for your interest in Istari. Expect to hear back from us soon with next steps.
Top Skills
Cad/Cam Software
Developer Tooling
Digital Engineering Workflows
Modeling And Simulation
Plm Systems
Software Engineering
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