Director, Program Management

About the Role

Apium Swarm Robotics (ASR) is revolutionizing swarm autonomy software for air, surface, undersea, and ground vehicles operating across dual-use commercial and defense environments. Our systems are deployed on real platforms, tested in the field, and delivered to customers operating in complex, uncertain, and safety-critical conditions. We do not build research prototypes or slideware. Our software is integrated into real vehicles, tested in the field, and delivered to customers who depend on operational reliability, speed of execution, and mission relevance. We prioritize performance over hype. ASR systems represent the next phase in autonomy: collaborative swarming. These are not like pre-programmed drones for light shows. We are creating real-time cooperative management that lets one operator control dozens to hundreds of vehicles in real-time with the ease of controlling a single vehicle. As such, this role requires comfort with responsibility, ambiguity, and operational accountability.

ASR seeks a Director of Program Management for Air Systems to own the execution, requirements, and test strategy behind Apium's family of unmanned air systems. This is a senior, cross-functional leadership role that sits at the intersection of product management, test and evaluation, and program and event execution — accountable for making sure ASR's air systems are well-specified, exhaustively tested, and delivered through events and demonstrations that meet both mission and margin objectives.

On the product side, you will own the product requirements documentation for all of ASR's air systems — working with ASR leadership to ensure requirements reflect company vision and customer expectations, and are detailed enough to be actioned directly by the engineering team. On the test side, you will develop and own the test strategy for current and future air systems across software and hardware, spanning software-in-the-loop (SITL), hardware-in-the-loop (HITL), and real-world flight testing, partnering with DevSecOps, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Manufacturing to ensure coverage across all modalities. On the program side, you will own execution of both paid events and strategic demonstrations, tracking cost and revenue at the event level to ensure gross profit margin targets are met. You will also serve as ASR's coordination point with Red Cat's global product management organization, documenting and tracking Apium's dependencies on other Red Cat air platforms and tying them together in Jira so that cross-program commitments are visible and managed.

This position is an individual contributor at the director level today, with an explicit pathway to build a program management team as ASR scales. The right candidate is comfortable operating strategically — owning requirements, test strategy, and margin accountability at a functional level — while personally executing the work and building the processes the next several hires will inherit. Travel may be required for events, demonstrations, and flight testing.

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end execution of paid events and strategic demonstrations, establishing integrated plans spanning scope, schedule, milestones, dependencies, and budget, with direct accountability for event-level cost, revenue, and gross-margin performance
• Own test strategy and execution across the full development lifecycle for current and future air systems, including system-level verification and validation, test phasing, and prioritization across SITL, HITL, ground, and flight-test environments
• Coordinate cross-functional test execution across DevSecOps, Electrical, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Engineering to ensure comprehensive coverage of every hardware and software modality, managing test readiness and risk at each gate
• Develop, own, and publish product requirements documents and roadmaps for ASR's air systems, serving as the voice of the customer and translating operational needs and leadership vision into a prioritized product direction
• Decompose ambiguous, complex requirements into concrete, engineering-actionable specifications, partnering hands-on with engineering to scope features and drive execution through the full product lifecycle
• Serve as ASR's coordination point with Red Cat's global product management organization, documenting and actively managing cross-platform dependencies and interlocking commitments in Jira
• Establish disciplined, auditable change-management and requirements-traceability processes that remain responsive to short-horizon, high-priority business needs
• Capture and distill feedback from customers and partners to identify new business development and product-offering opportunities, feeding them into ASR's product roadmap and growth strategy
• Establish and lead a consistent cadence of program reviews, surfacing critical-path risks, bottlenecks, and mitigation options to executive leadership
• Build and mature the program-management processes, tooling, and documentation standards that will scale as ASR's air-systems portfolio grows

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in program management, product management, systems engineering, or test and evaluation, including demonstrated ownership of a function or major program
• Demonstrated experience owning product requirements for a hardware or hardware-plus-software product, from vision through engineering-actionable specification
• Demonstrated experience developing and executing test plans across simulation and real-world environments, ideally including SITL, HITL, and live flight or field testing
• Experience owning program or event execution with direct accountability for cost, revenue, or margin outcomes
• Strong cross-functional leadership skills, with a track record coordinating software, electrical, mechanical, and manufacturing teams toward a shared delivery
• Rigorous approach to change management and documentation, balanced with the pragmatism to move quickly on high-priority business needs
• Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to brief executive leadership and translate between technical teams and business stakeholders
• Working technical fluency with unmanned air systems, autonomy, or comparable complex engineered systems — sufficient to earn the trust of engineering teams
• Comfort working independently with limited oversight
• Ability to remain calm and effective under operational pressure

Additional Desired Qualifications

• Prior experience at a defense technology startup or scale-up, particularly during commercial-to-defense transition
• Prior US military service, particularly in aviation, test and evaluation, operational planning, or program management roles
• Direct experience with UAS, counter-UAS, or autonomous air platform programs
• Formal test and evaluation (T&E) background, including test plan development, verification and validation, and requirements traceability
• Experience managing programs within a multi-subsidiary or matrixed corporate structure with cross-organization dependencies
• Familiarity with SITL/HITL frameworks, autopilot ecosystems (PX4, ArduPilot, MAVLink), or comparable systems
• Experience with product requirements and program tooling such as Jira, Confluence, DOORS, or comparable systems
• PMP, SAFe, or comparable program-management certification
• Experience building or scaling a program management or product management function from the ground up
• Familiarity with ITAR/EAR and defense acquisition or contracting environments
• Experience owning P&L or event-level margin accountability for demonstrations, trials, or customer programs
• Advanced degree in engineering, business, or a related field
• U.S. security clearance or ability to obtain one

Physical Requirements And Working Conditions

• Must be able to walk, stand, and navigate large indoor and outdoor facilities for extended periods of time
• Ability to lift, carry, and move materials and equipment weighing up to 25 lbs on a regular basis
• Use of personal protective equipment (PPE) may be required in designated areas or when performing specific tasks, in accordance with safety protocols and company policy
• May be required to climb ladders, stoop, kneel, or crouch during inspections, maintenance walk-throughs, or emergency response situations
• Regular exposure to facility operations including noise, dust, temperature fluctuations, and industrial equipment
• Occasional off-hours or weekend work required for emergency facility responses or projects as needed
• Requires frequent use of a computer and other standard office equipment for documentation, communication, and coordination tasks
• Requirement to travel up to 25% of the time, based on customer integration needs and operational requirements

Pay

Salary: 176K-205.92K plus bonus, equity and benefits