Job Summary:
Detroit Defense is a company that delivers mission-critical solutions to enhance national security. They are seeking a Product Line Director for Vehicle Modernization to own the product portfolio's definition, configuration discipline, and roadmap execution, ensuring execution predictability and expanding into next-generation modernization kits.
Responsibilities:
• Define standard configurations for ABS/ESC, drive-by-wire, capability-enhancement kits, and related modernization offerings.
• Maintain product documentation including feature sets, interfaces, variant structures, and configuration baselines used by sales and execution teams.
• Establish clear configuration baselines for sales and execution teams.
• Identify and reduce unnecessary product variants to improve design reuse and execution predictability.
• Develop and maintain a multi-year Vehicle Modernization product roadmap that sequences feature releases based on ROI and execution capacity.
• Align roadmap timing with Engineering feasibility and program demand, partnering with the Director of Engineering on capacity and the Director of Programs on delivery schedules.
• Sunset legacy configurations when appropriate and guide transitions to next-generation kits.
• Evaluate non-standard customer requests for modernization kits, approve or escalate configuration deviations based on impact, and quantify the margin, schedule, and complexity trade-offs of each exception.
• Track and report exception trends to the VP, PLM.
• Maintain exception governance records and communicate trends to inform product strategy.
• Understand cost drivers and margin performance by product configuration.
• Partner with Finance to maintain product-level P&L visibility across configurations.
• Identify cost reduction and design reuse opportunities across the modernization portfolio.
• Support pricing guidance through clear configuration definition.
• Provide Business Development with clearly defined sellable product packages.
• Provide Programs Execution with stable scope and baseline definitions to support on-schedule delivery.
• Partner with Engineering on design standardization and reuse, and represent the modernization portfolio in product forums, gate reviews, and roadmap decisions.
• Align with VP, PLM and Director, Engineering on roadmap priorities.
Qualifications:
Required:
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, or a related technical discipline from an accredited college or university.
• Must be able to obtain and maintain a U.S. Secret Security Clearance.
• A minimum of 10 years of experience in product management, program management, or a related role within the defense or technology industry, with at least three years managing a P&L or a defined product line.
• Demonstrated success managing the full product lifecycle of ground vehicle systems or subsystems, from definition through fielding.
• Strong technical fluency across vehicle modernization subsystems, including braking and stability control (ABS/ESC), drive-by-wire, powertrain, suspension, and armor integration.
• Proven ability to enforce configuration discipline, manage variant complexity, and drive design reuse across a product portfolio.
• Experience with product economics and P&L management, including cost reduction and margin improvement initiatives.
• Knowledge of U.S. military acquisition and procurement processes.
Preferred:
• A Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) is preferred.
Company:
Detroit Defense is a defense company specializing in engineering, systems integration, and digital logistic services for the U.S. military. Founded in 2015, the company is headquartered in Troy, USA, with a team of 201-500 employees. The company is currently Growth Stage.