Principal Partnerships Manager, Product

Meet Slingshot
At Slingshot Aerospace, we're on a mission to make space safer and more secure for everyone. Our work directly impacts global security, disaster response, climate monitoring, and the critical infrastructure that connects our world. We're a team of builders, thinkers, and problem-solvers who believe that the next generation of space operations will be powered by better data and smarter software. We move fast, we're not afraid to fail, and we believe the best ideas can come from anywhere-whether you're in engineering, sales, product, or operations. If you want to work on something that truly matters, with people who care deeply about the impact we're making and help shape the future of an industry that's just getting started, you're in the right place.
What You'll Be Launching
The Principal Partnerships Manager, Product builds strategic partnerships that expand product value, open new markets, and strengthen competitive positioning. This role partners closely with Sales, Product Management, and Product Strategy & Innovation teams to align external opportunities to product goals, while leading the marketplace experience across government and commercial ecosystems.
You will identify, structure, and scale partnerships that create measurable strategic and commercial value - representing Slingshot Aerospace with senior government and industry stakeholders. We are looking for a credible, well-established partnerships leader who can connect ecosystem opportunities to product strategy, marketplace adoption, and long-term growth.
Slingshot Aerospace cares deeply about our commitment to company values, mission, and purpose. The core competencies we will be looking to identify include: intellectual agility, ability to develop innovative solutions, leadership, performance-orientation, and industry expertise.
Your Mission (Should you choose to accept it)
Strategic Product Partnerships

• Build strategic product partnerships that support growth, expand product value, and strengthen competitive positioning.

• Align partnership opportunities with product objectives, roadmap priorities, market strategy, and customer needs.

• Structure partnerships that drive measurable strategic, product, and commercial value.

Marketplace & Ecosystem Strategy

• Lead marketplace strategy to improve partner engagement, adoption, differentiation, and ecosystem value.

• Identify new market, ecosystem, and competitive opportunities across government and commercial environments.

• Create a repeatable approach to evaluating, negotiating, launching, and managing product partnerships.

Cross-functional Launch & Scale

• Partner closely with Sales, Product Management, Product Strategy & Innovation, and other cross-functional teams to launch and scale partnerships effectively.

• Coordinate internal stakeholders around partnership requirements, product implications, marketplace readiness, and GTM enablement.

• Provide regular updates on partnership activity, pipeline, partner health, and business impact.

External Stakeholder Engagement

• Represent the company with senior government, industry, and ecosystem stakeholders.

• Develop trusted relationships with partners, agencies, integrators, technology providers, and other strategic external stakeholders.

• Travel as needed to support partner development, marketplace engagement, customer meetings, and industry events.

Pre-flight Checklist

• 8-12+ years of experience in strategic partnerships, business development, product partnerships, alliances, marketplace strategy, or related roles.

• Well established in external partnership environments, with demonstrated credibility engaging senior stakeholders.

• Experience working with or for government, defense, intelligence, aerospace, or other mission-oriented organizations.

• Demonstrated success identifying, negotiating, launching, or scaling partnerships that create measurable strategic or commercial impact.

• Strong cross-functional leadership skills and ability to align Sales, Product, Strategy, Innovation, and other internal stakeholders around partnership priorities.

• Has previously held a Lead or Staff level role.

• Active TS/SCI Security Clearance

Bonus Cargo

• Policy experience or familiarity with government acquisition, defense innovation, public-sector partnerships, or regulated markets.

• Experience with product-led partnerships, marketplaces, partner ecosystems, APIs, data products, AI-enabled products, or mission-critical software.

• Existing relationships across government, commercial space, aerospace, defense, intelligence, or adjacent technology ecosystems.

• Familiarity with product strategy, roadmap alignment, partner enablement, and GTM collaboration.

Location: Remote - This role requires up to 70% travel, including international travel.
Salary: $210,000 - $332,000 (USD)
US-based Candidates: we are currently only able to hire residents of the following U.S. states: AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, HI, IL, IN, KS, MD, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OR, RI, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, WV, and WI. We are unable to consider candidates residing in other U.S. states at this time.
Internationally-based Candidates: we are currently only able to hire residents of the following locations: United Kingdom. We are unable to consider candidates residing in other countries at this time.
US-based Candidates: we are currently only able to hire residents of the following U.S. states: AL, AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, HI, IL, IN, KS, MA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, RI, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI, WV We are unable to consider candidates residing in other U.S. states at this time.
Internationally-based Candidates: we are currently only able to hire residents of the following locations: United Kingdom. We are unable to consider candidates residing in other countries at this time.
Equity, Diversity & Inclusion are key to our success. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and our employees are people with different strengths, experiences, and backgrounds, who share a passion for creating a safer, more connected world. Diversity not only includes race and gender identity, but also national origin, citizenship, sex, color, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or any other protected characteristic that is part of one's identity. All of our employees' points of view are key to our success, and we embrace individuality.