Product Manager

Summary: Job Summary: We are seeking a strategic, technically curious, and results-driven Product Manager to own critical initiatives across VIAVI OSP's product lifecycle — from roadmap strategy and market intelligence through new product introduction (NPI) and post-launch performance. You will drive cross-functional alignment across R&D, engineering, manufacturing, sales, and marketing to ensure the right products reach the market on time and on target. You will also play a central role in shaping how our organization adopts AI to accelerate decision-making, streamline workflows, and sharpen our competitive edge. This is a high-visibility position with a clear growth path into product line management, reporting to a member of the VIAVI OSP Product Management team. VIAVI OSP is a capability-oriented business — we develop advanced thin film optical coating technologies and manufacture to customer specifications for integration into complex systems across defense, industrial, telecom, and life sciences applications. You will need to think in terms of capability platforms and market positioning, not just individual SKUs. Duties & Responsibilities: Key Responsibilities: Product Roadmap Management & Strategy: Roadmap Ownership: Own VIAVI’s rolling 3-year product and capability roadmap in collaboration with executive leadership, R&D, engineering, product management, and marketing aligned with VIAVI OSP's strategic objectives and our customers' system integration needs. New Project Initiation. Collaborate with colleagues in Product Management to drive growth in VIAVI SAM leveraging VIAVI’s staged gate process, including initiating business justifications for new Product Development and Technical Development programs. Prioritization & Trade-off Analysis: Facilitate prioritization of roadmap initiatives using market data, competitive intelligence, customer feedback, internal capability assessments, and resource constraints. Present prioritization recommendations to leadership with clear rationale. AI Strategy & Adoption AI Roadmap: Develop and own an internal AI adoption roadmap for the OSP product management organization identifying high-value use cases, evaluating tools, and setting measurable adoption goals. Pilot & Scale: Lead AI pilot projects within product management and NPI workflows, measure results, and scale successful implementations across teams. Enablement: Serve as the internal champion for AI tools (including Claude and other emerging platforms), providing training, developing best practices, and building organizational fluency. ROI & Measurement: Track and report on AI adoption metrics, time savings, and productivity gains to build the business case for continued investment. Market Research & Competitive Intelligence Market Analysis: Conduct and synthesize market research including TAM/SAM sizing, technology trend analysis, and competitive landscape mapping for target sectors. Voice of Customer: Develop and maintain structured voice-of-customer processes to inform roadmap priorities, capability investments, and go-to-market strategy. Competitive Positioning: Monitor competitor product launches, pricing, and capability development to identify threats, gaps, and opportunities for differentiation. Business Development Lead Generation: Propose new market segments for VIAVI SAM expansion and identify appropriate targets in collaboration with VIAVI PLM and marketing team members. Target Engagement: Engage potential customers and collaboration partners through direct outreach and marketing communications channels (including webinars and social media). New Product Introduction: Collaborate with R&D to launch NPI initiatives to support SAM expansion. Business Intelligence & Performance Analytics KPI Ownership: Define, build, and maintain dashboards and KPIs to measure product performance, launch effectiveness, and portfolio health. Financial Analysis: Analyze product-line financial performance relative to plan and peer benchmarks; surface insights and recommendations to leadership. Reporting: Prepare and present actionable business intelligence to stakeholders across the VIAVI organization on a regular cadence. Pre-Requisites / Skills / Experience Requirements: Required Qualifications: • Experience: 2+ years of experience in program management, NPI, or product management, preferably in a manufacturing or software technology environment. • Technical Acumen: Strong understanding of the product development lifecycle. Familiarity with thin film optical coatings a plus. • Data & Analytics: Proficient in modern data tools and comfortable working across platforms from spreadsheets and BI dashboards to SQL, Python, and AI-assisted analysis. Able to build KPIs, automate reporting, and turn messy data into clear decisions. • Cross-functional Leadership: Proven ability to influence across functional teams (Engineering, Sales, Manufacturing) and manage third-party partners. • Education: Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business Administration, or a related field. Preferred Qualifications: • Experience in high-volume hardware product introductions. • Programming proficiency in Python or similar scripting language, with the ability to automate workflows, build data pipelines, or develop internal tools that improve team productivity. • Familiarity with AI/ML frameworks, APIs, or prompt engineering demonstrated through personal projects, coursework, or professional application. • Experience with version control (Git) and comfort working in a terminal/CLI environment. Location: • Santa Rosa, California or Chandler, Arizona. If you have what it takes to push boundaries and seize opportunities, apply to join our team today. Job Posting Pay Range: 107,800 to 200,200 Exceptional qualifications, experience and location may impact salary. VIAVI offers a competitive benefits package that includes paid time off, health, life and disability insurance, 401(k), and a bonus program.