Senior/Staff Product Manager (U. S. Air Force)

About Skylight

Skylight is a digital consultancy using design and technology to help government agencies deliver better public services.

We’re at the forefront of a civic movement to reinvent how all levels of government serve families, patients, and many others in today's digital world.

If you want to play a part in driving this critical movement forward, we’d love for you to join our growing team of public interest technologists.

The work we do matters.

About the job

At Skylight, product managers are responsible for strategy, planning, execution, stakeholder management, and team health. Product managers partner with researchers, designers, engineers, client stakeholders, and others to inform their product decisions. At a high level, it’s the product manager’s job to figure out what to build next and why.

In this role, you’ll partner with a mission-critical organization within the U.S. Air Force Special Operations community to modernize complex user experience journeys that underpin highly specialized operations. Leveraging your strengths in human-centered design and digital modernization, you’ll help deliver secure, scalable solutions that measurably improve usability, operational efficiency, and mission readiness. You will be responsible for managing and scaling a portfolio of software applications for the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) through our BESPIN partnership. Your primary focus will be on mobile application and team delivery.

What you’ll do

• Lead a cross-functional, cross-organizational team of researchers, designers, engineers, and subject matter experts to deliver high-impact products and services
• Translate user and partner needs into a cohesive product strategy that outlines vision, objectives, success metrics, product roadmap, and backlog
• Manage product direction and scope — from early user research through implementation
• Write and prioritize user stories, then organize them into clear release plans
• Facilitate team ceremonies like planning sessions, stakeholder syncs, and retrospectives
• Leverage data and feedback to inform the product roadmap, making thoughtful decisions about priorities and trade-offs
• Collaborate closely with government teams to share digital skills and product knowledge
• Navigate bureaucratic complexities with creativity, helping simplify processes along the way
• Coordinate with government partners to ensure seamless integration with their existing tools and processes

What we're looking for

Minimum qualifications

• Solid understanding of lean product principles (like MVP) and how to apply them across the product life cycle to reduce risk, validate assumptions, and speed up learning
• Experience with greenfield product development
• Ability to craft a product strategy that’s rooted in a clear problem definition, focuses on outcomes (not just features), and includes success criteria
• Proven skill in executing that strategy by breaking down scope into smaller, high-value chunks, maintaining a prioritized backlog of validated user stories, and guiding the team through iterative development
• A strong technical background that lets you discuss operational needs, system reliability, and technical constraints — and then turn that knowledge into a user-focused roadmap
• Understanding of human-centered design and how it can drive product direction
• Comfort working across disciplines — researchers, designers, engineers, etc. — to get things done
• Experience managing clients and stakeholders in a way that builds trust, alignment, and a healthy team environment
• Knowledge of various software development methodologies (e.g., agile, lean) and how to put them into practice
• Demonstrated ownership of end-to-end product delivery in complex technical systems
• Experience leading cross-functional deliv