Product Manager (Mission Planning Operations/Ground Terminal Management)

ABOUT SPHINX

Sphinx builds software to solve complex national security problems in Space. Founded by engineers and technologists with deep experience across commercial and defense technology, we were frustrated by the outdated and insecure technology America's service members are forced to rely on. We're here to do better. 

We’re focused on building modern, scalable products with an emphasis on using open source technologies. Expect talented, motivated, and interesting colleagues who emphasize collaboration, transparency, and individual responsibility.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Sphinx is hiring a Product Manager – Mission Planning Operations/Ground Terminal Management to join our team building the next generation of mission planning, satellite command and control, and ground terminal software for U.S. Government space programs.

As the Product Manager for the Ops & Terminals IPT, you will lead product direction and execution across multiple Agile development teams, with a particular focus on satellite control and telemetry, RF terminal management, and Mission Planning Operator workflows. You will serve as the primary connection between operator user groups, program technical leadership, and engineering, and you will be responsible for ensuring that user needs are understood, translated into prioritized software features, and met through the development and delivery of software features.

You will be a key advocate for the operator, collecting direct user feedback when available and applying your own domain expertise when it is not. Success in this role requires enough technical and operational depth to understand how satellite and terminal operators work, anticipate their needs, and make informed product decisions without relying solely on prescriptive customer requirements.

What you will be focusing on:

• Serving as the primary user advocate for the Ops & Terminals IPT, representing operator needs and balancing them with the broader software and product strategy throughout the development lifecycle.
• Owning feature-level priorities across Program Increments (PIs), partnering with team leads and Product Owners to break features into sprint-level stories and tasks, while maintaining alignment across IPT dependencies and broader program priorities.
• Applying expertise in satellite command and control, telemetry, RF terminal management, and ground operations to inform product decisions and development priorities.
• Translating high-level technical modules, mission objectives, and operational needs into prioritized feature-level requirements, partnering with team leads and Product Owners to support decomposition into sprint-level stories and tasks.
• Owning and managing the feature roadmap across multiple Program Increments (PIs) and ensuring priorities align with broader program execution timelines.
• Serving as the primary point of contact for designated operator and customer user groups, gathering, defining, and validating requirements and incorporating feedback into product priorities.
• Acting as the voice of the user when direct feedback is limited, using domain expertise and operational context to guide product decisions and prevent development from drifting away from actual user needs.
• Owning and prioritizing product backlogs and clearly communicating what engineering should build, why it matters, and what successful delivery looks like.
• Coordinating across Agile teams, technical leads, and peer Product Managers to identify and resolve cross-team and cross-track dependencies.
• Partnering with engineering and program leadership to manage scope, priorities, risks, and tradeoffs as mission and program needs evolve.
• Participating in relevant program and technical boards to support scope adjustments, requirements decisions, and priority tradeoffs.
• Supporting demonstrations and technical documentation that communicate product capabilities and validate solutions with users and stakeholders.

You might be a good fit if you have:

• 8+ years of experience working on or leading software product development teams delivering functional software.
• Demonstrated exp