Founding Product Manager

ABOUT THE COMPANY

We're a European defence software startup operating between Paris and Warsaw. Our mission is to build modern software for hostile environments — our customers are European military and police units. We do not work on weapons systems or hardware products.

We're currently in stealth but have been recognised as one of France's top 20 seed-stage companies. We're backed by Europe's leading defence VC and strategic partners who include founders of well-known technology companies and defence specialists. Our founding team brings together deep software engineering experience, defence-sector research backgrounds, and operational special forces experience.

ABOUT THE ROLE

This is a founding-team role. As Founding Product Manager, you'll be the bridge between customers, engineering, and the business — working directly with the founders to shape what gets built and why. In the early phase, the focus will be heavily on customer and competitive research, particularly around state-of-the-art voice LLM systems. Over time, the role transitions into roadmap ownership and close collaboration with the engineering team to execute.

You'll need to be comfortable starting from scratch, handling ambiguity, engaging in rapid prototyping, and doing things that don't scale yet. This is not a role for someone who needs a mature process to be effective.

WHAT YOU'LL WORK ON

Customer research and discovery

Spend time directly with customers — military and emergency services units — to understand their needs, workflows, and the gap between current product capabilities and ideal solutions. Build a deep understanding of the competitive landscape, particularly in voice AI.

Engineering communication and prioritisation

Translate customer requirements into clear, prioritised inputs for the engineering team. Own the process of closing the gap between what the product does today and what customers need it to do.

Roadmap ownership

Work closely with the founders to align product development with overall business strategy. Manage the roadmap for the first products from the ground up.

Rapid prototyping and iteration

Be prepared to move fast, test assumptions quickly, and do things that don't scale in order to generate the signal needed to make better decisions.

WHAT WE LOOK FOR

Experience working with armed forces

Prior experience working within or alongside military or police organisations is essential. You understand how these customers think, communicate, and make decisions.

Security clearance eligibility

Ability to obtain French security clearance, or willingness to travel to Ukraine for customer engagements.

Comfort with ambiguity and zero-to-one work

You're energised by early-stage environments where the brief is incomplete and the path isn't defined. You build structure rather than wait for it.

Strong communication and stakeholder management

Able to operate fluently between technical engineering teams and non-technical operational customers, keeping both aligned without losing either.

Bonus

Founder or entrepreneurial experience. Familiarity with voice AI or LLM systems. Background in defence, intelligence, or emergency services.

THE TEAM

Small and deliberately assembled. The founding team brings together engineers with deep experience at a leading technology company, a former special forces commander with operational field experience, defence-sector PhDs, and ex-founders. It's a team built for this specific problem — technically rigorous, operationally credible, and moving fast.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

Salary

€60,000 – €110,000 depending on experience.

Equity

Meaningful equity as a founding team member.

Relocation

Sponsorship available for candidates relocating.