Technical Strategy Manager H/F

<h3>About Alta Ares</h3><p style="min-height:1.5em"><br />Alta Ares is an air defense Neoprime. We build AI-guided interceptors to counter drones and cruise missiles, along with the software platform that powers them.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">Our customers are NATO-aligned militaries and defense institutions, and our systems are regularly deployed during live exercises and operational demonstrations across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em">Founded in 2024, we have grown to 90 people, raised over $60M, and increased revenue 40× this year. We are now entering a new phase of international expansion, industrial scaling, fundraising, and product development.</p><h2><strong>Context</strong></h2><p style="min-height:1.5em">We are looking for hybrid profile, sitting at the intersection of strategy and engineering, able to rigorously evaluate the technology choices made by the R&amp;D and innovation teams, audit our internal capabilities, and challenge product/tech trade-offs with a business lens. This is not a technical team management role, but a role of constructive counter-power and strategic alignment between engineering and business priorities.</p><h2></h2><p style="min-height:1.5em">You will ensure that our technological decisions (R&amp;D, innovation, architecture choices, build vs buy, roadmap prioritization) are aligned with overall strategy, economically sound, and robust by actively challenging the relevant teams rather than rubber-stamping their proposals.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p><h2><strong>Role &amp; Missions: </strong></h2><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Strategic and technical challenge</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Challenge the technical choices and roadmaps proposed by R&amp;D and the Innovation team (architecture, stack, prioritization, build vs buy vs partner)</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Question the underlying assumptions behind technical projects (feasibility, ROI, strategic alignment, technical debt incurred)</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Produce well-argued, independent analyses not rubber-stamped validations</p><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Technology and market watch</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Run continuous technical and technology watch (competitors, emerging technologies, market trends, new tools, and platforms) to keep the company's decisions informed by the state of the art</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Identify technologies or approaches that could create a competitive advantage, or expose the company to being left behind</p></li></ul><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Turn watch findings into actionable inputs for the R&amp;D/Innovation roadmap and for COMEX-level strategic discussions</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Build and maintain a structured watch process (sources, cadence, internal distribution) rather than ad hoc monitoring</p><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Capability audit</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Regularly map and assess the company's technical capabilities (skills, tools, infrastructure, external dependencies)</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Identify areas of risk, over-investment, under-investment, or critical dependency</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Benchmark our capabilities against the market and competitors</p><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Technology strategy</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Contribute to defining the company's technology strategy alongside the Strategy &amp; Operations Director</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Assess build, buy, partner, or acquisition opportunities on technology topics</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Inform R&amp;D resource allocation decisions with a strategic and financial lens</p><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Reporting and governance</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Produce syntheses and recommendations for COMEX on tech-strategy topics</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Set up tracking indicators on technical execution vs. commitments made</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Participate in R&amp;D/Innovation committees as an independent strategic voice</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p><h2><strong>Candidate profile</strong></h2><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Experience</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">5-6 years of overall experience, engineering background (degree in engineering or equivalent)</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Ideal trajectory: 2-3 years of hands-on technical execution, followed by 2-3 years in a hybrid technical/business role e.g. Engineer → Technical Product Manager, Engineer → tech-focused strategy consulting, or Engineer → Chief of Staff to a CTO/VP Engineering</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Profiles with only pure execution experience (no exposure to business trade-offs) or only early technical experience followed by years of generalist consulting (no longer technically credible) are not a fit for this role</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Given the seniority level, the candidate should compensate for limited years of experience with either deep, recognized expertise in a specific technical domain (enough to be seen as a peer by R&amp;D on that topic) or a strong, proven track record of challenging senior stakeholders from a strategy/consulting background.</p><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Technical skills</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Hands-on experience in a technical environment (dev, data, tech product, architecture, not consulting-only exposure)</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Demonstrated ability to understand architecture choices and technical trade-offs, and to assess their relevance</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Comfortable engaging as a peer with CTOs, tech leads, and senior engineers</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Able to speak in concrete, specific terms about a real technical decision they challenged or questioned</p><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Strategy / business skills</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Ability to translate technical issues into business implications, and vice versa</p><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"><strong>Critical soft skills</strong></p><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Strong critical thinking and independence of judgment</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Able to distinguish a genuine technical risk from a mere communication gap</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Natural credibility: earns legitimacy through the rigor of the analysis, not through hierarchy</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p><h2><strong>Success indicators (by month 12)</strong></h2><ul style="min-height:1.5em"><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Technical capability map completed and kept up to date</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">A structured technology watch process in place, with regular outputs reaching R&amp;D/Innovation and COMEX</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Number of R&amp;D/Innovation decisions meaningfully redirected following a well-argued challenge</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Perceived quality of recommendations by COMEX and by the technical teams themselves</p></li><li><p style="min-height:1.5em">Measurable reduction in the gap between technical roadmap and strategic priorities</p></li></ul><p style="min-height:1.5em"></p><p>Find <a href="https://www.arbeitnow.fr">Jobs in France</a> on Arbeitnow</a>