Country Operations Manager - Ukraine

Country Operations Manager — Ukraine

Company: Series-A defense-technology startup
Product: Defense-Tech Hardware 
Location: Kyiv, Ukraine — full time, in-country
Compensation: $150-$200K USD + Equity

---

About the Role

The Product Operations Manager – Ukraine is the primary in-country lead for this series-A company's product in Ukraine. This is a broad, hybrid role spanning customer success, account management, supply chain support, product, program, and go-to-market. The product is built and unit relationships already exist — the mission is to get it into real operators' hands and keep it operational. The work facilitates live operations with real-world impact.

The role is supported by an established in-country team in Ukraine that provides logistics, customs, and other in-country support, so this is a leadership-and-orchestration seat, not a solo grind.

Location & Travel

• Based in Kyiv, Ukraine, full time and in-country.
• Roughly one week out of every two months in the USA visiting company offices.
• Additional travel as needed (e.g., training exercises) and within Ukraine for unit visits, launches, and operations.
• Normal PTO permitted

Responsibilities

• Serve as the face of the product in Ukraine — representing the company to military units, government counterparts, and partner organizations.
• Own end-to-end product delivery and fielding within Ukraine: unit onboarding through sustained operations and feedback collection.
• Build and maintain relationships with Ukrainian military units and government stakeholders to drive adoption, gather feedback, and identify new opportunities.
• Lead customer success — conduct training, resolve operational issues, and ensure units are mission-ready.
• Own account management for fielded units and stakeholders.
• Coordinate supply chain support, logistics, and deployment timelines in-country, leveraging the local team and collaborating closely with the U.S.-based team.
• Develop and execute a localized go-to-market and expansion plan — identifying new units and use cases.
• Translate field insights into actionable product feedback for engineering and product.
• Manage program milestones, reporting, and documentation to keep the U.S. team aligned on in-country progress and blockers.

Requirements

Must-Haves

• Based in or willing to relocate to Kyiv, Ukraine; deep familiarity with the Ukrainian operational and defense environment strongly preferred.
• Experience in a product, program, operations, or customer-facing role — ideally at the intersection of technology and defense or government.
• Proven ability to build trust and navigate relationships with military or government counterparts.
• Strong organizational and project-management skills; able to manage competing priorities in a dynamic environment.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in a relevant field.
• U.S. citizen preferred; open to Ukrainian nationals.
• Sharp, self-sufficient, and takes disciplined initiative to accomplish the mission without handholding.
• Self-starter who thrives in ambiguity and operates with significant autonomy.
• Comfortable in a startup environment where the role evolves as the product matures.
• Cultural fluency and tact across military, government, and commercial stakeholders.
• Willingness to travel within Ukraine as required.

Nice-to-Haves

• Active military service or direct experience supporting Ukrainian defense operations.
• Startup or early-stage company experience.
• Ukrainian and/or Russian language ability — a massive plus.

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive compensation package.
• High-impact missions in a dynamic operational environment.
• Direct access to U.S.-based leadership and engineering team.
• Professional development opportunities.