Defense Technical Program Manager

• Own end-to-end execution of defense-focused technical programs, from requirements definition through delivery, test, and customer acceptance
• Partner closely with engineering teams to plan, build, integrate, and validate autonomy and platform capabilities for defense use cases
• Collaborate with product, operations, and leadership to translate customer, mission, and contractual requirements into clear technical scope and execution plans
• Lead cross-team technical planning, ensuring requirements are traceable, dependencies are understood, and delivery plans are realistic and defensible
• Work with product managers to manage scope, tradeoffs, and change control while maintaining delivery commitments
• Build and maintain integrated program roadmaps that align features, milestones, reviews, and dependencies to schedules
• Establish and manage program operating rhythms (milestone reviews, risk reviews, readiness checkpoints) appropriate for government-facing programs
• Identify, track, and mitigate technical, schedule, and integration risks
• escalate issues with clear options and recommendations
• Drive closure of top program risks and quality issues, including prioritization of critical defects and system-level performance gaps
• Communicate program status, risks, and decisions clearly to internal leadership and, when appropriate, external partners or customers
• Support technical decision-making by articulating constraints, assumptions, and downstream impacts
• Improve tools, processes, and documentation practices to support repeatable, auditable execution in defense contexts

• 3+ years of experience in technical or program management supporting autonomy, robotics, aerospace, defense, or other complex safety-critical systems
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical discipline
• Experience managing programs with external customers, contractual milestones, or government-style delivery expectations
• Strong understanding of software and systems development lifecycles, including integration, verification, and validation
• Demonstrated ability to operate in environments requiring high rigor, documentation, and accountability
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to align engineering, product, and leadership while maintaining safety and quality standards
• Interest in defense or government-adjacent applications of autonomous systems

Experience working with government customers, primes, or defense contractors

• Competitive compensation package including equity and annual bonuses
• Excellent Medical, Dental, and Vision plans through Kaiser Permanente, Cigna, and MetLife (including a medical plan with infertility benefits)
• MetLife Legal Services, Identity & Fraud Protection, Hospital Indemnity Insurance, Accident Insurance, & Critical Illness Insurance
• Flexible PTO, 10 paid holidays, and generous parental leave policies
• Office perks: dog-friendly, free catered lunch, a fully stocked kitchen, and free EV charging
• Long Term Disability, Short Term Disability, Life Insurance
• Wellbeing Benefits - Headspace through Cigna, Calm through Kaiser, One Medical, Gympass, Spring Health through Cigna, Rula (mental health navigation)
• Fidelity 401(k)
• Commuter, FSA, Dependent Care FSA, HSA
• Various incentive programs (referral bonuses, patent bonuses, etc.)