Technical Program Manager – Robotics & Embedded Systems

Job Title: Technical Program Manager – Robotics & Embedded Systems

Location: Sunnyvale, CA (100% Onsite)

Duration: 12 to 18 months initially (extendable)

Commitment: W2-only position (No C2C)

Job Description

Our team is searching for a Technical Program Manager (TPM) who can manage the complexity and vast technical workstreams across all aspects of our robotics and hardware-software programs.

As the TPM, you seek to maximize decision-making velocity by removing technical obstacles across multidisciplinary teams—spanning electrical engineering, mechanical systems, firmware, and ROS / ROS2 software stacks . While this role does not ultimately own headcount allocation, you are empowered to audit, evaluate, and escalate risk to functional leadership when resources or misaligned feature priorities threaten schedule delivery, hardware bring-up, or the overarching technical robotics vision.

Key Responsibilities

- Program Governance: Establish and execute mechanisms and cadences to manage complex robotic hardware and software integration programs from early prototyping through production.

- Cross-Functional Alignment: Drive synergy between hardware (EE, ME), low-level firmware, and high-level ROS/ROS2 software engineering teams , ensuring seamless integration of sensor suites (LiDAR, cameras, IMUs), motor actuation, and autonomy algorithms.

- Risk & Escalation Management: Proactively identify, track, and mitigate hardware-software dependency bottlenecks; facilitate trade-off decisions between stakeholders, technical leads, and partner teams when conflicting priorities arise.

- Release & Schedule Management: Coordinate hardware spin schedules (PCB bring-up, mechanical integration) alongside ROS software release cycles, middleware build pipelines, and system-level validation milestones.

Basic Qualifications

✔ 5+ years of technical program or product management experience leading complex hardware/software engineering programs.

✔ 5+ years of direct experience collaborating with electrical engineering, embedded systems, or mechatronics teams.

✔ Robotics & ROS Awareness: Hands-on experience managing programs that involve ROS/ROS2 frameworks , sensor/actuator hardware integration, or autonomous hardware platforms.

✔ Cross-Functional Execution: Proven track record of managing multi-disciplinary technology projects, establishing execution processes, and coordinating synchronized hardware and software release schedules.

✔ 3+ years of hands-on technical program delivery in fast-paced hardware prototyping or robotics environments.

✔ Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to translate complex hardware and software trade-offs for executive stakeholders.