Job Type: Contract
Contract Length: 6 months
Pay Range: $80 - $85/hr
Start Date: ASAP
Location: Hybrid - Foster City, CA
About the Opportunity:
Our client is a leader in the autonomous vehicle industry, striving to provide a delightful product experience while delivering the highest level of safety. They are looking for a skilled Technical Program Manager to join their team for a 6-month engagement. This high-impact project involves supporting the Sensor Cleaning Programs within their fully autonomous vehicles. You will work with a world-class team of engineers across hardware, software, firmware, safety, and systems engineering to achieve strategic and tactical milestones. This role demands an expert in managing complex cross-functional programs, influencing without formal authority, and developing structured ways of working to scale impact quickly in a fast-moving, startup environment.
Key Responsibilities & Deliverables:
This role is focused on the successful completion of specific tasks and deliverables. Your responsibilities will include:
- Roadmap and Strategy Translation: Work with leaders to translate top-down corporate strategy and milestones into detailed roadmaps, timelines, and deliverables, ensuring every team understands their required output and schedule.
- Supplier Management: Serve as the primary program contact for external suppliers of sensor cleaning components, ensuring their adherence to technical specifications, development milestones, and validation plans.
- Program Planning and Control: Own and update the program plan, finance, and budget plans consistently. Proactively drive issue resolution and track closely to ensure that risk-mitigating actions are effectively executed, ensuring problems and risks are transparent and properly assessed.
- Cross-Functional Alignment and Decision Support: Achieve cross-functional alignment, develop project schedules, identify milestones, and support key decisions by developing options for action and making clear recommendations.
- Documentation and Reporting: Support and manage internal core team meetings with agenda setting, note-taking, and follow-up actions. Develop and maintain standard reports and organized documentation to deliver concise, effective updates on program status, risks, and accomplishments to key stakeholders.
- Operational Support: Support the broader TPM team with program management and operational activities as needed, including issue tracking, ticket hygiene, quarterly planning, and developing new KPIs to measure performance.
We are looking for someone with a proven track record of successful contract engagements. The ideal candidate will have:
- 8+ years of working experience with a BS or MS degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent experience.
- At least 5 years of experience in technical/engineering program management.
- At least 3 years experience as an engineer in hardware product development.
- Reference and proven track record of managing complex cross-functional programs end-to-end.
- Experience and ability to manage international suppliers, with flexibility to travel internationally as needed.
- Experience with requirements management software (Polarion) and task tracking software (JIRA) preferred.
- Experience in Smartsheet, Lucidchart, and gSuite/MS Suite.
- Comfortable leading through ambiguity and the ability to keep the big picture in focus while providing clear, well-structured, and concise communications tailored to each appropriate audience.
- Strong ability to context switch between multiple topics simultaneously and operate in dynamic and complex environments.
- Project Manager Professional certification (PMP) or equivalent.
- Experience with autonomous vehicles, test platforms, simulation, and automotive or aerospace processes is highly desired.
- Experience with HW development of electronics, pneumatics, and hydraulics.
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