Sitreps

Technical Program Manager - Mission Integration

San Francisco Bay Area · Contract

Sponsorship not specified$140k-$180kDetected 11 days ago

Account ManagementCustomer SupportRoboticsMechanical DesignHardware Design

About the role

The mandate is to keep programs on schedule, keep engineering and the growth (sales) side aligned, and make sure each platform is genuinely ready for the mission the customer needs.
The function exists to close a widening gap between engineering reality and what growth is selling.
The TPM works from the engineering side to make sure everyone understands where systems actually stand today, and that this reality is reflected in the commitments and timelines the company agrees to.

Own the downstream program management for one or more platforms end to end: from first flight through handoff to the customer training and demo teams.
Drive schedules and milestones, managing competing priorities across multiple programs.
Review statements of work and partner with the growth and engagement teams so that contracts reflect engineering reality.
Manage the handoff to customer support, training, and demo teams as new products launch.
Delivery side: customer support and training teams, demo teams, and engagement managers (who own account management and statement-of-work execution), with some interface to the growth / sales side.
A venture-backed defense-technology startup building autonomous aerial systems for defense customers is standing up a new Mission Integration function, and this is the mid-level (junior-mid) seat on that team.
Mission Integration owns the downstream end of technical program management for the company's aerial platforms: everything from a system's first flight through handoff to the customer training teams.
It sits between the product manager (who sets direction on what to build) and delivery: the product manager decides what gets built, Mission Integration gets it done.

5-10 years of experience.
A candidate with roughly 5 years may qualify if they were an engineering officer doing program management in the military
Track record on the technical program management path: schedules, milestones, cross-functional delivery, statements of work.
At least one area of technical expertise relevant to the product - software or hardware - drawn from unmanned systems, robotics, aviation, aerospace, mechanical engineering, or a recon / ISR background.
Ability to work with engineers and speak their language without doing the engineering.
Comfort in a fast-scaling startup where the role evolves as the product matures.
Experience with unmanned systems, ISR, robotics, or aviation.
An NDA is required before the company's identity and full role details are shared.
Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, full time and on-site. The role must be embedded with the software and hardware development teams; remote does not work for this seat.

The role must be embedded with the software and hardware development teams
Travel is roughly 25%, primarily to US exercises for product handoff to training and demo teams.

Venture-backed defense-technology startup
Reports To: Head of Mission Integration
Travel: ~25%
Technical Program Manager, Mission Integration
Confidential search.
The hiring company's identity and full role details are shared with candidates under NDA.

This listing is sourced directly from Sitreps's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.