Senior Technical Program Manager
Senior Technical Program Manager who owns execution of the engineering backlog at a swarm-robotics autonomy company (air, surface, undersea, ground vehicles for commercial and defense use): grooming and sequencing work in Jira, running Agile ceremonies as scrum master, and managing schedules, risks, and delivery metrics. On-site in San Diego; $132,595–$198,950 plus equity; requires US Person statu
- Compensation
- $132.6K–$199K / yr
- Location
- Apium - San Diego, CA 92121
- Work setup
- Not specified
- Seniority
- Senior
- Employment
- Full time
- Experience
- 7+ years
- Category
- Project management
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Must be a US Person
- 7+ years in product management, program management, or delivery leadership in a software or hardware-plus-software environment
- Strong Agile background with direct experience as a technical scrum master and project-management rigor across scope, schedule, and risk
- Proven track record eliciting needs from disparate stakeholders and building coherent execution plans
- Experience working with developers to produce story-point estimates and manage a backlog to delivery
- Expert proficiency in Jira and Confluence
- Strong-willed, comfortable holding people accountable to timelines, with excellent communication and facilitation skills
- Comfort working independently with limited oversight
- Ability to remain calm and effective under operational pressure
- Up to 25% travel based on customer integration needs and operational requirements
Nice to have
- Experience with scaled Agile (SAFe) or other team-of-teams / scaling frameworks
- PMP, CSM, PMI-ACP, SAFe, or equivalent project-management or Agile certification
- Experience with Lucid (Lucidchart / Lucidspark)
- Experience coordinating delivery across multiple teams or workstreams simultaneously
- Technical background sufficient to earn the trust of software and hardware engineers
- U.S. security clearance or ability to obtain one
Full description
Position Summary
Apium Swarm Robotics (ASR) is revolutionizing swarm autonomy software for air, surface, undersea, and ground vehicles operating across dual-use commercial and defense environments. Our systems are deployed on real platforms, tested in the field, and delivered to customers operating in complex, uncertain, and safety-critical conditions.
We do not build research prototypes or slideware. Our software is integrated into real vehicles, tested in the field, and delivered to customers who depend on operational reliability, speed of execution, and mission relevance. We prioritize performance over hype.
ASR systems represent the next phase in autonomy: collaborative swarming. These are not like pre-programmed drones for light shows. We are creating real-time cooperative management that lets one operator control dozens to hundreds of vehicles in real-time with the ease of controlling a single vehicle. As such, this role requires comfort with responsibility, ambiguity, and operational accountability.
ASR seeks a Senior Technical Program Manager focused on the internal execution of the engineering backlog. This is a process- and delivery-focused role for an experienced Agile practitioner and technical scrum master who turns the inputs of many disparate stakeholders into coherent, executable plans and then drives the team to deliver against them. The role owns schedules, milestones, risks, dependencies, and communication; it does not own the product roadmap or system architecture.
The distinction from ASR’s product management is deliberate: the Director of Program Management for Air Systems owns the product roadmap and what the product should become, while the Technical Program Manager owns how the committed work gets executed. In practice that means grooming and sequencing the backlog, running Agile ceremonies, working with developers to build story-point estimates, and holding the organization accountable to timelines.
Reporting to the VP of Strategy & Operations, the successful candidate is strong-willed and comfortable holding people accountable, highly organized, and expert in the tools that run a modern engineering organization. They bring calm, structure, and follow-through to a fast-moving environment.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Act as the sole owner of the engineering backlog in Jira, grooming, sequencing, and prioritizing committed work for clarity and executability
- Elicit requirements and constraints from multiple disparate stakeholders and synthesize them into coherent, actionable execution plans
- Serve as technical scrum master, running daily stand-ups along with sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives, and removing blockers to delivery
- Work directly with developers to build and refine story-point estimates and maintain realistic, trustworthy delivery forecasts