Technical Program Manager Director, Driver Out

Wayve • Sunnyvale, CA

3d • $299,100 - $373,400 • Hybrid

About The Position

Wayve’s Program Management team turns complex technical goals into coordinated delivery. Working closely with engineering, research, product, safety and operations teams, we align priorities, manage dependencies and bring clarity to ambiguous challenges. We combine technical depth with cross-functional leadership to help teams move faster, more effectively and with purpose—focusing on meaningful outcomes rather than process for its own sake.
As Director of Technical Program Management for Driver Out, you’ll own the multi-year programme that takes Wayve’s autonomy technology from its first eyes-off, driver-out demonstration to a productised service on public roads. While robotaxi pilots prove the product in different markets, Driver Out establishes the underlying safety, systems and delivery foundations. You’ll lead this organisation-wide effort, build the TPM team supporting it and work directly with senior leaders and external partners to make driver-out safely and predictably achievable.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience delivering complex technical programmes, including director-level leadership.
• Owned large, multi-year, cross-organisation programmes end-to-end and bring deep ownership and a bias for action.
• Built and led programme-management teams, with direct responsibility for coaching, development and performance management.
• Grown high-performing teams and other leaders, and established effective processes that raise the standard of delivery.
• Extensive experience delivering autonomous-vehicle or comparable safety-critical robotics programmes, ideally progressing towards driver-out or L4 operation.
• Understand the systems, safety and operational realities involved.
• Fluent in safety cases, behaviour validation, functional safety (ISO 26262), SOTIF (ISO 21448) and safety management systems, and can bring these together into a coherent safety argument across multiple workstreams.
• Technically strong across autonomy, machine learning, vehicle hardware and software, and systems engineering.
• Can engage credibly with engineers and scientists without being expected to write production code, and understand how changes in one part of a safety-critical system affect the others.
• Align and influence engineering, science, safety, product, operations and external partners at the most senior levels, building shared ownership without relying on formal authority.
• Stay objective under pressure and adapt your approach in ambiguous, high-stakes environments, bringing structure and clarity without slowing delivery.
• Product-minded and commercially aware, connecting programme decisions to the people the service will serve and Wayve’s path to market.
• Prioritise by impact and define success through outcomes rather than activity.
• Set direction clearly, use the right metrics to steer delivery and communicate complex risks and readiness decisions crisply to executives.
• Open to feedback and continuously improve your own leadership, your team’s capabilities and how the programme operates.

Nice To Haves

• Experience taking an AV programme to eyes-off or driverless operation, or launching a comparable safety-critical service, would be particularly valuable.
• Experience collaborating with OEMs and mobility partners, including ride-hail providers, would also be a plus.
• An engineering or computer science degree, or experience working as an engineer, would be valuable.

Responsibilities

• Owning the Driver Out programme end-to-end, defining and delivering the multi-year plan from the first driver-out demonstration through public-road product integration and initial scaling, connecting concept to operation.
• Coordinating delivery across driving-model performance and safety, system architecture, verification and validation, vehicle hardware and software, remote assistance and operations.
• Bringing together the safety case, behaviour validation, functional safety (ISO 26262), SOTIF (ISO 21448), cybersecurity and the Safety Management System into a credible, signed-off safety argument for driver-out.
• Building and growing the programme’s TPM organisation, developing other leaders and establishing the operating model, governance and delivery practices needed to lead a programme of this scale.
• Connecting Driver Out delivery to Wayve’s commercial path to market, making strategic trade-offs that keep the transition from driver-in to driver-out safe, achievable and aligned with product outcomes.
• Partner with engineering, science, safety, product and operations leaders, alongside external partners including OEMs and Uber, to align on scope, sequencing and readiness.
• Drive the programme’s critical path, turning complex technical, safety and operational requirements into clear commitments, and managing dependencies, risks and trade-offs across workstreams.
• Coach and support your TPM team, set clear expectations, manage performance and hold workstream leads accountable for delivery.
• Run milestone and launch-readiness reviews, using KPIs and dashboards to assess progress, surface issues and drive timely decisions, escalations and risk-budget management.
• Represent Driver Out to the executive team, communicating progress, risk and readiness clearly and guiding the programme’s most consequential decisions.

Benefits

• Salaries benchmarked against the market annually
• Hybrid working, core hours and the chance to work hands on in vehicle workshops and labs
• Learning and development budgets with support for training, conferences and growth
• Comprehensive benefits including health insurance, dental, enhanced maternity and paternity leave, retirement or pension where applicable, access to therapists, wellbeing partnerships, team socials and more

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director