Lead Technical Program Manager, AI Platform

Nuro•Mountain View, CA

About The Position

Nuro is seeking a technically strong, hands-on Manager of Technical Program Management to lead the TPM team supporting Nuro’s AI Platform organization. The AI Platform team is responsible for building the offboard and onboard systems that accelerate autonomy development and enable reliable deployment. Their work encompasses the entire data flywheel for developing AI systems, including data collection, data mining, training, simulation, and evaluation, as well as onboard firmware, middleware, services, cloud services, and fleet operations tooling. The role involves leading and developing a team of TPMs, driving complex programs across engineering, product, operations, and external partners. This position requires a blend of people leadership and direct ownership of critical programs, involving understanding technical challenges, defining clear plans, resolving dependencies, and driving decisions to implementation. The ultimate goal is to achieve faster development, more reliable systems, and readiness for deployment across various vehicle platforms and commercial programs.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in technical program management, software engineering, systems engineering, or a related technical discipline, including substantial ownership of complex programs spanning multiple teams.
2+ years of direct people-management experience, with demonstrated success developing TPMs or engineers and addressing performance gaps.
Strong technical depth in at least one relevant area, such as distributed systems, embedded software, ML infrastructure, data platforms, or robotics, with the ability to learn unfamiliar systems quickly and reason across their interfaces.
A track record of delivering ambiguous technical programs from initial definition through integration, release, and operational adoption.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills: able to distinguish symptoms from root causes, test assumptions, and use evidence to guide prioritization and trade-offs.
Ability to influence teams without direct authority, resolve disagreements, and communicate technical issues, risks, and decisions clearly to engineers, executives, and external partners.
Sound judgment about when to investigate personally, when to delegate, and how much process a program needs.
A degree in computer science, engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

Responsibilities

Lead and develop the TPM team, setting clear expectations for technical depth, ownership, and execution.
Coach TPMs, manage performance and career development, hire strong talent, and align team assignments with the highest-priority needs.
Directly lead selected critical programs that require substantial technical judgment or coordination across teams.
Turn ambiguous goals into defined scope, milestones, accountable owners, and measurable outcomes.
Partner with engineering and product leaders to connect platform roadmaps to autonomy development and deployment goals.
Surface resource constraints, sequence dependencies, and resolve trade-offs across near-term commitments and longer-term platform investments.
Engage in design reviews, integration planning, and issue investigations to understand root causes, challenge assumptions, and drive decisions.
Bring the right experts together and ensure decisions translate into completed work.
Coordinate requirements, interfaces, testing, release gates, rollout plans, and operational readiness across onboard software, offboard services, and partner systems.
Ensure gaps have clear owners and closure criteria.
Manage execution with external partners, aligning vehicle manufacturers, technology suppliers, and commercial partners on deliverables, responsibilities, acceptance criteria, and schedules.
Resolve dependencies jointly with engineering, product, business, and legal teams.
Establish practical planning and review processes that make risks and decisions visible.
Use metrics to identify bottlenecks and improve reliability, development speed, and operational efficiency.
Apply AI tools and automation to reduce repetitive coordination and reporting work.