Principal Program Manager

Piaggio Fast Forward • Boston, MA

14h • Onsite

About The Position

Boston-based company Piaggio Fast Forward Inc. (PFF) was founded in 2015 by the Piaggio Group. We are on a mission to build technology products that move the way that people move. To bring products to market today, PFF is solving the problem of robotic interaction with people in dynamically changing environments. We’re innovators, neighbors, and creators with a passion for local living and pushing the limits on urban transportation. We support a sustainable mobility ecology with healthy lifestyles and social connectivity available to all, regardless of age or abilities.

Requirements

• Significant experience as a technical program manager (or equivalent) on complex products that combine hardware, embedded/cloud software, and AI/ML.
• Ownership experience where you were responsible for two or more programs for either robotics, autonomous systems, or another physical-plus-software product category strongly preferred.
• A track record of driving execution across highly matrixed, multi-disciplinary teams (design, data science/AI, mechanical/electrical/software engineering, operations) without direct authority over any of them.
• Comfort owning release quality gates for a physical product, with an understanding of why the bar is higher when a robot shares space with people.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills as this role sits close to the CEO and must give clear, credible visibility into program status, risk, and tradeoffs.
• Demonstrated ability to partner with a product owner (Product Manager, Head of Product, or similar) without blurring the line between setting priorities and executing against them.
• Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, or a related technical field; advanced degree a plus.

Nice To Haves

• Experience managing programs that include a hardware certification path is a strong plus.

Responsibilities

• Own program execution for our core cargo-robot technology stack.
• Take ownership of the execution of products and features across the full range of our ground-movement, cargo-carrying robots (25–800 lb payload class) including the human-proximity behaviors, autonomy, and fleet self-management that make them safe and simple to deploy without environmental changes or integration work.
• Translate product priorities into a driven, tracked program.
• Work closely with the Head of Product to understand goals and priorities, then own the planning, sequencing, tracking, and cross-team coordination required to execute against them; serving as the clear, trusted handoff point between "what we're building and why" and "how and when it gets done."
• Track and drive progress across: Design team including industrial design, HRI, UI/UX for apps and web, and cloud tools, ensuring design work stays aligned with program timelines and cross-team dependencies.
• Track and drive progress across: Smart Behaviors team including data science, behavior specifications, and AI model development that give our robots the ability to operate alongside people.
• Track and drive progress across: Engineering team, our largest including teams of engineers in Mechanical, Electrical, Software, Sensor Fusion, Localization, Navigation, Physical AI, Quality, Cloud, and Devops, coordinating across these disciplines to keep interdependent hardware/software work moving together.
• Track and drive progress across: Operations team including supply chain, manufacturing, and logistics, ensuring program plans account for real-world lead times, sourcing constraints, and production readiness.
• Track and drive progress across: Quality team including SQA, Sales Engineering, and Customer Support ensuring time for testing by this team before products or features ship.
• Work closely with our Compliance and Certification Manager to ensure certification requirements are built into the program plan.
• Manage risk and dependencies across a matrixed program.
• Without formal authority over any of the teams above, build the relationships, visibility, and judgment needed to identify risks early, resolve cross-team conflicts, and keep a highly interdependent hardware-plus-software-plus-AI program on track.
• Maintain a clear, thin handoff with the Head of Product.
• Respect the boundary between setting goals and executing against them.
• You drive the "how" and "when," and you keep the Head of Product's priorities intact rather than re-litigating them, while giving clear, honest visibility into progress, tradeoffs, and risk.

Benefits

• Diversity fuels our innovation. Inclusion, belonging, equity, and neurodiversity drives our best-in-class culture. We strive to create workplaces where everyone feels empowered to share ideas, grow at their own pace, and work together towards a shared vision while holding each other to a higher standard. For us, DEI&B is the only way forward.

What This Job Offers

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