Program Manager, Operations Readiness

Gatik AI•Phoenix, AZ

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Gatik is seeking a detail-oriented, highly organized Program Manager, Operations Readiness to ensure operations teams are prepared for changes reaching the field. The role manages readiness for software releases, hardware improvements, platform updates, operational process changes, and end-state improvement rollouts, applying lean principles and standardized processes. Reporting to the Director of Central Operations, the Program Manager serves as the primary connection between Technical Engineering and Operations and partners with Product, Training, and Safety to ensure changes are enabled, communicated, trained, and validated before launch. The role supports safety and operational continuity while enabling reliable delivery of improvements across Gatik’s autonomous fleet. The position is hybrid, with two days per week in the office in Santa Clara, Phoenix, Dallas, or Toronto.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations Management, Business, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
At least 5 years of experience in program management, operations, or launch management.
Experience managing cross-functional programs with multiple stakeholders, including technical engineering teams.
Experience building or running an issue-triage, intake, or escalation process.
Working knowledge of lean principles and process standardization.
Experience preparing operations teams for product, technology, or process changes.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to turn technical information into clear operational guidance.
Experience with program management and issue-tracking tools such as Jira, Confluence, Asana, or Smartsheet.

Nice To Haves

Experience in autonomous vehicles, trucking, logistics, or fleet operations.
Lean Six Sigma Yellow or Green Belt, or equivalent lean training.
Experience supporting software or hardware release cycles in a technology or robotics environment.
Familiarity with safety-critical operations and change-management processes.
Experience working with training and enablement teams to roll out SOPs and field training.
PMP, CSM, or similar program-management certification.
Experience in a high-growth or startup environment.

Responsibilities

Plan and manage readiness programs from early scoping through launch and post-launch stabilization for software releases, hardware improvements, platform updates, process changes, and end-state rollouts.
Build and maintain standard work, templates, checklists, and go/no-go gates to make launches consistent and repeatable.
Apply lean tools, including value stream mapping, waste elimination, and root cause analysis, to improve readiness and rollout workflows.
Bridge Technical Engineering and Operations by translating technical changes into operational impacts and bringing field realities into engineering priorities.
Own the operations issue-triage process, including intake, prioritization, routing to engineering or functional owners, and tracking issues to resolution.
Collect and synthesize operations-team feedback, escalate critical issues, and ensure feedback informs future releases and improvements.
Coordinate with Product, Operations, Training, and Safety to align each change’s scope, dependencies, timelines, and owners.
Coordinate documentation, SOP updates, training content, and field communications with Training, ensuring these are completed before launch.
Work with Safety to identify operational risks, confirm mitigations, and ensure changes meet safety and regulatory requirements.
Plan phased or market-by-market rollouts, coordinate launches as the single point of contact, and conduct retrospectives to improve the process.