Program Manager, Operations Readiness

Gatik AI•Phoenix, AZ

15h•Hybrid

About The Position

Gatik is seeking a detail-oriented, highly organized Program Manager, Operations Readiness to prepare operations teams for changes reaching the field. The role manages readiness for software releases, hardware improvements, platform updates, operational process changes, and end-state improvement rollouts using lean principles and standardized processes. Reporting to the Director of Central Operations, this position serves as the primary conduit between Technical Engineering and Operations and partners closely 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. This is a hybrid position requiring two days per week 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

Own 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 impact and conveying field realities to engineering teams.
Own the operations issue-triage process, including intake, prioritization, routing to appropriate engineering or functional owners, and resolution tracking.
Collect and synthesize feedback from operations teams, escalate critical issues, and ensure field feedback informs future releases and improvements.
Partner with Product, Operations, Training, and Safety to align change scope, dependencies, timelines, and ownership.
Coordinate with Training to deliver documentation, SOP updates, training content, and field communications 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, act as the single point of coordination at launch, and run retrospectives to improve the process.