Senior Technical Program Manager

Wayve • Sunnyvale, CA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

Wayve is building the leading AI platform for autonomous driving. We are pioneering an end to end AI approach that enables vehicles to learn directly from real world experience, developing the ability to adapt, generalise and improve at scale. Instead of relying on hand coded rules or pre mapped environments, our AI Driver learns to drive by understanding the world around it. The result is technology that navigates complex urban environments with intelligence, precision and natural flow, unlocking meaningful advances in both safety and efficiency. We believe autonomy represents a once in a generation transformation in how people and goods move, comparable to the shift from horses to cars, and from human driven vehicles to intelligent machines. Our ambition is to make autonomy universal. Wayve’s mapless and hardware agnostic AI platform integrates with global OEM partners, enabling continuous software evolution and unlocking advanced levels of automation from L2 plus through to L4 as our core AI model scales. In a race increasingly defined by intelligence and real world learning, Wayve is taking a distinct approach, building a generalisable driving intelligence that can power any vehicle, anywhere. By combining embodied AI with scalable deployment, we are creating technology that can be shaped to each OEM brand and driver experience, accelerating the transition to a safer, more intelligent future of mobility.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience leading complex, multi-team software or technology programmes in fast-paced or early-stage environments.
• Technically strong and comfortable working with engineers, reasoning about modern software, machine learning and robotics stacks, even if you don’t write code.
• Skilled at planning, prioritisation and managing risks and dependencies, and can adapt your approach as requirements and circumstances change.
• Stay objective under pressure, navigate competing perspectives and adjust your style to keep teams aligned through ambiguity.
• Communicate complex ideas simply, listen carefully and surface risks early.
• Bring people together, influence without formal authority and help create a positive team culture.
• Product-minded and keep the bigger picture in view, prioritising by impact, understanding the people your programmes serve and defining success through outcomes rather than activity.
• Open to feedback and continuously look for ways to improve your own approach, team dynamics and delivery outcomes.

Nice To Haves

• Ideally, you bring 8+ years of experience specifically as a Technical Program Manager.
• An engineering or computer science degree, or experience working as an engineer, alongside strong proficiency in Jira or similar tooling, would be a plus.
• Experience in autonomous vehicles, robotics, perception, vehicle hardware, embedded software, machine learning, simulation, evaluation or other safety-critical or compute-heavy domains would also be valuable.

Responsibilities

• Partner with engineering and cross-functional teams to translate ambiguous goals into clear plans, priorities and commitments.
• Coordinate work across teams, manage dependencies and keep people aligned around shared goals, helping teams make decisions and resolve blockers quickly.
• Anticipate delivery risks, develop mitigation plans and adapt as priorities change, protecting timelines and quality.
• Keep stakeholders informed through clear, timely communication, surfacing risks early, managing expectations and driving decisions on scope and resources.
• Lead retrospectives and encourage feedback, turning lessons learned into practical improvements in how teams collaborate and deliver.
• Owning complex, multi-team technical programmes end-to-end, bringing structured execution and coordination to keep delivery predictable in a fast-moving environment.
• Improving delivery efficiency by identifying bottlenecks, streamlining workflows and strengthening tooling and resource allocation.
• Connecting programme delivery to Wayve’s strategic priorities, making thoughtful scope and resource decisions that maximise impact.
• Building and improving delivery practices that strengthen team effectiveness, reduce risk and support better outcomes as our engineering organisation evolves.

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: Senior