Sr Manager, ADAS Data and Software Validation & Release

Woven•Ann Arbor, MI

About The Position

Woven by Toyota is enabling Toyota’s once-in-a-century transformation into a mobility company. Inspired by a legacy of innovating for the benefit of others, our mission is to challenge the current state of mobility through human-centric innovation — expanding what “mobility” means and how it serves society. Our work centers on four pillars: AD/ADAS, our autonomous driving and advanced driver assist technologies; Arene, our software development platform for software-defined vehicles; Woven City, a test course for mobility; and Cloud & AI, the digital infrastructure powering our collaborative foundation. Business-critical functions empower these teams to execute, and together, we’re working toward one bold goal: a world with zero accidents and enhanced well-being for all. About the Role: We are seeking a highly experienced Sr Manager, ADAS Data and Software Validation & Release, reporting to the Director of Project and Program Management, AD/ADAS. This leader will oversee the Technical Program Management (TPM) team responsible for planning, executing, and delivering data, validation, and release activities for complex AD/ADAS programs. The role will drive cross-functional alignment among global engineering and product teams, ensuring program milestones are achieved on time, with high quality and strong customer satisfaction. The ideal candidate brings deep production AD/ADAS experience, strong software validation and machine-learning program management capability, and a proven communication and leadership ability to collaborate with teams across WbyT and external stakeholders to steer programs toward successful delivery from inception to production. This role requires high accountability, a strong results orientation, a data-driven mindset, and the ability to build trusted relationships across all areas of the organization. You should be highly motivated by the challenge of bringing complex technology programs to market and adept at solving interdisciplinary problems with a strong focus on execution. In this role, you will work with a talented group of cross-functional stakeholders across organizations to develop execution plans that facilitate the launch of ADAS products and features.

Requirements

10+ years of professional program management experience in AD/ADAS, with a minimum of 5 years of leadership experience managing engineers within complex AD/ADAS programs.
Proven track record in leading end-to-end program execution, including integrated data, validation, and release execution of AD/ADAS products.
Proven strong program management capability in delivering complex software, machine-learning, and systems programs, specifically within AD/ADAS
Strong leadership and communication skills with the ability to inspire and motivate internal and external teams.
Experience with Japan is preferred.
Strong leadership presence, excellent communication skills, a skilled collaborator, and a bias toward action and outcomes.
Thrive in ambiguity, embrace the challenge of achieving the company’s mission, and influence a diverse set of stakeholders toward a common goal of delivering the best-in-class products to end users and customers.
Experience in Machine Learning and building data-driven systems is preferred
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related field.

Nice To Haves

Experience in the development of autonomy features for L2/L4 systems
Proficiency in Business level Japanese
PMP/PMI or other Project Management certifications are welcome

Responsibilities

Provide strategic leadership to the TPM team within AD/ADAS, delivering data and validation initiatives from concept through production while ensuring priorities, ownership, dependencies, milestones, and execution plans are clearly defined, aligned, and delivered.
Cultivate TPM expertise by establishing clear roles, accountability mechanisms, operating standards, and measurable objectives; coach team members and track KPIs to assess delivery performance, stakeholder alignment, execution quality, and continuous improvement.
Identify and proactively mitigate risks that may impact program timelines, quality, or efficiency. Develop contingency plans to address challenges related to deployment, infrastructure, and system integration.
Communicate program updates, risks, and dependencies to senior leadership and key internal and external stakeholders.
Guides development activities across multi-disciplinary engineering (Engineering, Product, Hardware, Software, Operations, etc.) to advance design, validation, failure analysis, and set appropriate pass/fail criteria.
Drive accountability across teams and remove execution barriers, proactively resolving conflicts, identifying blockers, escalating decisions where needed, mobilizing solutions to keep data collection, processing, and software validation activities on track
Build and scale program management, validation, and release processes to drive consistency, transparency, predictability, and high execution quality across multiple teams and regions.
Partner closely with stakeholders; ensure alignment on priorities, technical decisions, and customer expectations.