Technical Program Manager, AI Delivery for Public Sector & Defence

Cohere•Ottawa, ON

13d•Hybrid

About The Position

Cohere is seeking an experienced Program Manager to join its customer-facing Program Management team, focusing on Canadian public sector and defence accounts. This role requires an individual who understands technical program delivery, the technical complexity of frontier AI models, and the unique requirements of government and defence organizations. The individual will serve as the critical bridge between Cohere's AI capabilities and the specific needs of Canadian federal departments, provincial agencies, Crown corporations, and defence organizations. They will navigate complex procurement processes, stringent security requirements, data sovereignty concerns, and regulatory compliance to ensure customers successfully deploy and scale AI solutions. This role involves collaboration with Strategic Customer, Applied ML (AML) Engineering, Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE), Platform, Product, and Go-to-Market teams, acting as the technical program lead and trusted advisor for sensitive government engagements. This is a highly specialized role at the intersection of frontier AI, national security, and public sector digital transformation. The successful candidate will work on sensitive and impactful AI deployments, helping government organizations harness cutting-edge technology while maintaining high standards of security, ethics, and accountability. The role is ideal for someone passionate about responsible AI adoption, understanding government constraints and opportunities, and aiming to significantly impact how Canada leverages AI.

Requirements

6+ years of experience as a customer-facing Technical or Engineering Program Manager in AI/ML consulting, technology transformation, or enterprise software delivery.
Excellent executive communication and stakeholder management.
Experience working with government, defence, or heavily regulated customers (public sector, defence contractors).
Proven track record managing complex, multi-stakeholder technical programs with stringent compliance requirements.
Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field.
Strong understanding of enterprise software deployment architectures (cloud, on-premises, hybrid, air-gapped).
Comfortable discussing API integrations, model inference, data pipelines, and ML operations with technical stakeholders.
Deep understanding of how government organizations procure, evaluate, and deploy technology.
Familiarity with Canadian government requirements: data sovereignty, privacy laws (Privacy Act), accessibility standards, official languages obligations, security classifications.
Understanding of defence and national security considerations in AI deployment.
Eligible to obtain Canadian government security clearance (Top Secret preferred).

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree or technical certs.
Working knowledge of or experience with modern AI: LLMs, agentic systems, MCP, RAG, fine-tuning, evals, and responsible AI.
Experience with Algorithmic Impact Assessments or AI ethics frameworks.
Active Canadian government security clearance (Secret or Top Secret) - strong preference for active Top Secret clearance.
Bilingual (English/French) proficiency.
Background in or strong familiarity with Canadian defence, intelligence, or critical infrastructure sectors.
Experience with GC Cloud services (Azure, AWS GovCloud) or Protected B/C environments.
Project management certification (PMP, PgMP) or government-specific methodologies.

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end technical program delivery for Canadian public sector and defence customers, from initial deployment through production scaling.
Serve as the primary technical program point of contact for government customers, building trusted relationships with departmental CIOs, IT directors, and technical teams.
Translate complex government requirements (security, compliance, accessibility, bilingualism, data sovereignty) into actionable engineering plans.
Navigate government procurement processes, RFP responses, and contractual technical obligations.
Provide clear, timely, and objective communication across Cohere's engineering organization, customer stakeholders, and government leadership.
Translate between AI/ML technical concepts and government-appropriate language for decision-makers.
Present technical roadmaps and status updates to senior government officials and departmental executives.
Represent Cohere's technical capabilities in sensitive government and defence contexts.
Create and manage project schedules that account for government timelines, security review processes, and ministerial approval cycles.
Identify and manage dependencies across government departments, security authorities, cloud service providers, and internal Cohere teams.
Navigate risks unique to government deployments: privacy compliance, Algorithmic Impact Assessments, Treasury Board submissions, security authorizations.
Drive alignment between product development priorities and specific government requirements.
Ensure on-time delivery of AI solutions that meet government-grade security, privacy, accessibility, and performance standards.
Coordinate technical work across multiple teams: model customization, security hardening, integration with government systems, bilingual support.
Establish governance checkpoints appropriate for high-stakes government deployments.
Problem-solve complex technical challenges in air-gapped, on-premises, or highly regulated environments.