Technical Program Manager, AI

Estes Forwarding Worldwide•Richmond, VA

About The Position

Estes Forwarding Worldwide (EFW) is a leading domestic and international freight forwarder in the United States, providing customized logistics and warehousing solutions for clients around the world and across all industries via air, ground, and ocean freight. A subsidiary of Estes Express lines with corporate located in Richmond, Virginia, EFW is uniquely backed by Estes Express Lines’ extensive line haul network providing EFW clients with a hybrid transportation network. The company has received industry awards, including Specialty Carrier of the Year and E-Commerce Delivery Carrier of the Year, and has been recognized by Global Trade Americas as a leading 3PL to watch. We are proud to offer highly competitive pay and a comprehensive benefits package, including: Paid vacation, sick time, and holidays 401(k) plan with company match Medical, dental, and vision insurance Short- and long-term disability plans Life and accidental death & dismemberment insurance Job referral bonus program Reporting to the Director, IT Project & Program Management, the Technical Program Manager, AI is responsible for driving the successful execution and strategic prioritization of the organization’s artificial intelligence and machine learning initiatives. This role serves as a key connector between business leaders and technical teams—shaping, sequencing, and delivering AI solutions that align with enterprise goals and produce measurable business impact. This is an individual contributor role with meaningful influence over what gets built, how, when, and why. The role focuses on intake, prioritization, delivery, and continuous refinement of the AI portfolio, ensuring that initiatives are not only executed well, but chosen with strategic impact, ROI, and feasibility in mind. To perform this job successfully, an individual must satisfactorily perform each essential duty. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential duties. Strategic Prioritization & Portfolio Shaping Partner with business and technical leaders to identify, evaluate, determine feasibility, and refine AI use cases. Assess proposed initiatives for business value, feasibility, risk, and scalability. Develop structured recommendations on prioritization, sequencing, and resourcing. Maintain a clear, continuously updated view of the AI initiative pipeline and roadmap. Support leadership decision-making through impact analysis, tradeoff articulation, and scenario modeling. Track realized value and inform future prioritization based on outcomes. Program & Delivery Management Manage multiple concurrent AI and/or machine learning initiatives from concept through production. Create and maintain project plans, milestones, dependencies, and risk logs. Facilitate cross-functional collaboration across business, engineering, data, security, and legal teams. Proactively identify risks, resolve blockers, and keep initiatives moving forward. Ensure projects meet defined business goals, technical requirements, and governance standards. Provide clear, executive-ready updates on status, risks, and progress. Business Partnership & Translation Translate business challenges into structured, AI-ready problem statements. Help stakeholders understand what AI can and cannot do in practical terms. Define success metrics and measurable outcomes for each initiative. Document requirements, assumptions, constraints, and decisions. Serve as a trusted thought partner for business leaders exploring AI opportunities. Governance, Risk, & Responsible AI Alignment Ensure AI initiatives comply with data privacy, security, and regulatory standards. Apply governance frameworks consistently across initiatives. Coordinate reviews with security, legal, and compliance teams. Support responsible, ethical, and explainable AI practices throughout the lifecycle. Vendor & Platform Coordination Support evaluation and selection of AI tools, platforms, and vendors as needed for projects. Coordinate pilot programs and proof-of-concept efforts. Manage vendor timelines, dependencies, and deliverables. Partner with internal teams on integration and scaling planning. Process Improvement & Organizational Enablement Build and refine reusable intake, prioritization, and delivery frameworks. Develop templates, playbooks, and best practices. Identify patterns across initiatives to improve future execution. Increase organizational clarity on how AI initiatives move from idea to production. Comply with company C-TPAT and TSA security procedures. Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

Strategic Execution: Combines high-level strategic thinking and systems thinking with a hands-on focus on accountability, follow-through, and measurable results.
AI & Technical Proficiency: Deep understanding of AI/ML (Generative AI, NLP, machine learning, agentic AI usecases) and experience building proof of concept and scalable enterprise or automation solutions.
Technical Translation: Ability to simplify complex technical concepts into executive level insights to guide high stakes decisions across the business.
Cross-Functional Influence: Exceptional emotional intelligence and ability to influence without authority to lead diverse teams through ambiguity and across organizational boundaries.
Delivery & Risk Management: Proven track record in the full project delivery lifecycle, including prioritizing initiatives based on business impact, feasibility, risk, and data governance, security and privacy.
Collaborative Problem Solving: A quantitative, analytical approach to problem-solving paired with active listening, excellent written and verbal communication, and empathy for cross-functional partners.
Familiarity with data governance, privacy, and compliance considerations.
Experience managing complex, cross-functional initiatives.
Experience supporting prioritization, roadmap planning, or portfolio management.
Experience working with engineering, data, or platform teams.
Must be eligible to work in the United States.
Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Business, or related field and 6-9+ years of experience in technical program management, product operations, management consulting, or digital transformation roles. However, a combination of experience and/or education will be taken into consideration.

Nice To Haves

Experience working with vendors or SaaS platforms preferred.
Exposure to AI, automation, or advanced analytics initiatives preferred.
PMP or equivalent project management certification preferred.
Agile certifications (CSM, SAFe, etc.) preferred.
Cloud certifications (AWS, Azure, GCP) preferred.
AI/ML fundamentals or data governance certifications preferred.

Responsibilities

Partner with business and technical leaders to identify, evaluate, determine feasibility, and refine AI use cases.
Assess proposed initiatives for business value, feasibility, risk, and scalability.
Develop structured recommendations on prioritization, sequencing, and resourcing.
Maintain a clear, continuously updated view of the AI initiative pipeline and roadmap.
Support leadership decision-making through impact analysis, tradeoff articulation, and scenario modeling.
Track realized value and inform future prioritization based on outcomes.
Manage multiple concurrent AI and/or machine learning initiatives from concept through production.
Create and maintain project plans, milestones, dependencies, and risk logs.
Facilitate cross-functional collaboration across business, engineering, data, security, and legal teams.
Proactively identify risks, resolve blockers, and keep initiatives moving forward.
Ensure projects meet defined business goals, technical requirements, and governance standards.
Provide clear, executive-ready updates on status, risks, and progress.
Translate business challenges into structured, AI-ready problem statements.
Help stakeholders understand what AI can and cannot do in practical terms.
Define success metrics and measurable outcomes for each initiative.
Document requirements, assumptions, constraints, and decisions.
Serve as a trusted thought partner for business leaders exploring AI opportunities.
Ensure AI initiatives comply with data privacy, security, and regulatory standards.
Apply governance frameworks consistently across initiatives.
Coordinate reviews with security, legal, and compliance teams.
Support responsible, ethical, and explainable AI practices throughout the lifecycle.
Support evaluation and selection of AI tools, platforms, and vendors as needed for projects.
Coordinate pilot programs and proof-of-concept efforts.
Manage vendor timelines, dependencies, and deliverables.
Partner with internal teams on integration and scaling planning.
Build and refine reusable intake, prioritization, and delivery frameworks.
Develop templates, playbooks, and best practices.
Identify patterns across initiatives to improve future execution.
Increase organizational clarity on how AI initiatives move from idea to production.
Comply with company C-TPAT and TSA security procedures.
Perform other duties as assigned.