Staff/Sr Staff Technical Program Manager, Hardware Systems

Lightmatter•Mountain View, CA

1d•$189,000 - $252,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Lightmatter is a company at the forefront of AI data center infrastructure, utilizing its proprietary 3D-stacked photonics engine, Passage™, to connect processors at the speed of light for advanced AI and HPC workloads. Having recently secured $400 million in Series D funding, Lightmatter is expanding its operations and seeking talented individuals to join its team. The company is looking for a Sr Technical Program Manager (TPM) to lead program execution within the Hardware Systems team. This role involves managing schedules, resource allocation, priorities, and cross-functional alignment for projects spanning electrical, mechanical, and system engineering. The TPM will collaborate with internal teams and external partners, including contract manufacturers and fabricators, to ensure programs progress from design to production. Key responsibilities include managing dependencies, facilitating stakeholder alignment, and maintaining program visibility for engineering leadership. The scope covers the entire hardware development lifecycle, including engineering support, test infrastructure, and tooling. The TPM will also act as the primary hardware program interface to broader organizational programs, ensuring timely communication of schedule changes, material commitments, and engineering status. This is a hands-on position requiring a blend of strong program management skills and a solid understanding of hardware engineering. The ideal candidate will be comfortable in design reviews, supplier discussions, resource planning, and executive updates. The role demands the ability to thrive in a dynamic environment with evolving requirements and shifting priorities, bringing structure and clarity to drive progress.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or a related technical field.
5+ years of program management experience in hardware engineering, with direct exposure to electrical and mechanical development cycles.
Proven track record managing concurrent engineering programs with shared resources and overlapping timelines.
Deep familiarity with hardware development processes and terminology across the full lifecycle—including PCBA and mechanical enclosures, PCB fabrication, system integration, bring-up, EVT/DVT/PVT, and production—enabling clear communication with engineers and vendors.
Proven experience coordinating with contract manufacturers (CMs) and ODMs to manage schedules, track deliverables, and resolve open issues.
Hands-on experience with material flow, component tracking, and BOM management.
Skilled facilitator who drives productive meetings, captures critical context, and ensures action items are owned and closed.
Strong written and verbal communicator, comfortable presenting program status and risk assessments to engineering leads and executives.
Expert in project management tools such as Microsoft Project, Jira, Smartsheet, or equivalent platforms.
Strong bias for action—consistently closes loops, follows up independently, and identifies potential slips before they impact project timelines.
Thrives in fast-paced, ambiguous environments; proactively creates structure and drives clarity without waiting for complete information.
Candidates should have capacity to comply with the federally mandated requirements of U.S. export control laws.

Nice To Haves

Experience managing programs for complex hardware development
Experience defining and improving program management processes in a startup or new business unit

Responsibilities

Own program coordination across all HW Systems activities: maintain an integrated schedule across all concurrent projects and workstreams, surface priority conflicts, and drive resolution of resource contention with engineering leads.
Drive cross-functional alignment between HW Systems and other teams: setting agendas, facilitating meetings, capturing decisions, communicating delays and risks, and relentlessly following up on action items.
Manage team-wide resource loading and capacity visibility, partnering with engineering leads to flag overallocation risks and drive trade-offs discussions across concurrent programs.
Build and maintain integrated program schedules that reflect hardware development realities - bring-up milestones, NPI phases, EVT/DVT/PVT gates, and cross-team dependencies.
Own program scope that lives outside formal project charters: tester boards, demos, lab fixtures, calibration equipment, and internal engineering tools that teams depend on but that would otherwise lack dedicated ownership.
Coordinate material flow within the HW Systems team: track component orders, PCB fab runs, PCBA and mechanical assemblies, and engineering samples; partner with supply chain to ensure critical materials land on schedule.
Track and coordinate cross-functional teams' HW deliverable dependencies including quantities and timelines, and ensure downstream teams are unblocked with accurate, up-to-date visibility into HW schedule and status.
Serve as the primary hardware program interface with external contract manufacturers, PCB and sheet metal fabricators, and assembly houses: managing schedules, tracking deliverables, facilitating technical alignment, and driving closure on open issues in partnership with Supply chain.
Represent the HW Systems team in company-wide program reviews and cross-functional planning cadences; own the team's program interface to broader organizational stakeholders, communicating schedule changes, material needs, and engineering commitments proactively and clearly.
Track HW Systems budgets for engineering activities, prototype builds, and tooling; coordinate with finance and operations to ensure spend is planned, visible, and aligned with program milestones.
Adapt quickly to change: replan and realign when scope shifts, schedules move, or engineering realities force a pivot; maintain momentum and clarity even when the path forward is not fully defined.
Establish and maintain lightweight program management processes: status reporting cadences, risk registers, dependency tracking, and decision logs.