Senior Technical Program Manager

Title: Senior Technical Program Manager

Location: Palo Alto, CA (Local Only)

Job Description

The Apple Play and Google exp is a must given that they will be working with those products.

Position Responsibilities

• Provide software development process and project management for the Projection team within the IVI (In-Vehicle Infotainment) team.
• Identify potential risks in development, assess program impact, and work with engineering managers to mitigate risk.
• Drive cross-functional and cross-team coordination and communication to help deliver committed project outcomes. The primary objective is to support the team in achieving platform certification.
• Work closely with software engineers, system engineers, testing engineers, and product managers throughout the project lifecycle.
• Manage project schedules, identify blockers, potential issues, and inconsistencies, and clearly communicate them to stakeholders.
• Lead external vendors on timelines and deliverables and take responsibility for milestone coordination between internal and external releases.
• Drive multiple technical projects across vehicle software domains, helping to set priorities for engineering.

Basic Qualifications

• B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Computer Science.
• 10+ years of experience in project, program, or product management in software.
• 5+ years of experience in software development or testing.

Preferred Qualifications

• M.S. in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or Computer Science.
• M.B.A.
• PMP certification.
• Scrum Master certification.
• Experience using JIRA, Jama, and Confluence.
• Experience negotiating with hardware and software vendors.
• Experience in the automotive domain.
• Experience in the embedded software domain.
• Experience in the consumer electronics domain.
• Experience in the automotive infotainment domain.
• Experience with projection technologies such as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Skillsets & Domain Preferences

• Strong communication, bridge-building, and problem-solving skills are prioritized over deep technical expertise.
• Experience with projection (CarPlay, Android Auto) and infotainment is preferred but not strictly limited to automotive; consumer electronics backgrounds are acceptable.
• Candidates must have some exposure to Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, not necessarily as experts, but enough to ramp up quickly for certification and engagement with Apple/Google.
• Comfort with JIRA is required; other tools (Smartsheet, Excel, etc.) are flexible, but Microsoft Project is not preferred.

Additional Valuable Points for Candidate Identification and Qualification

• Domain Flexibility: manager emphasized that while automotive and infotainment experience is preferred, candidates from consumer electronics or other relevant domains are also acceptable if they have exposure to projection technologies (CarPlay, Android Auto) and infotainment systems. The key is familiarity, not deep expertise.
• Certification Process: Candidates should be able to ramp up quickly, especially given the tight timelines for pre-certification and certification with Apple and Google. Prior exposure to these processes is a plus, but resourcefulness and adaptability are critical.

Tool Requirements:

• Comfort with Jira is essential, as Christophe relies heavily on it for tracking. Smartsheet, Excel, and other scheduling tools are acceptable, but mastery of Jira is non-negotiable. Microsoft Project is not preferred.