Foundry Technical Program Manager (Materials Foundry)

CuspAI; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in CuspAI

28 days holiday (UK)

Gold Standard parental leave

Professional development budget

Inspiring interdisciplinary teamwork

Job summary

CuspAI, a frontier AI company, seeks a Technical Program Manager with a strong technical or scientific background to drive the AI Materials Foundry ecosystem. You will coordinate global partners, align research, engineering and commercial objectives, and lead end-to-end programs from planning to deployment.

You will work across AI, chemistry, and engineering teams, managing initiatives, events, and customer pilots while refining scalable processes to scale the organization.

Qualifications

• Proven TPM in scientific or AI/ML environment.
• Ability to align research, engineering and business goals.
• Experience coordinating multi-disciplinary teams (AI, Chemistry, Engineering).
• Excellent stakeholder management across technical and non-technical partners.
• Strong leadership and problem-solving skills in ambiguous environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead AI Materials Foundry programs across a global network of partners.
• Translate objectives into executable plans and manage timelines and risks.
• Coordinate Foundry initiatives, events, and campaigns with internal teams.
• Manage joint development and customer pilot programs from concept to deployment.

Skills

Natural Science background

AI/ML domain experience

Technical Program Management

Stakeholder management

Cross-functional leadership

Ambiguity navigation

External partner programs

Job description

About CuspAI

CuspAI is the frontier AI company on a mission to solve the breakthrough materials needed to power human progress. While nature took billions of years to perfect molecules, we are harnessing AI to unlock trillion-dollar materials breakthroughs in months, not millennia. Our founding team is the most cited in the world, comprised of world-class researchers in AI, chemistry and engineering.

About CuspAI

CuspAI is the frontier AI company on a mission to solve the breakthrough materials needed to power human progress. While nature took billions of years to perfect molecules, we are harnessing AI to unlock trillion-dollar materials breakthroughs in months, not millennia. Our founding team is the most cited in the world, comprised of world-class researchers in AI, chemistry and engineering.

We’re on the cusp of the on-demand materials era. Join us.

The Role

Due to rapid growth, we are seeking a Technical Program Manager with a strong technical or scientific background (Natural Science, Computer Science, Software Engineering and/or AI/ML) to join our team. You will be a key driver in our global partner ecosystem that accelerates the adoption of our AI Materials platform, which is critical for delivering next-generation semiconductor and advanced materials to market.

Your Impact

In this role you will be building and executing the program management framework that drives the activation of our AI Materials Foundry members towards real-world, scalable materials breakthroughs.

As a member of our growing team of TPMs, you will work closely with our AI Materials Foundry team on coordinating Foundry initiatives, events, and materials generation campaigns. You will also be involved in establishing more sophisticated, scalable processes for Foundry member engagement with our internal teams to drive to end to end technical delivery.

What You Will Do

Program Leadership & Research Integration

• Lead AI Materials Foundry programs across a global network of industry and lab partners towards materials discovery.
• Translate scientific and business objectives into executable plans, aligning commercial, research and engineering teams.
• Own planning and delivery of Foundry initiatives and events; managing resources & dependencies, mapping out timelines, and managing risks to ensure successful outcomes.

Partner & Customer Collaboration

• Lead technical programs with industry partners and research institutions, serving as a primary program contact for our external partners during the execution and delivery of projects.
• Facilitate technical discussions between internal teams and external stakeholders.
• Drive project scoping and proposal writing in collaboration with the partnerships and technical teams.
• Manage joint development initiatives and coordinate customer pilot programs from conception through to deployment.

Process & Operations

• Work closely with the rest of the global TPM team to refine scalable processes.
• Implement metrics for tracking milestones and program outcomes.
• Coordinate compliance and regulatory considerations across programs.
• Support intellectual property (IP) and scientific publication processes.
• Foster interdisciplinary team culture and own change management to successfully scale the organisation.
• Use data to drive continuous improvements to internal and customer facing processes.

Must Have Skills and Qualifications:

• You possess a strong background in a Natural Science, Computer Science, Software Engineering, AI/ML, or related field.
• Proven experience as a Technical Program Manager in a scientific or AI/ML environment, with a clear sense of where the opportunities and challenges in the field lie.
• The ability to navigate high levels of ambiguity and maintain cohesion across multi-disciplinary teams (AI, Chemistry, and Engineering).
• Excellent stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence both highly technical researchers and non-technical partners at varying levels of seniority.
• Strategic thinking and problem-solving skills with comfort navigating ambiguity and changing priorities.
• Strong leadership and facilitation capabilities for managing cross-functional teams.
• Experience managing technical external-facing customer projects.

Bonus Points (But Not Critical):

• Practical experience or an academic background in Materials Science, Experimental Chemistry, or Physics.
• Experience managing joint ecosystem programs alongside major hardware tech giants like NVIDIA or Meta.
• Direct professional background working within a semiconductor foundry, design firm, or electronics materials supplier.
• Technical fluency across model architecture, cloud infrastructure, and the software development lifecycle.
• Experience with molecular simulation software, quantum chemistry packages, or cheminformatics tools.

Additional Considerations

This role will be based in our London/Cambridge offices or our U.S. Bay Area office, with the expectation of being in the office three days per week. Additionally, there may be regular travel required to other locations for internal/external collaboration work.

What we offer

• A competitive salary: We value and reward impact and growth
• Equity in CuspAI: You have a stake in the success of the company
• Time off to stay fresh: 28 days holiday (DE, NL, UK) or 21 days holiday (JP, SG, US), in addition to local public holidays
• ‘Gold Standard’ parental leave: 26 weeks (primary caregiver) and 12 weeks (secondary caregiver) at full pay - we look after you and your family while we work on the most important materials discovery problems together
• Professional development budget: We invest in your career development so you can stay up to date with the latest industry knowledge or add to your skills to increase impact and growth
• Solve meaningful problems: See how your work has a direct impact on advancing materials science and solving sustainability and climate-related problems through the creation and application of bleeding‑edge SOTA technology and revolutionary techniques
• True interdisciplinary teamwork: Be part of a deeply collaborative environment bridging AI research, computational chemistry, and experimental science - work with world‑class researchers and engineers who enjoy sharing knowledge and supporting each other

Join us in shaping the future of materials with AI. Together, we can create groundbreaking solutions for a more sustainable world.

CuspAI is an equal opportunities employer committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace

We do not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding), veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

We actively encourage applications from all backgrounds and value the unique perspectives and contributions that diversity brings to our team.

Please let us know if you require any specific adjustments during or after the interview process. We will do everything we can within reason to accommodate.