Strategy & Programs Manager

AI Startups UK; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

PhysicsX, a deep-tech company accelerating hardware innovation with AI-driven simulation, is seeking a Strategy & Program Manager. You will move between strategic planning, operational efficiency, competitive intelligence, and technology enablement—tackling cross-functional challenges that sit between functions.

As a generalist, you bring fresh eyes, an unbiased perspective, and the ability to define problems and deliver actionable plans.

Qualifications

• Experience translating strategy into actionable programs.
• Ability to run milestone-based plans and manage risks.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration and communication.

Responsibilities

• Lead outcome-driven programs with functional leaders to deliver time-boxed projects aligned to company goals.
• Translate strategy into actionable steps, breaking objectives into milestones and tracking progress.
• Set and maintain strategic direction through annual strategy refreshes and OKR cycles, with telemetry to inform leadership.
• Identify and address pain points using stakeholder feedback and competitive intelligence to shape programs.
• Foster cross-functional alignment across Delivery, Product, Research, and Operations to remove blockers.
• Communicate impact through internal briefs, retrospectives, and program updates.
• Close the loop on initiatives to ensure completion and learnings are captured.

Job description

About us

PhysicsX is a deep-tech company with roots in numerical physics and Formula One, dedicated to accelerating hardware innovation at the speed of software.

We are building an AI-driven simulation software stack for engineering and manufacturing across advanced industries. By enabling high-fidelity, multi-physics simulation through AI inference across the entire engineering lifecycle, PhysicsX unlocks new levels of optimization and automation in design, manufacturing, and operations - empowering engineers to push the boundaries of possibility. Our customers include leading innovators in Aerospace & Defense, Materials, Energy, Semiconductors, and Automotive.

About the Team

PhysicsX is building AI that transforms how the world's most complex engineering problems are solved. As the company scales rapidly following our Series C, we've built a dedicated Strategy & Programs function whose mission is to ensure we scale gracefully - with clarity, alignment, and discipline.

The team sits at the intersection of strategy and execution. We own the company's strategic planning process, drive cross-functional programs that upgrade how PhysicsX operates, and serve as the connective tissue that holds a fast-growing organisation together. Learn more about the team here - https://www.physicsx.ai/newsroom/scaling-gracefully-inside-physicsxs-strategy-programs-team

The Role

As a Strategy & Program Manager, you will move between strategic planning, operational efficiency, competitive intelligence, and technology enablement - sometimes in the same quarter. You'll take on the work that sits between functions: the challenges that are strategically important but that no single team owns, and that risk falling through the cracks as we grow.

This is a generalist role by design. You are not embedded in a single function - you bring fresh eyes, an unbiased perspective, and context from across the business. You need to be the person who walks into a room where the problem isn't yet well-defined, and leaves with a plan that everyone can execute against.

It is also one of the fastest ways to learn how a scaling company works from the inside - you will build context and judgment across every corner of the organisation that is genuinely rare.

What You'll Do

• Lead outcome-driven programs. Partner with functional leaders to own and deliver time-boxed programs that directly amplify team performance and tie back to company-wide goals - on time, within scope, and to agreed quality standards.
• Translate strategy into action. Break broad strategic objectives into measurable steps, run milestone-based plans, manage risks and issues, and lead status syncs to ensure clear execution.
• Set and maintain strategic direction. Support the company’s strategic planning process - annual strategy refreshes, quarterly business reviews, OKR cycles - and invest in the telemetry and automated metrics that give leadership a trusted, real-time view of progress.
• Surface and solve pain points. Proactively identify company and team-level challenges through stakeholder feedback, operational health metrics, and competitive intelligence, then translate those insights into structured programs.
• Drive cross-functional alignment. Foster collaboration across Delivery, Product, Research, and Operations to remove blockers and ensure the connective tissue holds as we scale.
• Communicate impact. Build trust and momentum by clearly communicating wins and progress through internal briefs, retrospective reports, and program updates.
• Close the loop.