Technical Program Manager

Wayve; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

Wayve is hiring a Technical Program Manager in London to lead cross-functional programs spanning AI, software, robotics, vehicle hardware, platforms, and data. You will turn ambiguity into clear plans and keep multi-team delivery predictable in a fast-moving environment.

Working closely with engineering and partners, you’ll deliver programs, drive efficiency, manage risk, and align execution with Wayve's goals. Hybrid working combines office and home days.

Qualifications

• 5+ years leading complex, multi-team software or technology programs in fast-paced or early-stage environments.
• Technically strong in modern software, ML, and robotics stacks.
• Able to reason about how a complex system parts fit together and ripple effects.
• Keeps calm under pressure and adapts to ambiguous situations.
• Skilled at planning, prioritising, risk and dependency management.
• Able to explain complex ideas clearly and keep teams aligned.
• Leads with collaboration and creates a positive team culture.
• Keeps the bigger picture in mind and finds creative solutions.
• Focuses on outcomes and the people served by programs.
• Open to feedback and growth.

Responsibilities

• Drive project delivery: Own the project lifecycle and improve delivery outcomes through structured execution and coordination.
• Boost efficiency: Identify bottlenecks, streamline workflows, and improve tooling and resource allocation to increase throughput.
• Enable cross-team collaboration: Improve alignment across teams through effective communication, shared goals, and faster decisions.
• Manage risk proactively: Anticipate issues, develop mitigation plans, and minimise impact on timelines and quality.
• Keep stakeholders aligned: Engage regularly with internal stakeholders, manage expectations, and deliver on commitments.
• Align with business goals: Ensure programs directly support Wayve's strategic priorities by making smart scope and resource decisions.
• Champion continuous improvement: Lead retros, encourage feedback, and implement changes to improve processes, team dynamics, and outcomes.

Skills

Program delivery

Technical depth

Systems thinking

Pressure management

Project management

Clear communication

Collaborative leadership

Strategic thinking

Product-minded

Growth mindset

Education

Engineering or computer science degree

Tools

Jira

Job description

The role

As a Technical Program Manager at Wayve, you'll lead complex, cross-functional programs across our engineering org - spanning AI, software, robotics, vehicle hardware and platforms, infrastructure, simulation, evaluation, validation, data, and product. You'll turn ambiguity into clear plans and keep multi-team delivery predictable in a fast-moving environment.

Working closely with engineering and cross-functional partners, your impact will be measured by your ability to deliver programs, drive efficiency, manage risk, and align execution with business goals. A successful TPM is a force multiplier - helping teams move faster, more effectively, and with purpose.

We hire TPMs across several areas - for example AV engineering (robotics, perception, parking, ADAS), vehicle platforms (hardware, vehicle software, architecture), simulation, evaluation & validation, robotaxi, AI infrastructure, and data - and we'll explore the best fit with you through the process.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive project delivery: Own the project lifecycle and improve delivery outcomes through structured execution and coordination.
• Boost efficiency: Identify bottlenecks, streamline workflows, and improve tooling and resource allocation to increase throughput.
• Enable cross-team collaboration: Improve alignment across teams through effective communication, shared goals, and faster decisions.
• Manage risk proactively: Anticipate issues, develop mitigation plans, and minimise impact on timelines and quality.
• Keep stakeholders aligned: Engage regularly with internal stakeholders, manage expectations, and deliver on commitments.
• Align with business goals: Ensure programs directly support Wayve's strategic priorities by making smart scope and resource decisions.
• Champion continuous improvement: Lead retros, encourage feedback, and implement changes to improve processes, team dynamics, and outcomes.

About you

We're looking for the following skills and experience.

Essential

• Bias for action / program delivery: 5+ years leading complex, multi-team software or technology programs in fast-paced or early-stage environments. You get things done.
• Technically strong: Comfortable working with engineers and reasoning about modern software, ML, and robotics stacks, even if you don't write code.
• Systems thinking: You reason about how the parts of a complex system fit together, and how a change in one area ripples into others.
• Stays neutral and adapts under pressure: Effective in high-tension, ambiguous situations; you flex your style to keep people aligned and moving.
• Strong project management: Skilled at planning, prioritising, managing risk and dependencies, and adapting as things change.
• Clear communicator: You explain complex ideas simply, surface risk early, listen well, and keep teams aligned.
• Collaborative leader: You bring people together, influence without authority, and create a positive team culture.
• Strategic thinking & problem-solving: You keep the bigger picture in mind, stay calm under pressure, and find creative solutions.
• Product-minded: You focus on outcomes and the people your programs serve - prioritising by impact and defining what good looks like, not just tracking activity.
• Growth mindset: Open to feedback and always looking to improve.

Desirable

• Ideally 8+ years as a Technical Program Manager.
• An engineering or computer science degree, or experience working as an engineer; excels in Jira (or similar).
• Exposure to autonomous vehicles, robotics, perception, vehicle hardware / embedded, ML, simulation / evaluation, or other safety-critical or compute-heavy domains.

This is a full-time role based in our London or Sunnyvale office. At Wayve we want the best of all worlds, so we operate a hybrid working policy that combines time together in our offices and workshops to fuel innovation, culture, relationships and learning, with time spent working from home.