Director, Technical Program Management — Driver Out Sunnyvale, California USA

OpenDigital Limited; Sunnyvale, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Wayve is seeking a Director of Technical Program Management for Driver Out in Sunnyvale, CA. You will own the multi-year program to operationalise Wayve's autonomy technology—from eye-off demonstrations to a productised service on public roads.

You will lead the TPM team, coordinate across engineering, safety, product, and operations, and partner with OEMs and partners to ensure safety, schedules, and scalable delivery.

Qualifications

• 10+ years delivering complex programs at director level.
• Extensive AV/robotics experience delivering safety-critical programs toward driver-out / L4.
• Safety-critical delivery experience with ISO 26262, SOTIF, safety cases.
• Proven people leadership, coaching, and developing leaders.
• Technical credibility with engineers in autonomy, ML, hardware/software.
• Ability to work in ambiguous, fast-moving environments with structure.
• Systems thinking across complex, safety-critical systems.
• Product-minded with outcomes over activity.
• Exceptional cross-functional leadership across senior stakeholders.
• Strategic and business-minded, aligning programs to market.

Responsibilities

• Own the Driver Out program end-to-end from demo to product integration.
• Lead the program org and set operating model.
• Drive the critical path and manage dependencies and risks.
• Own the safety-critical spine including safety case and SOTIF.
• Partner with engineering, science, safety, product, and external partners.
• Establish scalable governance, milestones, and KPIs.
• Represent Driver Out to executives and steer major decisions.

Skills

Program leadership

AV/robotics experience

Safety-critical delivery

People leadership

Systems thinking

Product-minded

Cross-functional leadership

Strategic thinking

Clear communication

Growth mindset

Education

Engineering or CS degree

Job description

About us

Founded in 2017, Wayve is the leading developer of Embodied AI technology. Our advanced AI software and foundation models enable vehicles to perceive, understand, and navigate any complex environment, enhancing the usability and safety of automated driving systems.

Our vision is to create autonomy that propels the world forward. Our intelligent, mapless, and hardware-agnostic AI products are designed for automakers, accelerating the transition from assisted to automated driving.

In our fast-paced environment big problems ignite us—we embrace uncertainty, leaning into complex challenges to unlock groundbreaking solutions. We aim high and stay humble in our pursuit of excellence, constantly learning and evolving as we pave the way for a smarter, safer future.

At Wayve, your contributions matter. We value diversity, embrace new perspectives, and foster an inclusive work environment; we back each other to deliver impact.

Make Wayve the experience that defines your career!

The role

As Director of Technical Program Management for Driver Out at Wayve, you'll own the multi-year program that takes Wayve's autonomy technology and operationalises it - from our first eyes-off, driver-out demonstration through to a productised, scaled service on public roads. Driver Out is the underlying technology program behind Wayve's robotaxi ambitions: where the robotaxi pilots prove the product in different markets, you own the safety, systems, and delivery foundations that make driver-out real.

You'll lead an org-wide effort spanning driving-model performance and safety, behaviour validation, the safety case, system architecture, functional safety and V&V, vehicle hardware and software, remote assistance, and operations - turning a complex web of “must be true” conditions into a sequenced, credible plan. You'll partner with engineering, science, safety, product, and operations leaders (and external partners such as OEMs and Uber), and build and lead the TPM team beneath the program. Your impact is measured in how safely and predictably Wayve moves from driver-in to driver-out. A successful leader here is a force multiplier - creating clarity across a huge, ambiguous, safety-critical program.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the Driver Out program end-to-end: Define and drive the multi-year plan and milestones - from the first driver-out demonstration to public-road product integration and minimal scaling - from concept to operation.
• Lead the program org: Build, coach, and grow the TPM team across the program; set the operating model and hold workstream leads to account.
• Drive the critical path: Turn a complex set of “must be true” conditions into a sequenced plan; own dependencies, risk, and trade-offs across every workstream.
• Own the safety-critical spine: Bring the safety case, behaviour validation, functional safety (ISO 26262), SOTIF (ISO 21448), cybersecurity, and the Safety Management System together into a credible, signed-off argument for driver-out.
• Partner across the company and externally: Align engineering, science, safety, product, and operations - and external partners (OEMs, Uber) - on scope, sequencing, and readiness.
• Establish scalable practices: Governance, milestone and launch-readiness reviews, KPIs and dashboards, escalations, and risk-budget management.
• Represent Driver Out at the top: Report progress, risk, and readiness to the executive team, and steer the biggest calls.

About you

In order to set you up for success as Director of Technical Program Management for Driver Out at Wayve, we're looking for the following skills and experience.

Essential

• 10+ years delivering complex programs, incl. director-level leadership: You've owned large, multi-year, cross-org technical programs end-to-end and built and led program-management teams. Deep ownership and a bias for action.
• Extensive AV / robotics experience: Deep experience delivering autonomous-vehicle or comparable safety-critical robotics programs - ideally toward driver-out / L4 - with real fluency in the systems, safety, and operational realities involved.
• Safety-critical delivery: Fluent with safety cases, behaviour validation, functional safety (ISO 26262), SOTIF (ISO 21448), and safety management systems; you can hold a credible driver-out safety argument together across many workstreams.
• People leadership: You build, coach, and grow high-performing teams - and develop other leaders - and raise the bar on the craft.
• Technically strong: Credible with engineers and scientists across autonomy, ML, vehicle hardware / software, and systems, even though you won't write production code.
• Stays neutral and adapts under pressure: Effective in ambiguous, fast-moving environments; you flex your style and bring structure without slowing delivery.
• Systems thinking: You reason about how the parts of a complex, safety-critical system fit together, and how a change in one area ripples into others.
• 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.
• Exceptional cross-functional leadership: You align and influence engineering, science, safety, product, operations, and external partners at the most senior levels, without relying on authority.
• Strategic & business impact: You link the program to Wayve's commercial path to market - and make the trade-offs that keep driver-out both safe and achievable.
• Clear communicator: You set direction with clarity, steer with the right metrics, and communicate risk and readiness crisply to executives.
• Growth mindset: Open to feedback and always looking to improve.

Desirable

• Experience taking an AV program to eyes-off / driverless operation, or launching a comparable safety-critical service.
• Familiarity with OEM and mobility-partner (e.g. ride-hail) collaboration.
• Background in autonomous vehicles, robotics, or another large-scale safety-critical program.
• An engineering or computer science degree, or experience working as an engineer.

This is a full-time role based in our office in Sunnyvale. 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.

#LI-KM1

Wayve is committed to creating an inclusive interview experience. If you require any accommodations or adjustments to participate fully in our interview process, please let us know.

We understand that everyone has a unique set of skills and experiences and that not everyone will meet all of the requirements listed above. If you’re passionate about self-driving cars and think you have what it takes to make a positive impact on the world, we encourage you to apply.

At Wayve we're committed to creating a diverse, fair and respectful culture that is inclusive of everyone based on their unique skills and perspectives, and regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, pregnancy or related condition (including breastfeeding) or any other basis as protected by applicable law.

For more information visit Careers at Wayve.

To learn more about what drives us, visit Values at Wayve

For US candidates only, please visit E-Verify Notice and Participation and Right to Work

DISCLAIMER: We will not ask about marriage or pregnancy, care responsibilities or disabilities in any of our job adverts or interviews. However, we do look to capture information about care responsibilities, and disabilities among other diversity information as part of an optional DEI Monitoring form to help us identify areas of improvement in our hiring process and ensure that the process is inclusive and non-discriminatory.