Principal Program Manager

Piaggio Fast Forward Inc.; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Piaggio Fast Forward Inc. in Boston is seeking a Principal Program Manager to own execution across our robotics platform, spanning hardware, software, AI models, cloud services, apps, and quality gates.

You will report to the CEO, coordinate with Product Manager, and drive cross-team alignment to ship features on time while maintaining safety and reliability in robot operations. This role requires managing multiple domains (design, data science, engineering, operations) without direct authority,

Qualifications

• Extensive experience leading technical programs across hardware and software.
• Proven ability to drive execution in matrixed organizations.
• Experience with release quality gates for hardware products.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication.
• Ability to partner with Product Manager without blurring priorities.
• Experience with hardware certification processes.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, CS, or related field.

Responsibilities

• Own program execution for core robot product stack across hardware, software, AI, cloud services, apps and quality gates.
• Translate priorities into a tracked program with timelines and cross-team coordination.
• Coordinate design, data science/AI, mechanical/electrical/software engineering, operations, quality and compliance.
• Identify and manage risks and dependencies across a matrixed organization to keep the program on track.
• Maintain a clear handoff with the Head of Product and provide visibility into progress, tradeoffs and risk.

Skills

Technical PM

Cross-functional teams

Matrixed teams

Release gates

Stakeholder comms

Product owner partner

Hardware certification

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or CS

Job description

Principal Program Manager

Who We Are

Boston-based company Piaggio Fast Forward Inc. (PFF) was founded in 2015 by the Piaggio Group (the Italian manufacturer that created the iconic Vespa scooter). We are on a mission to build technology products that move the way that people move. To bring products to market today, PFF is solving the problem of robotic interaction with people in dynamically changing environments. We’re innovators, neighbors, and creators with a passion for local living and pushing the limits on urban transportation. We support a sustainable mobility ecology with healthy lifestyles and social connectivity available to all, regardless of age or abilities.

The Role

We're looking for a Program Manager to own execution across our core robot product line including the full stack of hardware, software, AI models, cloud services, apps, and the quality control that gates every release. You'll report directly to the CEO and work as an individual contributor with company-wide execution authority. You won't manage people directly, but you will own the oversight of progress across every team that builds and ships these robots.

You'll work in close partnership with the Product Manager, who sets the goals and priorities for what gets built and why. Your job is to turn those priorities into a real program: sequencing the work, tracking progress, surfacing risk, and driving alignment across a wide set of disciplines so that the right things ship, on time, at the quality bar our robots require given how closely they operate with people.

What You’ll Do

Own program execution for our core cargo-robot technology stack. Take ownership of the execution of products and features across the full range of our ground-movement, cargo-carrying robots (25–800 lb payload class) including the human-proximity behaviors, autonomy, and fleet self-management that make them safe and simple to deploy without environmental changes or integration work.

Translate product priorities into a driven, tracked program. Work closely with the Head of Product to understand goals and priorities, then own the planning, sequencing, tracking, and cross-team coordination required to execute against them; serving as the clear, trusted handoff point between "what we’re building and why" and "how and when it gets done."

Track and drive progress across:

• Design team including industrial design, HRI, UI/UX for apps and web, and cloud tools, ensuring design work stays aligned with program timelines and cross-team dependencies.
• Smart Behaviors team including data science, behavior specifications, and AI model development that give our robots the ability to operate alongside people.
• Engineering team, our largest including teams of engineers in Mechanical, Electrical, Software, Sensor Fusion, Localization, Navigation, Physical AI, Quality, Cloud, and Devops, coordinating across these disciplines to keep interdependent hardware/software work moving together.
• Operations team including supply chain, manufacturing, and logistics, ensuring program plans account for real-world lead times, sourcing constraints, and production readiness.
• Quality team including SQA, Sales Engineering, and Customer Support ensuring time for testing by this team before products or features ship.
• Work closely with our Compliance and Certification Manager to ensure certification requirements are built into the program plan.
• Manage risk and dependencies across a matrixed program. Without formal authority over any of the teams above, build the relationships, visibility, and judgment needed to identify risks early, resolve cross-team conflicts, and keep a highly interdependent hardware-plus-software-plus-AI program on track.
• Maintain a clear, thin handoff with the Head of Product. Respect the boundary between setting goals and executing against them. You drive the "how" and "when," and you keep the Head of Product's priorities intact rather than re-litigating them, while giving clear, honest visibility into progress, tradeoffs, and risk.

What You’ll Bring

• Significant experience as a technical program manager (or equivalent) on complex products that combine hardware, embedded/cloud software, and AI/ML. Ownership experience where you were responsible for two or more programs for either robotics, autonomous systems, or another physical-plus-software product category strongly preferred.
• A track record of driving execution across highly matrixed, multi-disciplinary teams (design, data science/AI, mechanical/electrical/software engineering, operations) without direct authority over any of them.
• Comfort owning release quality gates for a physical product, with an understanding of why the bar is higher when a robot shares space with people.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills as this role sits close to the CEO and must give clear, credible visibility into program status, risk, and tradeoffs.
• Demonstrated ability to partner with a product owner (Product Manager, Head of Product, or similar) without blurring the line between setting priorities and executing against them.
• Experience managing programs that include a hardware certification path is a strong plus.
• Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, or a related technical field; advanced degree a plus.

We like you just the way you are.

Diversity fuels our innovation. Inclusion, belonging, equity, and neurodiversity drives our best-in-class culture. We strive to create workplaces where everyone feels empowered to share ideas, grow at their own pace, and work together towards a shared vision while holding each other to a higher standard. For us, DEI&B is the only way forward.

Employment Eligibility Verification

Piaggio Fast Forward participates in E-Verify, an electronic employment verification program operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA), to verify the employment eligibility of newly hired employees. Piaggio Fast Forward is an E-Verify Employer, and as such, the company will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the United States.

For more information about E-Verify, please visit the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) website:

https://www.e-verify.gov/