Senior Technical Program Manager

Red Cat Holdings; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 133,000 - 199,000; Full time

Job summary

Red Cat Holdings seeks a Senior Technical Program Manager in San Diego to drive internal execution of the engineering backlog for ASR. You will groom and sequence work, run agile ceremonies, and coordinate with developers to produce reliable delivery plans against milestones.

The role reports to the VP of Strategy & Operations and requires a strong-willed, highly organized leader who maintains accountability and follows through in a fast-moving environment.

Qualifications

• Must be a US Person.
• 7+ years in product/program management or delivery leadership in software/hardware+software environments.
• Strong Agile background with experience as a technical scrum master.
• Proven track record eliciting needs from disparate stakeholders and building coherent execution plans.
• Experience producing story-point estimates and managing a backlog to delivery.
• Expert proficiency in Jira and Confluence.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills.
• Ability to work independently under pressure.

Responsibilities

• Own the engineering backlog in Jira, grooming, sequencing, and prioritizing work.
• Elicit requirements from stakeholders and synthesize into actionable plans.
• Serve as technical scrum master with daily stand-ups, sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives.
• Collaborate with developers to estimate stories and refine delivery forecasts.
• Maintain accountability for timelines and commitments, escalating risks early.
• Monitor scope and schedule creep and report deviations to leadership.
• Identify risks early and drive mitigation plans with engineering leadership.
• Escalate issues clearly with appropriate urgency and context.
• Maintain single source of truth for execution status in Jira/Confluence.
• Track delivery metrics (velocity, burndown, cycle time, reliability).
• Drive continuous improvement of Agile processes and cross-team coordination.

Skills

Agile leadership

Stakeholder alignment

Backlog management

Communication facilitation

Jira & Confluence

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Job description

Job Details: Job Location: Apium - San Diego, CA 92121, Salary Range: $132,595.00 - $198,950.00 Salary

Position Summary

Apium Swarm Robotics (ASR) is revolutionizing swarm autonomy software for air, surface, undersea, and ground vehicles operating across dual-use commercial and defense environments. Our systems are deployed on real platforms, tested in the field, and delivered to customers operating in complex, uncertain, and safety-critical conditions.

We do not build research prototypes or slideware. Our software is integrated into real vehicles, tested in the field, and delivered to customers who depend on operational reliability, speed of execution, and mission relevance. We prioritize performance over hype.

ASR systems represent the next phase in autonomy: collaborative swarming. These are not like pre-programmed drones for light shows. We are creating real-time cooperative management that lets one operator control dozens to hundreds of vehicles in real-time with the ease of controlling a single vehicle. As such, this role requires comfort with responsibility, ambiguity, and operational accountability.

ASR seeks a Senior Technical Program Manager focused on the internal execution of the engineering backlog. This is a process- and delivery-focused role for an experienced Agile practitioner and technical scrum master who turns the inputs of many disparate stakeholders into coherent, executable plans and then drives the team to deliver against them. The role owns schedules, milestones, risks, dependencies, and communication; it does not own the product roadmap or system architecture.

The distinction from ASR's product management is deliberate: the Director of Program Management for Air Systems owns the product roadmap and what the product should become, while the Technical Program Manager owns how the committed work gets executed. In practice that means grooming and sequencing the backlog, running Agile ceremonies, working with developers to build story-point estimates, and holding the organization accountable to timelines.

Reporting to the VP of Strategy & Operations, the successful candidate is strong-willed and comfortable holding people accountable, highly organized, and expert in the tools that run a modern engineering organization. They bring calm, structure, and follow-through to a fast-moving environment.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Act as the sole owner of the engineering backlog in Jira, grooming, sequencing, and prioritizing committed work for clarity and executability
• Elicit requirements and constraints from multiple disparate stakeholders and synthesize them into coherent, actionable execution plans
• Serve as technical scrum master, running daily stand-ups along with sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives, and removing blockers to delivery
• Work directly with developers to build and refine story-point estimates and maintain realistic, trustworthy delivery forecasts
• Hold individuals and teams accountable to agreed timelines and commitments, escalating risks and slippage early
• Monitor, manage, and communicate scope creep and schedule creep, surfacing deviations and their impact up the leadership chain in a timely, clear manner
• Identify technical, schedule, and operational risks early, and drive structured risk mitigation plans in partnership with engineering leadership
• Escalate issues clearly and early, with escalations commensurate with their urgency and potential impact, so that decisions are made at the right level with the right context
• Maintain the single source of truth for execution status in Jira and Confluence, including boards, epics, sprints, and reporting
• Track and report delivery metrics (velocity, burndown, cycle time, commitment reliability) to the VP of Strategy & Operations
• Drive continuous improvement of ASR's Agile processes and cross-team coordination as the organization scales

Required Qualifications

• Must be a US Person
• 7+ years in product management, program management, or delivery leadership in a software or hardware-plus-software environment
• Strong Agile background with direct experience as a technical scrum master, plus demonstrated project-management rigor across scope, schedule, and risk
• Proven track record eliciting needs from disparate stakeholders and building coherent execution plans from them
• Experience working with developers to produce story-point estimates and manage a backlog to delivery
• Expert proficiency in Jira and Confluence
• Strong-willed and comfortable holding people accountable to timelines and commitments, with excellent communication and facilitation skills
• Comfort working independently with limited oversight
• Ability to remain calm and effective under operational pressure

Additional Desired Qualifications

• Experience with scaled Agile (SAFe) or other team-of-teams / scaling frameworks
• PMP certification, or Certified Scrum Master (CSM), PMI-ACP, SAFe, or equivalent project-management or Agile certification
• Experience with Lucid (Lucidchart / Lucidspark), which is part of ASR's PM tech stack
• Experience coordinating delivery across multiple teams or workstreams simultaneously
• Technical background sufficient to earn the trust of software and hardware engineers
• U.S. security clearance or ability to obtain one

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions

• Must be able to walk, stand, and navigate large indoor and outdoor facilities for extended periods of time.
• Ability to lift, carry, and move materials and equipment weighing up to 25 lbs on a regular basis.
• Use of personal protective equipment (PPE) may be required in designated areas or when performing specific tasks, in accordance with safety protocols and company policy.
• May be required to climb ladders, stoop, kneel, or crouch during inspections, maintenance walk-throughs, or emergency response situations.
• Regular exposure to facility operations including noise, dust, temperature fluctuations, and industrial equipment.
• Occasional off-hours or weekend work required for emergency facility responses or projects as needed
• Requires frequent use of a computer and other standard office equipment for documentation, communication, and coordination tasks.
• Requirement to travel up to 25% of the time, based on customer integration needs and operational requirements.

Background Check

This position will require successfully completing a post-offer background check. Qualified candidates with a criminal history will be considered and are not automatically disqualified, consistent with federal and state law.

EEO and ITAR/EAR Work Authorization Disclosure

Red Cat Holdings provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This position requires direct or indirect access to hardware, software, technology or technical data controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Successful candidates for positions subject to ITAR/EAR restrictions must provide proof of U.S. Citizenship or Permanent Residence and must not require sponsorship for export-restricted work authorization.

E-Verify

The company participates E-Verify ensure eligibility for employment and compliance with Right to Work rules.

Compensation

Salary range $132,595 - $198,950 plus generous annual equity package and potential bonuses.