Senior Technical Program Manager - Vehicle Platform & Autonomy Integration

AI Chopping Block; Foster City (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Zoox is seeking a Technical Program Manager to lead the integration across perception, planning, controls, simulation and vehicle software. You will own the program strategy, execution and risk management, coordinating hardware, embedded software and systems teams to ship on schedule.

You will run cross-team milestones, define validation gates for on-road deployment, and translate technical status into risk narratives for leadership.

Qualifications

• Experience leading large-scale software integration programs (autonomy, robotics, or safety-critical systems).
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with a structured approach to risk and schedule management.
• Solid grounding in software systems and architecture discussions across perception, planning/controls, or related subsystems.

Responsibilities

• Own the integration roadmap for the Vehicle autonomy platform, coordinating across perception, motion planning, controls, simulation, and vehicle software teams.
• Drive cross-team milestone planning, dependency mapping, and risk tracking for a program with many interlocking software subsystems.
• Partner with autonomy engineering and safety teams to define integration test plans, validation gates, and readiness criteria for on-road deployment.
• Run regular program syncs, milestone reviews, and executive readouts; translate technical status into clear risk/impact narratives for leadership.
• Anticipate integration risks and drive mitigation plans with engineering owners.

Education

BS or MS in computer science or engineering

Job description

Zoox has embarked on a highly ambitious journey to develop a full-stack autonomous mobility solution for our cities. We’re looking for a technical program manager to lead the integration effort that brings together perception, planning, controls, simulation, and vehicle platform teams into a single coherent release. You'll be the connective tissue across the autonomy stack, driving the program from architecture and integration milestones through on-road validation and readiness for deployment. You'll own program strategy, execution, and risk management across hardware, embedded software, and systems integration teams, working closely with hardware engineering, PMO, perception, and platform software groups to ship on schedule.

In this role, you will:

• Own the integration roadmap for the Vehicle autonomy platform, coordinating across perception, motion planning, controls, simulation, and vehicle software teams.
• Drive cross-team milestone planning, dependency mapping, and risk tracking for a program with many interlocking software subsystems.
• Partner with autonomy engineering and safety teams to define integration test plans, validation gates, and readiness criteria for on-road deployment.
• Run regular program syncs, milestone reviews, and executive readouts; translate technical status into clear risk/impact narratives for leadership.
• Anticipate integration risks (interface mismatches, regression risk, simulation-to-real-world gaps) and drive mitigation plans with engineering owners.
• Support release planning and coordination with safety, release management, and field operations teams as needed for Vehicle platform deployment.
• Continuously improve integration processes as the platform and org scale.
• Establish and evolve program management processes (planning cadences, milestone reviews, launch readiness criteria) for a fast-moving hardware-software program.

Qualifications

• BS or MS degree in computer science, engineering or equivalent job experience
• 8+ years of technical program management experience, ideally on complex software integration programs (autonomy, robotics, safety-critical systems, or large-scale distributed software).
• Solid technical grounding in software systems — comfortable with architecture discussions across perception, planning/controls, or similar autonomy subsystems.
• Experience managing multi-team integration programs with heavy interdependencies and evolving requirements.
• Strong stakeholder management skills; able to align engineering, safety, and leadership around a shared plan.
• Sharp written/verbal communication and a structured approach to risk and schedule management.

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience in autonomous vehicles, ADAS, robotics, or safety-critical software systems strongly preferred.