Sr. TPM- Software & Controls

Rhoda AI; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Rhoda AI is seeking a Senior TPM for Software & Controls to own end-to-end program execution across all software and controls workstreams, from autonomy and perception through embedded firmware and real-time control systems.

This deeply technical leadership role requires you to engage engineers, understand architecture tradeoffs, surface risk early, and uphold a high bar of engineering quality and schedule integrity as we move from development to field-ready software.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in technical program management or engineering roles on complex software or embedded systems.
• Hands-on engineering background in software, robotics, controls, or systems engineering.
• Fluency with real-time systems, autonomy stacks, or robot operating environments.
• Proven ability to own multi-quarter software programs from planning through release.
• Strong command of dependency management, critical path analysis, and schedule risk.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication across engineering and executive audiences.

Responsibilities

• Lead sprint planning, release tracking, and engineering dependency management across all software and controls workstreams.
• Own software and controls delivery milestones; ensure readiness ahead of hardware and certification.
• Coordinate cross-functional alignment between software, hardware, and product teams to unblock delivery.
• Manage risk identification and mitigation across prototype and production-grade development phases.
• Track and communicate progress from early development through field-ready software and controls delivery.
• Drive architecture and integration reviews; enforce quality, velocity, and standards.
• Define and maintain the master program plan, milestones, critical path, and dependencies across the full software stack.
• Establish scalable program management practices, tooling, and processes for growing teams.

Skills

Technical program management

Robotics software

Real-time systems

Systems engineering

Cross-functional leadership

Job description

At Rhoda AI, we’re building the next generation of generalist intelligent robots. We own the full robotics stack from high-performance hardware and robot systems to the infrastructure and state-of-the‑art foundation world models that control our robots. Our robots are designed to be generalists capable of operating in complex, real‑world environments and handling long‑tail edge cases, made possible by our cutting edge research and end‑to‑end system design. We've raised over $450M and are investing aggressively in model research, infrastructure, hardware development, and manufacturing scale‑up to make generalist robotics a reality.

Role Overview

As Senior TPM for Software & Controls, you own end-to-end program execution across all software and controls workstreams, from autonomy and perception through embedded firmware and real-time control systems. You sit at the intersection of software, hardware, and product, driving delivery from early development through field-ready software.

This is a deeply technical leadership role. You are expected to engage substantively with engineers, understand architecture tradeoffs, surface risk early, and hold the program to a high bar of engineering quality and schedule integrity.

Responsibilities

• Lead sprint planning, release tracking, and engineering dependency management across all software and controls workstreams.
• Own software and controls delivery milestones; ensure technical readiness ahead of hardware and certification dependencies.
• Coordinate cross‑functional alignment between software, hardware, and product teams to proactively unblock delivery.
• Manage risk identification and mitigation across prototype and production‑grade development phases.
• Track and communicate progress from early-stage development through field-ready software and controls delivery.
• Drive architecture and integration reviews; hold teams accountable to quality, velocity, and engineering standards.
• Define and maintain the master program plan, milestones, critical path, and dependencies, across the full software stack.
• Establish scalable program management practices, tooling, and processes that grow with team and product complexity.

Experience Requirements

Required

• 5+ years in technical program management or engineering roles on complex software or embedded systems.
• Prior hands‑on engineering background in software, robotics, controls, or systems engineering.
• Fluency with real-time systems, autonomy stacks, or robot operating environments.
• Proven ability to own multi-quarter software programs from planning through release in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong command of dependency management, critical path analysis, and schedule risk across HW-SW co-development.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication across engineering and executive audiences.

Preferred

• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines for embedded or robot software.
• Background in autonomous vehicles, drones, or industrial robotics.
• Exposure to safety-critical software development (ISO 26262, IEC 61508)