Staff Technical Program Manager - OTA

Socket.dev; Palo Alto (CA); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is seeking a Technical Program Manager to lead the OTA organization in Palo Alto, Irvine, Belgrade and Berlin, ensuring alignment with leadership on the technical vision and delivery of firmware, cloud, and data initiatives.

You will coordinate cross-functional teams, manage development processes, and drive strategic planning while promoting strong communication and scalable program management across distributed sites.

Qualifications

• BS or MS in Computer Science or Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or other related technical fields with 5+ years relevant experience
• 6+ years of Technical or Engineering Program Management experience
• Experience with Atlassian-based applications, including Jira and Confluence, bonus points if you’ve worked with the APIs directly
• Experience with the entire Software Development Lifecycle from user story creation to validation and maintenance.
• Experience working with complex systems in either a technical or programs capacity
• Outstanding communication skills, both written and verbal, along with the ability to think strategically and develop solutions quickly and effectively.
• Expert with agile, waterfall, or kanban development processes
• Passionate about process improvement and developing strong cross-functional relationships
• Experience with Software Defined Vehicles is preferred but not required

Responsibilities

• Work directly with the leadership team to ensure the execution of our teams technical vision
• Lead tactical development processes (grooming, pointing, sprint planning)
• Facilitate strategic development processes (program planning, quarterly planning) and decomposition into tactical exercises
• Coordinate with OTA team leads to ensure work scope is clear, dependencies are clear, and stakeholders are primed to support each other.
• Coordinate with counterpart TPMs external to the OTA team to ensure we’re prepared for changes that will impact us or requests for work/support we need to budget for
• Push engineering leaders and developers to follow the development norms and processes
• Design and maintain agile processes for tracking and executing OTA projects across a variety of domains and contexts

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Agile/kanban

Cross-functional collaboration

Problem solving

Education

BS or MS in Computer Science or Engineering

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Job description

About Us

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is a joint venture between two industry leaders with a clear vision for automotive’s next chapter. From operating systems to zonal controllers to cloud and connectivity solutions, we’re addressing the challenges of electric vehicles through technology that will set the standards for software-defined vehicles around the world.

The road to the future is uncharted. By combining our expertise across connectivity, AI, security and more, we’ll map a new way forward. Working together, we’ll create a future that’s more connected, more intelligent, more sustainable for everyone.

Role Summary

Over the Air Updates are critical to RV Tech’s ability to deliver the latest fixes and features to customers internally and externally. The OTA organization is an end-to-end integrated firmware development, systems integration, system architecture, test automation, cloud development, release operations, data engineering, and test automation distributed across sites in Palo Alto CA, Irvine CA, Belgrade Serbia, and Berlin Germany.

Due to the criticality of OTA to RV Tech’s operations, the complexity of the system, and the inherently distributed nature of the team; having a strong TPM ensuring consistent coordination and execution internally to the OTA org and externally with stakeholder organizations is critical to ensuring the success of our product. This role requires a strong personality can drive outcomes without direct ownership, a system mindset that can see how the constituent parts feed into the larger picture, and a natural leadership ability to bring the human parts together to achieve the technical goal.

Responsibilities

• Work directly with the leadership team to ensure the execution of our teams technical vision

• Lead tactical development processes (grooming, pointing, sprint planning)

• Facilitate strategic development processes (program planning, quarterly planning) and decomposition into tactical exercises

• Coordinate with OTA team leads to ensure work scope is clear, dependencies are clear, and stakeholders are primed to support each other.

• Coordinate with counterpart TPMs external to the OTA team to ensure we’re prepared for changes that will impact us or requests for work/support we need to budget for

• Push engineering leaders and developers to follow the development norms and processes

• Design and maintain agile processes for tracking and executing OTA projects across a variety of domains and contexts

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• BS or MS in Computer Science or Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or other related technical fields with 5+ years relevant experience

• 6+ years of Technical or Engineering Program Management experience

• Experience with Atlassian-based applications, including Jira and Confluence, bonus points if you’ve worked with the APIs directly

• Experience with the entire Software Development Lifecycle from user story creation to validation and maintenance.

• Experience working with complex systems in either a technical or programs capacity

• Outstanding communication skills, both written and verbal, along with the ability to think strategically and develop solutions quickly and effectively.

• Expert with agile, waterfall, or kanban development processes

• Passionate about process improvement and developing strong cross-functional relationships

• Experience with Software Defined Vehicles is preferred but not required

Total Rewards

We build the exceptional — and we believe the people doing that work should be rewarded accordingly. In addition to a competitive base salary, full-time positions may be is eligible to participate in our annual company performance bonus program.

Payments are discretionary and not guaranteed; actual amounts depend on company results and the terms of the plan in effect, and require active employment at the time of payout. This role is also eligible for equity in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), subject to board approval and the terms of our equity incentive plans, including applicable vesting requirements.

In addition to our compensation programs, we invest in our people with a comprehensive benefits package designed to support the health, wellbeing, and financial future for full-time employees — including health coverage, retirement savings, time off, and family planning programs. Offerings vary by country. Learn more about our global benefit programs.

Equal Opportunity

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information or characteristics, physical or mental disability, marital/domestic partner status, age, military/veteran status, medical condition or any other characteristic protected by law. We are also committed to ensuring compliance with all applicable fair employment practice laws regarding citizenship and immigration status.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies is committed to ensuring that our hiring process is accessible for persons with disabilities. If you have a disability or limitation, such as those covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, that requires accommodations to assist you in the search and application process, please email us at [e-mail].

Candidate Data Privacy

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies” may collect, use and disclose your personal information or personal data (within the meaning of the applicable data protection laws) when you apply for employment and/or participate in our recruitment processes (“Candidate Personal Data”). This data includes contact, demographic, communications, educational, professional, employment, social media/website, network/device, recruiting system usage/interaction, security and preference information. Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may use your Candidate Personal Data for the purposes of (i) tracking interactions with our recruiting system; (ii) carrying out, analyzing and improving our application and recruitment process, including assessing you and your application and conducting employment, background and reference checks; (iii) establishing an employment relationship or entering into an employment contract with you; (iv) complying with our legal, regulatory and corporate governance obligations; (v) record keeping; (vi) ensuring network and information security and preventing fraud; and (vii) as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may share your Candidate Personal Data with (i) internal personnel who have a need to know such information in order to perform their duties, including individuals on our People Team, Finance, Legal, and the team(s) with the position(s) for which you are applying; (ii) Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies affiliates; and (iii) Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies’ service provider, including providers of background checks, staffing services, and cloud services.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may transfer or store internationally your Candidate Personal Data, including to or in the United States, Canada, and the European Union and in the cloud, and this data may be subject to laws and accessible to the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of such jurisdictions.

Rivian and Volkswagen Group Technologies may contact you via SMS text message for recruitment-related purposes, including scheduling, logistics, and status updates. Message and data rates may apply. You may opt out of SMS communications at any time by replying STOP to any text message you receive from us. Consent to receive SMS messages is not a condition of applying for or being considered for employment.

Please see our Candidate Data Privacy Notice (English)and Candidate Data Privacy Notice (Serbian) for more information.

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Please note this job posting represents an open, active vacancy. Additionally, we are not currently accepting applications from third party application services.