Staff TPM, Software

Socket.dev; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Unlimited PTO

401(k) matching

Stock options

Voluntary benefits

Job summary

Neurophos in Austin, TX is seeking a Technical Program Manager to own execution across the software organization. You will harmonize firmware, compilers, runtime, and tooling with hardware milestones, leading agile ceremonies and producing forecasts that guide leadership.

The role requires 8–10 years in technical program management and proven ability to manage cross-functional software-hardware programs in a hybrid environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in an engineering or scientific discipline.
• 8–10 years of professional experience in technical program management.
• Experience deploying SCRUM in a hybrid environment with hardware milestones.
• Proven track record running agile ceremonies and producing forecasts.
• Proficiency with engineering planning and tracking tools (Jira, Linear).
• Ability to translate technical detail into program decisions.

Responsibilities

• Operate SCRUM inside a hybrid program structure, keeping software ahead of hardware.
• Build forward-looking forecasts with confidence levels and assumptions.
• Run agile ceremonies and keep teams productive.
• Track software vs hardware progress and flag program risks early.
• Escalate schedule and technical risks with owners and dates.
• Maintain planning artifacts and reporting trusted by engineers and leaders.
• Coordinate cross-team dependencies across software, hardware, and cloud.
• Work with chief engineers to ground commitments in delivery capability.
• Advocate for deeper agile adoption where software leads.

Skills

SCRUM

Forecasting

Agile ceremonies

Cross-functional leadership

Jira

Linear

Software-hardware coordination

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering or science

Tools

Jira

Linear

Job description

About Neurophos

The demand for new data centers and AI compute is rapidly outpacing the planet's energy capacity. Digital solutions are hitting a power wall as we approach the physical limits of traditional silicon. Conquering this bottleneck means rethinking the fundamental architecture of inference compute. The industry's current path can't meet the need, so we're taking a different approach.

Instead of traditional electronic circuits, we use silicon photonics and an active, programmable metasurface to perform matrix multiplications at the speed of light. Our optical cells are 10,000x smaller than traditional photonic components, enabling unprecedented density. By using photonics instead of electricity, our chips become more efficient as they scale. This architecture will deliver up to 100 times the energy efficiency of existing solutions while significantly improving performance for large-scale AI inference.

We’ve assembled a world-class team of industry veterans and recently raised a $110M Series A led by Gates Frontier. Participants include M12 (Microsoft’s Venture Fund), Carbon Direct Capital, Aramco Ventures, Bosch Ventures, Tectonic Ventures, Space Capital, and others.

Join us and shape the future of computing!

Position Overview

We are seeking a Technical Program Manager to own execution across our software organization. At Neurophos, software leads hardware. Firmware, compilers, runtime, and tooling must be ready before the silicon and optics they target arrive, built against virtual platforms, simulators, and emulation. That is how we de-risk every hardware milestone. This job is about protecting and extending that lead. The more lead software builds, the more room the program has to run on an agile cadence. You will run the ceremonies that keep teams moving sprint to sprint and produce the forward-looking forecasts that chief engineers and executive management plan against. You will make the case, with data, for shifting the hybrid further toward an agile model. TPMs here are not scorekeepers. You will own real programs, surface risks, drive them to closure, and see your judgment reflected directly in product decisions.

Location

Austin, TX. Full-time onsite position.

Key Responsibilities

Program Execution

• Operate SCRUM inside a hybrid scrum-fall program structure, keeping software delivery ahead of hardware availability rather than gated by it.

• Build and maintain forward-looking completion forecasts with explicit confidence levels and stated assumptions, rather than status snapshots of work already done.

• Run agile ceremonies for software teams and keep them useful rather than ritualistic.

• Track and report how far ahead software is running relative to hardware, and treat any erosion of that lead as a first-order program risk.

• Identify, quantify, and escalation schedule and technical risk early, and drive it to resolution with named owners and dates.

• Maintain program-level planning artifacts and reporting that engineers trust and leadership can act on.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Manage cross-team dependencies across software, hardware, and cloud, and make the critical path visible to everyone on it.

• Work directly with chief engineers and executive management to ensure commitments are grounded in what teams can actually deliver.

• Drive scope and sequencing decisions when hardware milestones shift, and clearly communicate the downstream impact.

• Advocate for shifting the hybrid further toward agile wherever software's lead makes it possible, and build the evidence that makes the case.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in an engineering or scientific discipline. Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or Electrical Engineering preferred.

• 8–10 years of professional experience in technical program management.

• Demonstrated experience deploying SCRUM in a hybrid scrum-fall environment, where agile software delivery must align to waterfall hardware or program milestones

• Proven track record running agile ceremonies and generating forward-looking forecasts of completion and risk

• Hands-on proficiency with modern engineering planning and tracking tools (Jira, Linear, or equivalent), including configuring workflows and building reporting that engineers trust and actually use

• Ability to engage credibly with engineers on technical detail, and to translate that detail into program-level decisions

• Proven ability to absorb complex architectures and designs quickly. Able to establish domain-specific understanding in a design review across unfamiliar technical areas.

Preferred Skills

• Program management experience at a hardware accelerator, photonics, or systems company where software ships alongside physical product (strongly preferred).

• Experience managing programs through tape‑out, bring‑up, or comparable hard‑date engineering milestones (strongly preferred).

• Experience leveraging AI to manage very large and complex programs, including planning, dependency analysis, forecasting, and risk surfacing at a scale that defeats manual tracking (strongly preferred).

• Master's degree in an engineering or scientific discipline, or an MBA (preferred).

• Formal certification or training in Scrum, SAFe, or an equivalent framework (preferred).

• Familiarity with compiler, runtime, firmware, or cloud infrastructure development programs (preferred).

• Familiarity with LLM architectures and their computational requirements (preferred).

What We Offer

This is an opportunity to play a pivotal role in an innovative startup redefining the future of AI hardware. Work on game-changing technology at the intersection of photonics and AI as part of a collaborative, brilliant team. You’ll contribute to a platform that redefines computational performance and accelerates the future of artificial intelligence. Come help us bring this transformative technology to the world.

Benefits

Join a team that invests in your future and your well-being. At Neurophos, we offer:

• 100% coverage of base health plan premiums for you and your dependents, plus HSA contributions.

• Unlimited PTO. No rigid vacation banks, just a focus on delivery.

• 401(k) matching and stock option opportunities to ensure our success is your success.

• Full suite of voluntary benefits, including Dental, Vision, Life, Hospital, Critical Illness, and Accident insurance.

• Personalized Benefits. Choose the plans that fit your life and take the cash back for those that don’t.