Technical Program Manager

Istaridigital.Ai; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Istari is seeking a skilled Technical Program Manager to oversee a portfolio of concurrent programs spanning defense, technology, and government sectors. The role emphasizes systems thinking, ownership of outcomes, and rigorous cost, schedule, and risk management across multiple threads.

The selected candidate will collaborate with Engineering, Customer Success, Product, and Cybersecurity, reporting to senior leadership and driving both day-to-day execution and long-term program success.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience managing complex programs in the defense, technology, or government sectors.
• Proven success overseeing cost, schedule, and performance for multiple concurrent projects.
• Experience with DoD or federal acquisition frameworks and programmatic reporting standards.
• Eligible for U.S. Government clearance.

Responsibilities

• Manage multiple high-priority programs simultaneously with clear deliverables, stakeholders, and strategic objectives.
• Lead program planning, schedule development, budget tracking, and risk management across all assigned programs.
• Coordinate with internal and external teams to ensure workstreams stay aligned and dependencies are managed.
• Establish clear reporting mechanisms for program status, risks, and key decisions.
• Develop and maintain integrated program plans and drive execution across all lifecycle stages.
• Serve as the primary interface between Istari and external stakeholders, including government and commercial partners.
• Align program execution with contract requirements and customer expectations.
• Prepare and deliver high-quality briefings, status updates, and decision-support materials to sponsors and senior leadership.
• Collaborate with Sales, Product, and Customer Success to ensure programs support long-term adoption, value delivery, and client satisfaction.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate program risks through proactive planning and agile decision‑making.
• Track and report on program performance against contractual and internal milestones.
• Support continuous improvement efforts across program workflows, applying lessons learned to future initiatives.
• Ensure quality of deliverables, timeliness, and resource alignment across programs.
• Own technical and non-technical execution for programs.
• Contribute thought leadership around the Istari platform, its applications, and required capabilities.
• Review designs, architectures, and implementations to ensure quality, scalability, and alignment with Istari’s platform vision.
• Partner with cross‑functional teams to translate customer needs into clear, executable technical plans.
• Communicate technical tradeoffs effectively to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.

Skills

Program management

Stakeholder engagement

Risk management

Cross-functional coordination

Communication

Job description

Istari is seeking a skilled and driven Technical Program Manager to oversee the successful execution of a portfolio of concurrent programs. These programs span technical and strategic domains and are critical to advancing our impact across federal and commercial sectors.

The ideal candidate is a systems thinker with exceptional organizational skills and a strong sense of ownership of program outcomes. This role demands an ability to manage complexity across multiple threads while ensuring rigorous attention to cost, schedule, performance, and risk.

The selected Program Manager will report to senior leadership and be responsible for the day-to-day and long‑term success of assigned programs—from kickoff through final delivery. They will work closely with cross‑functional teams including Engineering, Customer Success, Product, and Cybersecurity, and act as the connective tissue between execution and vision.

Program Management Excellence

• Manage multiple high‑priority programs simultaneously, each with its own set of deliverables, stakeholders, and strategic objectives.
• Lead program planning, schedule development, budget tracking, and risk management activities across all assigned programs.
• Coordinate with internal and external teams to ensure workstreams stay aligned and dependencies are managed.
• Establish clear reporting mechanisms for program status, risks, and key decisions.
• Develop and maintain integrated program plans and drive execution across all lifecycle stages.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Serve as the primary interface between Istari and external stakeholders, including government and commercial partners.
• Align program execution with contract requirements and customer expectations.
• Prepare and deliver high‑quality briefings, status updates, and decision‑support materials to sponsors and senior leadership.
• Collaborate with Sales, Product, and the rest of the Customer Success team to ensure programs support long‑term adoption, value delivery, and client satisfaction.

Risk, Performance & Process Rigor

• Identify, assess, and mitigate program risks through proactive planning and agile decision‑making.
• Track and report on program performance against contractual and internal milestones.
• Support continuous improvement efforts across program workflows, applying lessons learned to future initiatives.
• Ensure quality of deliverables, timeliness, and resource alignment across programs.

Technical & Program Leadership

• Own technical and non‑technical execution for programs.
• Contribute thought leadership around the Istari platform, its applications, and required capabilities.
• Review designs, architectures, and implementations to ensure quality, scalability, and alignment with Istari’s platform vision.

Cross‑Functional & Customer Engagement

• Partner with cross‑functional teams to translate customer needs into clear, executable technical plans.
• Communicate technical tradeoffs effectively to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience managing complex programs in the defense, technology, or government sectors.
• Demonstrated success overseeing cost, schedule, and performance for multiple concurrent projects.
• Strong command of program planning, stakeholder engagement, and risk management best practices.
• Exceptional communication and coordination skills, with the ability to synthesize information across disciplines.
• Experience managing contracts, subcontractors, and performance‑based deliverables.
• Eligible for U.S. Government clearance.
• Experience with DoD or federal acquisition frameworks and programmatic reporting standards.
• Experience with technical programs involving secure networks, Cloud Infrastructure, digital engineering, Artificial Intelligence or software development lifecycles.

Istari is a digital engineering software company building open, scalable infrastructure for engineering data. Our platform lets customers simply and securely integrate engineering models across disciplines, organizations, and security levels—whether they're designing prototypes, performing virtual testing, or training AI and autonomy for complex systems.