Technical Program Manager

AI Fabrik; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

AI Fabrik is building an edge inference delivery network and seeks a Technical Program Manager to oversee hardware site deployments and software delivery as sites come online. You will coordinate cross-functional teams across facilities, power, networking, and compute with a production-ready software stack.

The role emphasizes managing dependencies, risk, and schedules with Jira/Confluence familiarity, and requires strong communication and program management skills.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience in a technical role—software engineering, infrastructure, or related discipline—before or alongside program management work.
• Demonstrable experience running large, cross-functional technical programs from planning through delivery.
• Comfortable reading system design documents, architecture diagrams, and API specs; able to engage meaningfully with engineers on trade-offs without coding.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to adjust detail and framing to the audience.
• Experience managing dependencies and coordinating delivery across multiple teams.
• Familiarity with project and program management tools (Jira, Confluence, Linear, or equivalent).
• Solid understanding of modern software delivery practices: CI/CD pipelines, agile methodologies, and release management.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end planning and execution of large-scale technical programs across multiple engineering teams.
• Engage with system designs, architecture decisions, and infrastructure trade-offs, identifying risks early.
• Manage cross-functional dependencies across engineering, product, design, data, and infrastructure.
• Communicate program status, risks, and decisions to executives and engineers with appropriate detail.
• Identify and escalate technical risks; own mitigation plans to resolution.
• Run the program cadence: standups, steering meetings, decision logs, and retrospectives.
• Write and maintain clear program documentation: specs, decisions, and dependency maps.
• Drive post-launch reviews and feed learnings into future programs.

Skills

Cross-functional leadership

Program management

Architecture docs reading

Communication skills

Dependencies management

CI/CD & Agile

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Linear

Job description

AI Fabrik builds an edge inference delivery network for high-performance tokens, with faster time-to-market from grid to tokens. Our mission is to build the inference infrastructure we wished every enterprise already had — close to users, close to the cloud, and extremely resilient for real-time workloads. We are builders, architects, engineers, and researchers with hands‑on experience in real‑world AI deployment in production, and decades of data center experience that taught us exactly what needs to change.

AI Fabrik was incubated inside Gruve and backed by Mayfield, Xora (Temasek), Acclimate Ventures, Cisco Investments — existing investors from Gruve who followed us into this new chapter. We are deploying five initial production sites, with the first one coming online in July 2026.

About the Role

This role sits at the intersection of physical infrastructure deployment and software engineering. Our programs span the buildout of hardware sites across dozens of locations — facilities, power, networking, and compute — alongside the delivery of a deep software stack that must be production‑ready when each site comes online.

The multiple related workstreams run in parallel and are tightly coupled. Hardware procurement and site construction operate on fixed schedules with limited room for adjustment. Software delivery must be planned and tracked with the same discipline. The TPM in this role is accountable for keeping both on track and ensuring the dependencies between them are managed proactively, not discovered late.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the end‑to‑end planning and execution of large‑scale technical programs: define scope, set milestones, sequence dependencies, and keep delivery on track across multiple engineering teams
• Engage directly with system designs, architecture decisions, and infrastructure trade‑offs — well enough to identify risks, ask the right questions, and flag issues before they compound
• Manage cross‑functional dependencies across engineering, product, design, data, and infrastructure; keep teams aligned without creating process overhead that slows them down
• Communicate program status, risks, and decisions to different audiences — architectural context for engineering leads, delivery forecasts for product, business impact for executives — adapting the level of detail to what each stakeholder actually needs
• Identify, track, and escalating technical risks early; own the mitigation plan and follow through to resolution rather than handing it off
• Run the operational rhythm of the program: standups, steering meetings, decision logs, and retrospectives — with a bias toward async where possible
• Write and maintain clear program documentation: specs, decision records, dependency maps, and status reports that teams actually read and reference
• Drive post‑launch reviews and feed learnings back into how the next program runs

Basic Qualifications

• 4+ years of experience in a technical role — software engineering, infrastructure, or a closely related discipline — before or alongside program management work
• Demonstrable experience running large, cross‑functional technical programs from planning through delivery
• Comfortable reading system design documents, architecture diagrams, and API specs; able to engage meaningfully with engineers on technical trade‑offs without needing to write the code
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to adjust detail and framing depending on the audience
• Experience managing dependencies and coordinating delivery across multiple teams simultaneously
• Familiarity with project and program management tools (Jira, Confluence, Linear, or equivalent)
• Solid understanding of modern software delivery practices: CI/CD pipelines, agile methodologies, and release management

Preferred Qualifications

• Background in cloud infrastructure, distributed systems, or platform engineering — giving you the vocabulary and intuition to engage on architecture without needing a technical translator
• Experience running programs in high‑ambiguity environments where the scope evolves and the requirements are still being worked out
• Familiarity with risk frameworks and structured approaches to dependency mapping across large engineering organizations
• Experience coordinating security, compliance, or data privacy requirements as part of a technical program
• Track record of improving how programs run — not just delivering on time, but leaving better processes behind

Salary Range

Why AI Fabrik

At AI Fabrik, we hire for impact. We want those who challenge how inference infrastructure is built and who excel at delivering it in production. We are builders, architects, engineers, and researchers. We move fast, work with rigor, and care deeply about what runs in the real world.

We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive team. AI Fabrik is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and thank all who apply; however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

Please note that this is an onsite position based out of AI Fabrik’s Redwood City, California office.