Technical Program Manager- ML

Rival; Irvine (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

FieldAI in Irvine seeks a Technical Program Manager to coordinate multiple AI/ML initiatives and customer deployments. You will bridge customer needs, committed company work, and what research and engineering teams deliver, reporting to the VP of Perception & AI/ML.

This role requires owning program-level planning, identifying risks early, and communicating tradeoffs to leadership and customers in a concise, actionable manner.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a technical discipline or equivalent practical experience.
• 4–7 years in Technical Program Management for AI/ML teams.
• Experience translating customer needs into internal priorities and timelines.
• Proven ability to bring structure to ambiguous, fast-moving programs.

Responsibilities

• Own the program-level picture across concurrent research and engineering workstreams.
• Translate customer and product requirements into prioritized internal work and timelines.
• Serve as a program contact for customer deployments and communicate status, tradeoffs, and timelines.
• Surface risks and blockers and drive resolution across teams.
• Run re-prioritization conversations when commitments change.
• Build reporting and tracking that engineers will maintain.
• Partner with senior technical leads without directing the technical approach.

Skills

Program management

AI/ML lifecycle

Customer engagement

Cross-functional leadership

Education

Bachelors in CS/Engineering

Tools

Notion

Slack

Google Workspace

Job description

FieldAI' s Irvine team is where embodied AI meets real robots, real sensors, and real field deployments. Based in the heart of Southern California's robotics ecosystem, we build risk-aware, reliable, field-ready AI systems that solve the hardest problems in robotics and unlock the full potential of embodied intelligence. If you want your work to ship, get tested on hardware, and improve through real deployments, Irvine is the place. We go beyond typical data-driven approaches or pure transformer-only architectures, combining rigorous engineering with learning systems proven in globally deployed solutions that deliver results today and get better every time our robots run in the field.

About the Role

Our Perception & AI/ML organization runs several research and engineering programs at once, and they converge on the same robots in the same customer deployments. Priorities shift - that is the nature of the work - and when they do, someone needs to know what the shift costs, who it affects, and what we tell the customer.

That is this role. You will be the connective layer between what customers need, what the company has committed to, and what the research and engineering teams are actually building. You will report directly to the VP leading Perception & AI/ML and work closely with the broader leadership team.

This is not a process-administration job. You will be expected to hold an accurate picture of a large, fast-moving technical organization, form your own view of what is at risk, and say so early - including when that is unwelcome.

What You'll Do

• Own the program-level picture across concurrent research and engineering workstreams: what is in flight, who owns it, what is due, and what is slipping.
• Translate customer and product requirements into prioritized internal work, and keep delivery timelines honest against what has been committed externally.
• Serve as a program-level point of contact for customer deployments - carrying their needs inward, and carrying status, tradeoffs, and timelines back out.
• Surface risks and blockers before they become schedule problems, and drive them to resolution across teams.
• Run the re-prioritization conversations when commitments change: what continues, what pauses, what gets reassigned, and who needs to hear about it.
• Build reporting and tracking that engineers will actually maintain - enough signal to steer by, light enough to survive a fast quarter.
• Partner with senior technical leads and the leadership team without directing the technical approach.

What You Have

• 4-7 years as a Technical Program Manager or equivalent, supporting AI/ML or data-driven engineering teams.
• Experience across the AI/ML lifecycle - data collection and labeling, model training, evaluation, and deployment.
• Experience working directly with customers or external stakeholders, turning their needs into internal priorities and timelines.
• A demonstrated track record of bringing structure to ambiguous, fast-moving technical programs.
• Bachelor's degree in a technical discipline (Computer Science, Engineering, or related), or equivalent practical experience.

What Sets You Apart

• Experience in autonomous vehicles, robotics, drones, embedded systems, or another autonomy domain.
• Experience supporting AI/ML programs at scale inside a larger technology organization - recommendations, ranking, ads, or consumer AI.
• Background in data operations, data security, or systems integration.
• Experience supporting field operations or production customer deployments.
• Comfort acting as a trusted technical point of contact for customers in mission-critical deployments.
• Fluency with Notion, Slack, and Google Workspace - and the judgment to keep tooling minimal.
• PMP, Certified Scrum Master, or equivalent Agile certification.
• Startup or high-growth experience, with a strong bias toward ownership and urgency.

$180,000 - $200,000 a year

Our salary range is generous and we consider each individual’s background and experience when determining final compensation. Base pay may vary based on role scope, job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and the Irvine, California market.

Why Join FieldAI in Irvine?

In Irvine, you will work where the robots are. Our local team builds and tests systems on real hardware with real sensors, then ships them to operate in unstructured, previously unknown environments around the world. We are solving one of robotics’ hardest challenges: reliable deployment outside the lab. Our Field Foundational Models raise the bar for perception, planning, localization, and manipulation, with an emphasis on explainability and safety for real-world use.

You will collaborate with a world-class team that thrives on creativity, resilience, and bold thinking. We bring deep experience from organizations such as DeepMind, NASA JPL, Boston Dynamics, NVIDIA, Amazon, Tesla Autopilot, Cruise, Zoox, Toyota Research Institute, and SpaceX, along with a track record of field deployments and strong performance in DARPA challenge segments.

Be Part of the Next Robotics Revolution

We are looking for builders who want their work to leave the whiteboard and show up on robots. If you enjoy tackling tough, uncharted questions and working across disciplines, you will find your people here. Our teams span AI, software, robotics engineering, product, field deployment, and technical communication, all focused on shipping systems that perform in the real world.

Our headquarters is in Irvine, and we partner closely with teams there as well as colleagues across the US and around the world. Join us in Southern California and help define what dependable, field-ready autonomy looks like.

We value diverse perspectives and are committed to fostering an inclusive workplace. We evaluate candidates and employees based on merit, qualifications, and performance, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, national origin, ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or any other legally protected status.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.