Technical Program Manager, R&D

Fluidstack; Austin, Northern (TX, KY); Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Fluidstack is seeking a Technical Program Manager in Austin, TX to lead end-to-end hardware and infrastructure programs. You will coordinate across R&D, manufacturing, and supply chain, ensuring schedules, risk management, and rapid decision-making drive project velocity.

The role is strongly on-site, near the lab and factory floor, with a focus on end-to-end execution and delivering scalable, high-impact data center solutions.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of technical program management across hardware or infrastructure programs.
• Comfortable with mechanical/electrical/controls engineering details.
• Proven ability to run multiple concurrent programs with distributed teams.
• Bias to action; close loops and move programs without waiting.
• On-site role near lab and factory floor.

Responsibilities

• Own program plans across R&D workstreams from concept through production handoff.
• Run NPI programs end to end with design reviews, schedules, procurement, and lab capacity.
• Drive cross-functional execution between R&D, manufacturing, supply chain, and deployment.
• Build reporting cadence for leadership with honest status and recovery plans.
• Turn recurring chaos into efficient processes to maximize velocity.

Skills

Technical program management

Hardware programs

Cross-functional leadership

Schedule risk management

On-site collaboration

Job description

About Fluidstack

We exist to make humanity more free. For most of human history, you farmed or you starved. Technology gave people more time for the things they wanted to do, instead of things they had to do. Powerful AI will be the biggest lever for human choice we've ever built - but only if models are aligned with what humanity actually wants. There are groups building AI who don't share these goals. Whoever deploys frontier compute infrastructure fastest will decide whether AI expands human freedom or shrinks it.

We're singularly focused on delivering 10 to 100s of GWs of compute faster than anyone else, rethinking every layer of the stack. We acquire power, design and build data centers, and operate them - with teams spanning hardware and software. Speed and scale are our key differentiators. Come be a part of building civilization-scale infrastructure for AI.

How We Operate

• Be a barrel. Full autonomy. Own things end to end, take on scope without being asked, no permission required to operate outside your core role.

• Insane urgency. We drive everything forward as fast as possible.

• Reason from first principles. Challenge every assumption. Zero analogy thinking, no egos, the best idea wins.

• Love of the game. The frontier of AI is the most interesting problem of our time. We put in long hours at high intensity to push the frontier forward.

• Build something that actually matters. If you're going to spend your time, spend it on something that matters to the world.

The R&D Team

Fluidstack's R&D organization designs the next generations of our data center product: modular builds, new cooling and power architectures, and the lab-to-field pipeline that turns prototypes into deployable capacity. The team spans mechanical, electrical, controls, and compute engineering, working with manufacturing and supply chain to move designs from first article to repeatable production as we scale to multiple gigawatts.

Role Scope

• Own program plans across R&D workstreams: scope, sequencing, owners, and the critical path from concept through prototype, qualification, and production handoff.

• Run NPI programs end to end, coordinating design reviews, build schedules, long-lead procurement, and lab/test capacity so nothing waits on ambiguity.

• Drive cross-functional execution between R&D, manufacturing, supply chain, and deployment teams; surface risks early and force decisions fast.

• Build the reporting cadence leadership runs on: honest status, slipping items named, recovery plans attached.

• Turn recurring chaos into process only where process pays for itself. We optimize for velocity, not ceremony.

What We're Looking For

The below is a starting point. We always make space for exceptional people, so if you don't fit this role exactly,

• 5+ years of technical program management across hardware or infrastructure programs (NPI, data center, energy, aerospace, automotive, or similar build-heavy domains).

• Comfortable in the details of mechanical/electrical/controls engineering programs. You can read a schedule risk off an engineering conversation.

• Proven at running multiple concurrent programs with distributed engineering, manufacturing, and vendor teams.

• Bias to action: you close loops yourself, escalde with options not problems, and keep programs moving without waiting to be asked.

• On-site energy: this role lives close to the lab and the factory floor.

We are committed to pay equity and transparency.

Fluidstack is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and protected veterans’ status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Fluidstack will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records pursuant to applicable law.