Technical Program Manager, Science Operations, Code

Firstminute Capital; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits package

Relocation support

Job summary

Mistral is hiring a Technical Program Manager to partner with the code and vibe research team, translating complex research into a clear operational narrative for leadership and other teams. This embedded role focuses on execution rather than pure coordination and values genuine enthusiasm for code models.

The ideal candidate thrives in a research-heavy AI environment, can manage ambiguity, and communicates complex technical details with clarity to diverse audiences.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in CS, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 3+ years of experience in technical program management, operations, or research coordination.
• Strong analytical skills; comfortable working in ambiguity and shaping it into structure.
• Ability to engage substantively with research work and build credibility with technical teams.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; translate technical detail for different audiences.

Responsibilities

• Research Visibility: Maintain a shared view of ongoing work for leadership and adjacent teams without pulling researchers into status tasks.
• Operational Partnership: Coordinate resources and cross-team conversations so researchers can focus on science.
• Research-to-release: Own the path from research work to release candidate for code and vibe workstreams.
• Visibility & Communication Cadence: Keep interfaces clean and high-signal for wider science org.
• Strategic Communication: Translate work into clear updates for leadership and adjacent teams.

Skills

TPM experience

Analytical skills

Ambiguity management

Communication

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelors in CS/Engineering or related field

Tools

Familiar with ML/AI tooling

Job description

About Mistral

Mistral provides full-stack AI solutions: from frontier models to developer tools, applications, and compute. We partner with enterprises tackling the hardest problems across high-stakes industries like finance, manufacturing, defense, healthcare, and the public sector, co-creating customized AI systems that they can run on their terms.

We are a dynamic, collaborative team passionate about AI and its potential to transform society. Our diverse workforce thrives in competitive environments and is committed to driving innovation. Our teams are distributed between Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East. We are creative, low-ego and team-spirited.

The Role

We\'re hiring a Technical Program Manager to partner with Mistral\'s code and vibe research team - the researchers shaping how our models write, reason about, and play with code. You\'ll be their operational counterpart - the person who absorbs what the team is working on and makes it legible to the team, to leadership, and to adjacent teams.

This isn\'t a coordination role. It\'s a research partnership role - embedded with the team, fluent in what they\'re building, and operationally responsible for everything that isn\'t the science itself.

The ideal candidate is someone who is genuinely excited about code models. You play with them. You have opinions about what makes them feel good to use. You read the papers because you want to, not because you have to. A research background is a plus but not required - what matters is that you care about this domain and can hold your own in a room full of researchers working on it.

What will you do

• Research Visibility: Partner with the team to maintain a shared, accessible view of their ongoing work - what\'s in flight, where it\'s heading, what\'s ready to hand off. Make the research legible to adjacent teams and leadership without pulling researchers into status work.

• Operational Partnership: Be the team\'s operational partner. Handle the coordination, resourcing, and cross-team conversations that would otherwise sit on researchers\' plates - so the team can stay focused on the science.

• Research-to-release: Own the operational path from research work to release candidate for code and vibe workstreams. Partner with the release function to ensure the team\'s work flows cleanly into Mistral\'s release machinery.

• Visibility & Communication Cadence: Code and vibe research connects to many other efforts across the organization. Keep these interfaces clean and high-signal, so the team\'s work integrates naturally with the wider science org.

• Strategic Communication: Translate the team\'s work into clear, well-timed updates for leadership and adjacent teams - what\'s being built, what matters, what\'s coming next.

What We\'re Looking For

• Genuine enthusiasm for code models and coding assistants - you play with them, push them, have opinions about them

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent practical experience

• 3+ years of experience in technical program management, operations, or research coordination

• Strong analytical skills; comfortable working in ambiguity and shaping it into structure

• Ability to engage substantively with research work and build real credibility with technical teams

• Excellent written and verbal communication; able to translate technical detail into clarity for different audiences

Nice to have criteria/ would be ideal if you have/are:

• Experience in research-heavy or ML/AI organizations

• Familiarity with code generation, coding agents, software engineering benchmarks, or related research areas

• Hands-on experience with modern coding tools - you\'re a user, not just an observer

• Track record of building systemic processes from the ground up

• Comfort working in fast-paced, high-ambiguity environments where priorities shift quickly

Why Join Us?

• Shape how frontier AI is built and released: You’ll design and operate the systems that connect scientific discovery to real-world deployment - ensuring our work scales with clarity, reliability, and speed

• Work inside the Science OS: Join a team building the operational backbone of Mistral’s science organization - where structure meets creativity and processes evolve through use, not bureaucracy

• Drive visible, high-leverage impact: Your work will sit at the intersection of research, engineering, and leadership - turning complexity into alignment and enabling confident, data-informed decisions across the company

What We Offer

We offer a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your well-being, growth, and work-life balance. Benefits vary by country and may include healthcare coverage, parental leave, retirement plans, relocation support, wellness programs, meal and transportation allowances, and other location-specific perks.

For the most up-to-date details on benefits available in your location, please refer to our Benefits page.

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