Technical Program Manager, Systems Development & Implementation

XWING; Santa Cruz (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 192,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare benefits

401(k) with company match

Employee stock purchase plan

Disability coverage

Life insurance

Paid time off

Job summary

Joby is seeking a Technical Program Manager to drive system development and implementation from concept to on-ground delivery in Santa Cruz. You will scope work, build roadmaps, and lead cross-team execution to hit aircraft milestones, not just plan but drive to closure.

Applicants should have a engineering degree and 5+ years of relevant experience, strong stakeholder skills, and a track record turning ambiguity into actionable plans within cross-functional teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, or related technical field.
• 5+ years of relevant experience in engineering, systems, or program management.
• Ability to scope ambiguous, high-risk technical work into structured plans and execution roadmaps.

Responsibilities

• Provide dedicated program support to mature high-risk design areas from scoping to readiness for operation.
• Scope and structure roadmaps for system areas carrying open technical risk, aligning with aircraft milestones.
• Build risk mitigation plans and sequence work to retire risk before schedule or safety issues.
• Drive end-to-end maturation: requirements validation, software/feature development, verification approach and execution.
• Translate system roadmaps into integrated schedules synchronized with overall aircraft program.
• Iterate plans as new information or issues surface; adjust with cross-team stakeholders.

Skills

Technical leadership

Stakeholder management

Cross-functional collaboration

Requirements translation

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering or related technical field

Tools

Smartsheet

Jira

Confluence

AI-native tools

Job description

Technical Program Manager, Systems Development & Implementation

Job Locations: US-CA-Santa Cruz

ID: 2026-5273

Category: Central Aircraft OEM Support

Type: Regular Full-Time

Company Overview

Imagine a piloted air taxi that takes off vertically, then quietly carries you and your fellow passengers over the congested city streets below, enabling you to spend more time with the people and places that matter most. At Joby, we've been working to make that dream a reality since 2009 and we're now in the final stages of certifying our aircraft with the FAA. With plans to launch our aircraft in the US and Dubai, we're now scaling manufacturing and preparing for the launch of our commercial service.

Overview

Joby is looking for a Technical Program Manager to take program execution from concept into practical, on-the-ground project delivery. This role sits at the intersection of systems and aircraft interfaces: you will scope work, build and maintain roadmaps, and then personally drive the cross-team execution needed to hit aircraft-level milestones — not just author the plan, but chase it to closure as new information and issues surface.

Responsibilities

• Provide dedicated program support to mature ongoing S4 design areas that still carry high technical risk — taking them from early scoping through to readiness for commercial operation
• Scope and structure roadmaps for system areas carrying open technical risk, defining the path from current state to inhabited-operation readiness, including early execution learnings
• Build risk mitigation plans for each area, sequencing the work needed to retire risk before it becomes a schedule or safety issue
• Drive the maturation path end to end: system requirements validation → software/feature development → verification approach and execution, including continuous improvements
• Translate system-level roadmaps into integrated program schedules, keeping them tightly synchronized with overall aircraft program and operational milestones
• Continuously iterate the plan as new technical information, test results, or issues surface
• Pull in the right engineering, verification, and airworthiness stakeholders at the right time to keep cross-team development and verification efforts converging toward aircraft-level outcomes

Required

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, or a related technical field with 5+ years of relevant experience
• Working technical literacy sufficient to understand system requirements, software/verification concepts, and engineering trade-offs to translate them for cross-functional and leadership audiences
• Demonstrated experience scoping ambiguous, high-risk technical work into structured plans and actionable execution roadmaps
• Proven track record managing schedules, dependencies, and critical paths across multiple engineering teams, including identifying constraints and recommending recovery options when plans slip
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills with the ability to build trust across teams and keep cross-functional partners aligned under time pressure
• Comfort with ambiguity and a strong bias toward driving execution forward

Desired

• Prior experience in flight controls, propulsion, avionics, embedded software, or safety-critical/regulated system development
• Experience with verification processes (requirements-based testing, DO-178C/DO-254-style environments, or equivalent)
• Familiarity with project/program management tools (e.g., Smartsheet, Jira, Confluence) and AI-native tools
• Experience running structured retrospectives or continuous-improvement processes on technical programs
• Experience as an engineer transitioning into program management with demonstrated informal program leadership (e.g., driving cross-team schedules or owning roadmaps)

Additional Information

Compensation at Joby is a combination of base pay and Restricted Stock Units (RSUs). The target base pay for this position is $149,500 - $192,000/yr. The compensation package will be determined by job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Joby also offers a comprehensive benefits package, including paid time off, healthcare benefits, a 401(k) plan with a company match, an employee stock purchase plan (ESPP), short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, and more.

Joby is an Equal Opportunity Employer.