Vehicle OS Program Manager — Customer Delivery Leader

Frontdoor Defense; Sunnyvale (CA); Hybrid; USD 115,000 - 222,000; Full time

Job summary

Applied Intuition in Sunnyvale, CA is seeking a Customer Technical Program Manager to own the customer-facing program management for a flagship vehicle OS software program with a major automotive OEM. You translate ambiguous customer requests into executable work and coordinate delivery across engineering teams, while serving as the primary contact on schedule, risks, and dependencies.

This builder role reports to the Customer Program Lead and requires strong collaboration with onsite teams to

Qualifications

• 5+ years in technical program management within automotive, ideally OEM or Tier-1.
• Strong customer-facing presence at director level with OEM leadership.
• Proven ability to coordinate multiple engineering teams and priorities.
• Technical depth to assess feasibility and engage engineers credibly.
• Builder mindset to setup program structure on a new team.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain the program baseline including milestones, scope, risk, and dependency map.
• Drive delivery coordination across engineering teams and manage cross-team dependencies.
• Serve as primary interface to customer's program leadership on schedule, risk, and dependencies.
• Own and operate the full program governance cadence with customer and internal teams.
• Define, own, and report program KPIs and maintain the health picture.
• Own escalation and issue resolution across the program.
• Coordinate onsite teams for seamless integration of product into vehicle program.

Skills

Program management

Automotive industry experience

Customer-facing

Cross-functional coordination

Technical depth

Delivery governance

Strategic planning

Job description

Customer Technical Program Manager, Vehicle OS

Lead end-to-end customer-facing Vehicle OS program delivery with OEMs

Location: Sunnyvale, California

Compensation: $115,000 - 222,000 USD / year

About The Role

Customer Technical Program Manager

We are standing up a dedicated program team to deliver a flagship software program for a major global automotive OEM. We are looking for a Customer Technical Program Manager to own customer-facing program management, milestones, cross-functional coordination, and reporting, working directly with the customer's program leadership and across Applied's engineering organization.

This is a builder role on a new team. You will translate ambiguous customer requests into tracked, executable work, coordinate delivery across Applied's capability-based engineering teams, and serve as a primary point of contact for the customer on schedule, risks, and dependencies. The role reports to the Customer Program Lead.

At Applied Intuition, you will:

• Own the customer-facing program, define and maintain the program baseline including milestones, scope boundaries, risk register, and dependency map in alignment with the Statement of Work. Ensure program commitments are tracked with rigor and deviations are surfaced proactively
• Drive delivery coordination across Applied's engineering organization through Engineering TPMs, managing cross-team dependencies and competing priorities across concurrent programs
• Serve as the primary interface to the customer's program leadership and counterpart TPMs on all matters related to schedule, risk, and technical dependencies. Build and maintain trusted working relationships at the program level
• Own and operate the full program governance cadence across all recurring touchpoints with the customer and internal teams
• Define, own, and report program-side KPIs to the Customer Program Lead and internal stakeholders. Maintain a clear and accurate picture of program health at all times.
• Own resolution of program-level issues and decisions through structured escalation management, triaging issues by impact and urgency, driving resolution at the appropriate level
• Partner with onsite teams to ensure seamless integration of Applied's product into the customer's vehicle program. Own coordination and governance of all customer-facing field activities through the program

We're looking for someone who has:

• 5+ years in technical program management within the automotive industry, ideally with hands-on experience at an OEM or Tier-1 supplier
• Strong customer-facing presence at director level; comfortable representing Applied Intuition independently with OEM program leadership and executive stakeholders
• Proven ability to coordinate delivery across multiple engineering teams, managing through prioritization frameworks and clear escalation discipline
• Technical depth sufficient to assess feasibility, interpret requirements, and engage engineers credibly across all software vehicle and integration domains
• A minimum of a Bachelor's degree in STEM or a related field.

Nice to have:

• Prior experience in a startup or high-growth environment
• Familiarity with automotive development standards (ASPICE, ISO 26262, AUTOSAR).
• Experience with defect management at scale and severity-based SLA tracking
• Background in series production programs or Vehicle OS / IVI / ADAS platform delivery
• Experience managing the requirements lifecycle (decomposition, traceability, change control) on a customer-facing program

Don't meet every single requirement? If you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Applied Intuition is an equal opportunity employer and federal contractor or subcontractor. Consequently, the parties agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of 41 CFR 60-1.4(a), 41 CFR 60-300.5(a) and 41 CFR 60-741.5(a) and that these laws are incorporated herein by reference. These regulations prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities, and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. These regulations require that covered prime contractors and subcontractors take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status or disability. The parties also agree that, as applicable, they will abide by the requirements of Executive Order 13496 (29 CFR Part 471, Appendix A to Subpart A), relating to the notice of employee rights under federal labor laws.

FOR US-BASED ROLES: Applied Intuition is committed to providing an accessible and inclusive application and interview experience to applicants who are disabled veterans and other applicants with disabilities or medical conditions. Reasonable accommodations are available, requesting an accommodation will not affect your candidacy in any way, and you are not required to disclose the nature of your disability or medical condition in order to make a request. If you require an accommodation please contact [e-mail]. We will work with you!