Technical Program Manager

Title: Technical Program Manager
Job Type: Contract
Contract Length: 6 months
Pay Range: $65-70/hr
Start Date: ASAP
Location: Hybrid - Foster City, CA (at least 3 days onsite)

About the Opportunity:

Our client, a leader in autonomous vehicle technology, is looking for a skilled Technical Program Manager to join their team for a 6-month engagement. This project involves leading the development and execution of the communication backbone for their autonomous fleet, specifically focusing on high-stakes teleoperation links that enable navigation in complex urban environments. This is a high-impact role that bridges the gap between physical RF layers, distributed middleware, and cloud-side orchestration. You will be a trusted partner to senior engineering and product leadership, driving strategic initiatives across multiple systems and teams.

Key Responsibilities & Deliverables:

This role is focused on the successful completion of specific tasks and deliverables. Your responsibilities will include:

• Program Leadership: Lead end-to-end program management for large-scale, multi-team engineering initiatives with significant business impact, from strategy through delivery.
• Strategic Partnership: Serve as a strategic partner to leadership, influencing roadmaps, resourcing decisions, and organizational priorities.
• Process Improvement: Define and evolve program management frameworks, processes, and best practices across the engineering organization.
• Alignment & Dependency Management: Drive alignment across complex dependency landscapes involving multiple teams, external partners, and competing priorities.
• Risk Management: Anticipate and proactively manage risks, escalations, and trade-offs at a program and portfolio level.
• Executive Communication: Communicate technical complexity clearly and confidently to executive audiences, translating technical details into business impact.
• Technical Scoping: Actively participate in architectural and technical scoping discussions, providing informed input on feasibility, sequencing, and delivery risk.

Required Skills & Experience:

We are looking for someone with a proven track record of successful contract engagements. The ideal candidate will have:

• 7+ years of experience in technical program management, with a record of delivering complex, org-wide engineering programs.
• Deep expertise managing multi-team software programs across the full SDLC, including large-scale platform or infrastructure initiatives.
• A strong technical foundation with expertise in:
  • Wireless Technologies: 4G/5G, Multi-WAN Load Balancing.
  • Networking: UDP/TCP, NAT Traversal, Network Security (mTLS).
  • Data Pipelines: Kafka, Protobuf serialization, AWS cloud infrastructure.
• Exceptional communication and executive presence, with the ability to influence without authority and navigate organizational dynamics.
• Proven ability to manage ambiguity, drive clarity, and make sound decisions under pressure in fast-paced environments.
• Experience using AI tools to make informed technical decisions regarding design or code changes.

W2 only (No C2C or 1099 contractors)
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