Staff Technical Program Manager, Embedded Systems

We're Cruise, a self-driving service designed for the cities we love.

We’re building the world’s most advanced, self-driving vehicles to safely connect people to the places, things, and experiences they care about. We believe self-driving vehicles will help save lives, reshape cities, give back time in transit, and restore freedom of movement for many.

Cruisers have the opportunity to grow and develop while learning from leaders at the forefront of their fields. With a culture of internal mobility, there's an opportunity to thrive in a variety of disciplines. This is a place for dreamers and doers to succeed.

If you are looking to play a part in making a positive impact in the world by advancing the revolutionary work of self-driving cars, join us.

We are looking for versatile Technical Program Managers (TPM) to support and enhance the Embedded Systems Engineering teams that are developing software for our vehicle components (Sensors, Devices, Compute). Our systems act as “nerves” to collect sensor data, pass it higher up the stack for processing in the computing brain — Perception (sensor fusion, computer vision), Planning and Controls. After processing, commands then come back down the stack, and our systems act as “muscles” to control the device outputs.

TPMs are responsible for the “when” and the “how” of program initiatives, holding their teams accountable for delivering program initiatives and business objectives. ES TPMs support multiple teams and initiatives that span programs by focusing on scope negotiation, schedule development, execution tracking, inter-team dependency resolution, risk mitigation and communication.

At Cruise, we believe in TPMs who can: remain deeply technical, and understand challenges faced by the engineering teams, even without direct contribution to the codebase.

Planning

• Manage development of quarterly planning and detailed milestone schedules; mediate scope, transform requirements and specifications into achievable schedules, manage inter-team dependencies, identify and mitigate execution risk

• Partner with Engineering Managers to ensure teams balance their portfolio of essential initiatives, iterative improvements, and proactive engineering excellence investments

• Execution and Delivery

• Ensure smooth execution of programs and continuously enhance team efficiency and effectiveness through the application of appropriate process and execution monitoring

• Become the point of contact for high-visibility multi-functional workstreams

• Work to constantly improve partner confidence in Embedded Systems; ensuring alignment while minimizing team distractions

• Understand cross-team effects of project initiatives; owning dependency management and risk mitigation to prevent impediments to execution. Shield teams from outside distractions and interferences

• Effectively communicate execution status of initiatives and program milestone work to all partners, including senior management and executives; Summarize reporting to raise and resolve issues, and celebrate wins

Technical

• Exercise technical judgment in working with large, multi-functional engineering teams

• Work with Technical Leads on design decisions, and facilitate department reviews to ensure we continue to elevate our technical standards

Support

• Serve as an embodiment of Cruise behaviors: Stay Safe, Own It, Stay Focused, Seek Truth, Work Together, Be Humble

• Help define, build, and embody engineering culture and principles.

• Work closely with Engineering Managers by mentoring the team to improve collaboration and effectiveness

• Support the growth and organization of the team, act as a mentor, and support onboarding and career development

• Invest in recruiting and building the Cruise engineering brand, conduct technical interviews, and help raise our hiring bar

• Build strong cross team collaborations with the AV Robotics, AV Hardware, and Perception teams.

You should apply for this role if you possess the following qualifications:

• Bachelors, Masters, or PhD in Computer Science, Engineering, or similar technical field

• 6+ years of technical industry experience, including as a technical leader or manager

• Experience leading complex fast-paced initiatives spanning multiple teams and organizations, often with conflicting priorities and schedules

• Ability to lead and propel a team without acting as a direct authority figure

• Ability to adapt and operate under ambiguity

• Self-motivated to lead your teams, encourage standard processes, and constantly improve

• Passionate about self-driv