Principal Technical Program Manager

Key Responsibilities 

Product Development Program Ownership 

• Own end-to-end delivery of assigned products through PDP Phases 0–6: ideation, requirements and concept design, preliminary design and prototype testing, detailed design and integrated system testing, product launch and manufacturing readiness, at-scale production and sustain, and deprecation. 
• Build and own the integrated product development schedule, defining milestones, dependencies, and the critical path across engineering, product management, supply chain, manufacturing, quality, and operations. 
• Own Exit Gate readiness — confirm deliverable requirements are defined by the cross-functional team, tracked, and genuinely met before a program advances, and run the gate review. 
• Support Product Management in the decision making process for system level trade-off decisions , and tracking the evaluation of identified improvements: what requirement are we solving, what customer value does it create, what does it cost in time and risk, and is good enough already available? 

Cross-Functional Execution & Interdependencies 

• Own the integrated view of engineering, product management, supply chain, manufacturing, and operations deliverables — taking planning and tracking burden off functional leads so they can focus on the technical work. 
• Map cross-functional interdependencies rigorously and continuously; make the second- and third-order effects of a schedule change visible before the change is made. 
• Drive schedule adherence with clear owners and dates, and hold the organization accountable to commitments made. 
• Partner with the Principal Commercial Program Manager to confirm design maturity and hardware availability before VEIR quotes a customer commitment, and to ensure installation, commissioning, and O&M documentation is delivered with the hardware. 

Risk & Leadership 

• Anticipate risk ahead of the team — look around the corner, pressure-test assumptions, and bring mitigation options rather than surfaced problems. 
• Own the product program risk register and drive mitigation to closure. 
• Ensure root cause investigations following test failures or escapes are convened, converge on an answer, and close with a credible recovery plan — Engineering owns the technical conclusion, this role owns that it happens and holds. 
• Require contingency planning on critical path items so programs have a validated Plan B before they need one. 
• Lead, coach, and develop the Technical Project Managers; set the standard for planning rigor, technical challenge, communication quality, and follow-through — and back them when a challenge meets resistance. Hire for drive, and build a team that runs its programs to that standard without needing you in the room
• Communicate program status, risk, and required decisions clearly to the executive team, and escalate with a recommendation attached. 

Primary Interfaces 

• Technical Project Managers — direct reports — day-to-day program execution and deliverable tracking 
• Engineering leads (Cryogenics, Cables, Terminations, Controls) — technical scope, resource forecasts, and deliverable commitments 
• Product Management — requirements, roadmap sequencing, and gate criteria 
• Supply Chain, Manufacturing & Operations — deliverable planning, build readiness, and production ramp 
• Principal Commercial Program Manager — design and hardware readiness for customer commitments, and field documentation 
• VP, PMO and executive team — program status, escalations, and key decisions 

Qualifications 

• 10+ years of technical program management experience in hardware product development, with clear ownership of programs from concept through volume production. 
• Deep working knowledge of a phase-gate or stage-gate product development process, and demonstrated ownership of gate readiness and deliverable compliance. 
• Strong technical foundation — able to engage credibly on electrical, mechanical, thermal, and systems-level engineering trade-offs. Power electronics, low- and medium-voltage systems, cabling, or superconducting systems experience strongly preferred. 
• Has built an integrated master schedule from scratch for a multi-subsystem hardware program and driven it through gates into production
• Outcome-oriented problem solver who has turned a program around: a failing test, a missed gate or a slipping launch, recovered with a plan you drove, not a later date you accepted
• Track record of leading and influencing matrixed teams and holding senior technical stakeholders accountable without formal authority. 
• Exceptional communicator — drives clarity, resolves conflict, and escalates cleanly with a recommendation. 
• Bachelor's degree in engineering; advanced degree a plus. 

Preferred 

• Prior people management experience leading program or project managers. 
• Experience taking a first-of-a-kind hardware product from prototype to manufacturing readiness at a startup or scaling company. 
• Experience with grid infrastructure, transmission, utility, or data center power equipment. 

What Success Looks Like in 12 Months 

• Every active product program has an integrated, maintained schedule with a defined critical path and named deliverable owners. 
• Exit Gate reviews are substantive — deliverables are defined up front, tracked, and met, and gates are not passed on optimism. 
• Cross-functional interdependencies are documented and actively managed; schedule surprises become rare. 
• Engineering, supply chain, manufacturing, and operations leads report that planning and tracking burden has meaningfully decreased. 
• The Technical Project Managers are operating to a consistent, high standard of planning and communication. 

VEIR is committed to equal pay for equal work in its compensation practices. The base salary range for this position in the U.S. is $170,000 - $200,000 per year + equity + benefits. A candidate's salary is determined by various factors including, but not limited to, relevant work experience, skills, certifications, job level, supervisory status, and location.