Technical Program Manager, Robotics and Drones

Senior Technical Program Manager, Robotics & Drones

We are Aptiv - a global technology company with 200,000 specialists in 48 countries. We develop innovative software and build the hardware to bring autonomous driving cars, advanced driver-assistance systems, connected vehicles and smart cities to life in a way that only we can. We work in partnership with almost all car manufacturers. Our sensors, systems and software can already be found in almost all passenger cars today.

Aptiv’s Robotics and Drones business is focused on providing autonomy and AI/ML related technologies for Industrial Robots such as Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs), Robotic Arms and Humanoids as well as for Commercial and Defense Drones. We are looking for a Technical Program Manager (TPM) to drive cross-functional execution and sits at the intersection of Product and Engineering. You will convert product goals into executable plans, align engineering teams across hardware and software domains, and ensure predictable delivery from concept through pilot and production. You will own program structure, milestone planning, risk management, and stakeholder communication while helping the team scale a disciplined operating cadence for a fast-growing robotics business.

Key Responsibilities:

Program Planning & Execution

• Define the program breakdown structure across hardware and software development, integration, validation, and deployment workstreams, and assign ownership across engineering teams.
• Build and maintain integrated program plans with scope, deliverables, milestones, dependencies, resource assumptions, and critical path visibility aligned to product roadmap and customer commitments.
• Translate product and customer requirements into execution plans with clear entry/exit criteria, development priorities, and release readiness gates.
• Drive on-time, at-cost, and high-quality delivery of assigned programs, proactively identifying schedule risks, tradeoffs, and mitigation actions.

Cross-Functional Technical Leadership

• Facilitate strategic and technical discussions across Product Management, and Engineering teams to ensure alignment on scope and execution.
• Partner with Sensors and Compute product leaders to ensure all engineering work aligns with platform strategy, product roadmap, and reuse objectives across robotics programs.
• Support feasibility assessments for new features, customer requests, and platform enhancements, including implications for architecture, timing, resource needs, development cost, manufacturability, and performance.
• Coordinate engineering staffing needs with functional managers and technical leads to balance priorities across multiple programs.

Program Governance & Risk Management

• Drive the program operating cadence across sprint reviews, milestone reviews, risk reviews, change control, and executive updates.
• Establish disciplined meeting structures, agendas, and action tracking to improve accountability and execution velocity across teams.
• Communicate clear program status to senior leadership and cross-functional stakeholders, including progress, risks, recovery plans, key decisions, and business impact.
• Maintain Jira dashboards and related reporting tools to track feature readiness, sprint health, defect trends, issue closure, dependencies, and key engineering milestones.
• Manage scope changes, engineering change requests, and SOW updates, with clear assessment of impacts to schedule, cost, quality, and deliverables.
• Proactively identify cross-functional dependencies, lead issue triage and root-cause resolution planning.
• Own product related resource allocation, including staffing and materials, and forecasting
   

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Robotics, Computer Science, Systems Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 8+ years of experience in technical program management, systems engineering, product development, or a related role in robotics, automotive, embedded systems, or other complex technical environments.
• Proven track record of managing complex cross-functional programs involving both hardware and software deliverables.
• Strong working knowledge of product development lifecycles, release planning, integration, and validation processes.
• Experience with Agile development practices and program tracking tools such as Jira.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills, with the ability to manage ambiguity and drive decisions.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, including the ability to synthesize technical detail into executive-ready updates.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate multiple teams toward a common mission and hold teams accountable to commitments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with AMRs, drones, industrial automation, ADAS, autonomous systems, or other safety- and reliability-critical products.
• Familiarity with robotics software stacks, perception systems, sensors, embedded compute platforms, or edge AI deployment workflows.
• Experience managing customer-facing development programs, pilots, or launches with external partners or OEMs.
• Exposure to regulated or standards-driven environments, including functional safety or industrial safety frameworks.
• PMP, Agile, Scrum, or similar program/project management certification.

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Salary Range: $170k - $200k
As a candidate for this position, your salary and will be contingent upon your work experience, education, skills and any other factors Aptiv considers relevant to the hiring decision.

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Aptiv is an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.