Senior Technical Program Manager - AV Engineering

Job description

Before the detail, here's the challenge you'd help us solve. We build the embodied intelligence that moves real vehicles safely, and the ecosystem a billion machines will run on in the future. Very few people in AI can say this. Every role here, whatever the team, plugs into that. Here’s what this particular role covers. 🛠️ About our Program Management Team Wayve’s Program Management team turns complex technical goals into coordinated delivery. Working closely with engineering, research, product, safety, evaluation and release teams, we align priorities, manage dependencies and bring clarity to ambiguous challenges. We combine technical depth with cross-functional leadership to help teams move faster, more effectively and with purpose—focusing on meaningful outcomes rather than process for its own sake. As a Technical Program Manager in AV Engineering, you’ll lead the programmes that get Wayve’s AI Driver working on real vehicles. Depending on the team you join, you may support our wider Robotics organisation—across areas such as vehicle generalisation, controls and calibration—to bring the autonomy stack to a growing range of vehicle platforms and enable flagship customer programmes. Alternatively, you may lead perception, parking, ADAS or driving-feature programmes from research through to on-vehicle delivery. 🧠 Your day-to-day - Partner with engineering and product leads to translate ambitious technical goals into clear, integrated plans, priorities and delivery milestones. - Coordinate across software, hardware, robotics, machine learning, data, product, evaluation and release teams, keeping teams aligned around shared outcomes. - Identify cross-stack dependencies, technical risks and sequencing constraints early—particularly across software and hardware boundaries—and drive mitigation plans and timely decisions. - Run the planning, stand-ups, programme reviews and retrospectives needed to keep complex, multi-team delivery predictable without creating unnecessary process. - Communicate progress, risks, trade-offs and decisions clearly to engineers, partners and senior leaders, tailoring the level of detail to each audience. - Work closely with technical teams during critical vehicle-platform, customer-programme and feature milestones, providing hands-on programme leadership where it is most needed. 🧩 What you’ll be working on: - Owning AV Engineering programmes end-to-end, from vehicle-platform bring-up and autonomy-stack integration through to perception, parking, ADAS and driving-feature delivery. - Supporting vehicle generalisation, controls and calibration programmes that enable the AI Driver to operate across an expanding range of vehicle platforms. - Leading feature programmes from cutting-edge research through implementation, evaluation, release and on-vehicle deployment. - Connecting technical delivery with evaluation results and product outcomes, using metrics such as signal quality, coverage and time-to-insight to assess progress and guide decisions. - Supporting key customer and platform programmes by coordinating scope, readiness, dependencies and delivery across internal teams and external partners. - Improving programme tooling, delivery processes and ways of working, and sharing successful approaches across the wider Program Management organisation. 🙌 You should apply if: - You have 5+ years of experience leading complex, multi-team software, robotics or technology programmes, or a strong track record operating at this level. You take ownership, act decisively and get things done. - You’re technically strong and can work credibly with engineers across software, hardware, machine learning and data. You understand how autonomy systems and their features come together on real vehicles, even if you don’t write production code. - You have strong programme-management skills, including planning, prioritisation and managing complex risks, dependencies and trade-offs across teams. - You think in systems, understanding how changes in one part of the autonomy stack, vehicle platform or delivery plan affect other teams and downstream outcomes. - You stay objective and adaptable in ambiguous, fast-moving and safety-critical environments, bringing structure and clarity without slowing teams down. - You communicate clearly, listen carefully and influence effectively without relying on formal authority, bringing people together around shared goals and decisions. - You’re comfortable defining and using technical and delivery metrics to understand progress, surface gaps and steer programme decisions. - You’re product-minded and focus on the people and outcomes your programmes serve, prioritising by impact and defining what good looks like rather than simply tracking activity. - You’re open to feedback and continuously look for ways to improve your own approach, team effectiveness and programme outcomes. - Experience in robotics, automotive sys