Senior / Lead Technical Program Manager, Platform Software

Waabi · San Francisco, CA

  • Senior
  • Full-time
  • Posted 2026-10-22
  • Confirmed live on 10 November 2026

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Job description

Waabi, founded by AI visionary Raquel Urtasun, is the leader in Physical AI. With a world-class team, we're unlocking the next era of autonomous transportation with technology that's powering commercial autonomous trucks and robotaxis. Waabi is backed by and partners with world leaders in AI, automotive, logistics, and deep tech.
 
With offices in Toronto, San Francisco, Dallas, and Pittsburgh, Waabi is growing quickly and looking for diverse, innovative and collaborative candidates who want to impact the world in a positive way. To learn more visit: www.waabi.ai

The Senior Technical Program Manager, Platform Software owns program-level execution for software across Waabi's hardware platforms, with a focus on cross-functional integration between physical infrastructure, onboard software, embedded systems, hardware platform and systems engineering teams. You are the connective tissue between teams that operate on fundamentally different cadences: embedded software with kanban-based delivery, onboard software releases, and hardware build and bring-up. You will surface where those cadences collide, identify gaps in requirements and execution, map the critical path accurately, and ensure risks are visible and owned so that all platform software for the trucks is created and ready on time. You will work closely with the Hardware Platform Managers and coordinate work across teams to help bring up different platforms.
You will…
Define and maintain integrated platform software program plans covering key milestones, cross-team dependencies, and ensure on-time delivery.
Partner with Hardware Platform Managers to coordinate physical infrastructure, onboard software, and embedded systems work needed to bring up different platforms.
Ensure all stakeholder inputs are captured and integrated into program plans before design commitments lock in.
Build and enforce dependency maps across Physical Infrastructure, Onboard Software, Embedded Systems, Hardware and Operations, identify the critical path, and ensure every dependency has an owner and an ETA.
Own reporting into executive forums. Surface risks early with data-backed Path to Green options.
Track platform software releases, bring-up and test campaigns, ensuring test coverage, sign-off readiness, and milestone alignment across teams.
Build cross-functional roadmaps that give physical infrastructure, onboard software, and embedded systems a shared line of sight on interdependencies and sequencing.
Champion tools to capture the single source of truth for program work, ensuring consistency across programs.
Build scalable tracking mechanisms and systematic processes that work at fleet scale.
Technical breadth. Ask the right questions, spot unrealistic assumptions in a plan, and know when a dependency is a real blocker versus a process gap. You can engage with engineers across physical infrastructure, onboard software, hardware, vehicle reliability, systems engineering and embedded systems without needing to be a domain expert in any one area.
Self-starter who builds processes from scratch. Build processes and iterate based on what actually works and impose structure without creating overhead.
Cross-functional influencer. Work on highly cross functional programs spanning physical infrastructure, onboard software, embedded systems, and hardware.
Risk-first mindset. Surface problems early, escalate without hesitation, and always arrive with options. You can dive deep and bring clarity to status updates and a Path to Green.
Comfort with ambiguity. Thrive in bringing clarity and structure to ambiguity and convert ambitious goals into programs with hard success criteria, DRIs, and trackable milestones.
Qualifications
5+ years of technical program management experience, with a strong focus on cross-functional software integration programs for hardware platforms.
Demonstrated experience working across teams with meaningfully different development cadences (e.g., robotics, autonomous vehicles, industrial automation, IoT, or defense systems).
Possess a deep understanding of software development lifecycles.
Proven ability to build cross-functional program structure from scratch: dependency maps, risk registries, executive reporting, and milestone tracking.
Strong written and verbal communication. You can write a crisp one-pager for an executive audience and facilitate a working-level dependency review with engineers in the same week.
Experience in autonomous vehicles or robotics.
Familiarity with embedded systems and software development and the constraints that come with it.
Hands-on experience with program tracking tools like Jira, Asana and Microsoft Project.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with onboard compute bring-up, physical infrastructure, or hardware-in-the-loop testing.
Familiarity with hardware development and systems and safety processes, and how they affect software delivery timelines.
Working understanding of automotive development process (eg ASPICE) and how to a

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