Senior Program Manager

Alert Venture Foundry (AVF) is a technology venture studio that creates and develops technology-driven businesses from pure research through positive cash flow, then launches them as independent companies. Our projects span a diverse range of technologies and markets, including Flying Tools, robots with a long flexible arm and flying end effectors; Georgie's Kitchen, a direct-to-consumer food business delivering chef-crafted, premium chilled meals through a proprietary distribution technology; and several other projects still in early-stage research.About the RoleAVF's Program Management Office is standing up the operating rhythm that lets a small, fast-scaling engineering org run multiple hardware-intensive ventures at once, without Lead Engineers or the Chief Research & Development Officer carrying the schedule in their heads. Reporting to the Head of PMO, you'll own the program plan for one or more active AVF ventures: milestones, critical path, dependencies, and staffing, tracked as a living plan.This is a hands-on program management role inside a resource-constrained, multi-program portfolio, not a status-reporting job. You'll work side-by-side with the head engineer and be the person who makes a program runnable.What You'll DoOwn the integrated program plan for one or more active AVF ventures — robotics hardware platforms, embedded systems, or connected physical products — including milestones, critical path, cross-team dependencies, staffing requirements, and key technical and program risksRun weekly plan reconciliation with each program's Lead Engineer; hold the team accountable to a plan you own, not one handed to you after the factApply AVF's standard PMO operating cadence and templates, including 4-Quad status, workstream reviews, phase gate reviews, risk registers, and NPI stage entry/exit criteriaTrack cross-program dependencies — including resourcing, technical, and vendor — and surface conflicts before they impact program schedulesTranslate program plans into dated staffing requirements and feed them into AVF's portfolio-wide supply/demand modelUnderstand system architecture and follow technical risk reviews closely enough to challenge schedule assumptions on technical grounds, without owning the underlying engineering decisionsIdentify schedule threats early, develop recovery options with the team, and drive decisions and escalations when milestones, resources, or technical dependencies are at riskContribute to the executive-facing portfolio rollup, ensuring leadership has a clear view of program health, major risks, dependencies, and resource needsWhat We're Looking ForRequired Skills7+ years of technical program or project management experience, with meaningful experience in hardware, robotics, or other physical-systems product developmentA track record of owning a program plan end to end in a fast-moving, resource-constrained environmentExperience driving cross-functional teams towards milestones and commitments without direct authorityComfortable reading technical dependencies across mechanical, electrical, software, and controls well enough to sequence a schedule around them and recognize when technical assumptions put the plan at riskExperience building or standardizing program management process, including templates, cadences, planning structures, and reporting practicesDirect, low-ego communicator who can hold engineering leads accountable without owning their technical decisionsProficiency with Jira, SharePoint, Confluence or comparable program management and collaboration tools, and experience building reliable sources of truth and tracking that goes beyond spreadsheetsPreferred, but not requiredExperience in a venture studio, multi-program portfolio, or startup running several concurrent product linesBackground with NPI process and phase-gate methodology (SAR/PDR/CDR or equivalent)Experience with robotics, UAVs, embedded systems, or connected hardware developmentExperience managing programs where engineering resources are shared across multiple products or venturesWhy Alert Venture FoundryIf you want to own the operating system behind how a robotics startup studio ships hardware on time, we encourage you to apply.Alert Venture Foundry is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity across all dimensions. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.