Senior Program Manager

Mission Summary:

As a Senior Program Manager, you will be responsible for the end-to-end delivery of high-complexity programs that are essential to the success of our autonomous vehicle platform. You will sit at the intersection of various technical and business workstreams, identifying gaps in cross-functional commitments and ensuring that engineering designs translate into reliable, high-quality results. In this role, you will be primarily responsible for managing testing activities across multiple modalities, teams, and geographical regions. This is a leadership-heavy role that requires a "blame-free, action-oriented" communicator who can influence multiple future quarters of organizational impact.

Key Responsibilities:

Program Strategy & Execution:

End-to-End Ownership: Develop and maintain a comprehensive understanding of your product area, including system interdependencies and business dynamics.

Test Management & Execution: Lead projects from initial ideation to efficient execution, ensuring all deliverables meet high standards for reliability and quality. Manage complex testing activities across multiple modalities (e.g., simulation, closed-course, public roads), engineering teams, and geographical regions.

Risk & Priority Management: Proactively identify, highlight, and manage risks and blockers. Evaluate testing risks and adjust project direction as needed across multiple workstreams to ensure alignment with company goals.

OKRs & KPIs: Propose and own goal-level OKRs. Demonstrate a repeated track record of impacting department-wide KPIs that set the stage for future organizational success.

Leadership, Coordination & V&V Integration:

Development & V&V Coordination: Maintain strict coordination with the core development cycle and the formal Verification and Validation (V&V) cycle to ensure testing schedules align with engineering phase gates.

Cross-Functional Scheduling: Coordinate work across multiple teams, ensuring clear and effective communication to achieve unified results. Actively resolve cross-functional scheduling conflicts to optimize test vehicle availability and resource allocation.

Executive Reporting: Provide routine program updates to the director, VP, and other executive director program managers across the company to ensure alignment on testing progress and release readiness.

Alignment & Buy-in: Build consensus and create alignment across diverse stakeholders. Explain complex trade-offs to peers and executive leadership to drive critical decision-making.

Process & Team Growth:

Process Refinement & Efficiency Driving: Constantly challenge the status quo by refining internal processes and best practices to improve team efficiency. Advocate for optimal solutions that result in higher product quality, better yields, or lower costs through improved project effectiveness.

Mentorship & Knowledge Sharing: Actively mentor multiple team members, fostering an environment where contributors at all levels feel empowered to participate in team decisions. Teach and guide others through internal documentation, tech talks, or internal blog posts to deepen the team's collective knowledge.

Hiring & Growth: Serve as a sought-after and well-calibrated interviewer, trusted to make reliable hiring recommendations that strengthen the organization.

Qualifications:

Experience: 5+ years of experience in Program/Project Management, preferably in a fast-paced hardware or software engineering environment (AV, Aerospace, or Tech).

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business, Management, or a technical field; PMP or Agile certification is a plus.

Autonomy: Proven ability to work independently on defined programs with minimal guidance, driving significant project-level impact.

Communication: Exceptional ability to communicate progress, direction, and technical trade-offs in a clear, blame-free, and action-oriented manner.

Analytical Skills: Strong ability to use technical details to inform business dynamics and project roadmaps.

Physical Demands & Working Environment:

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit, talk, or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand and at times for long periods; walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and move up to 50 pounds.

The work environment characteristics described here represent those a team member encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

This role is based in our Pittsburgh or Las Vegas office and requires in-office days each week.

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The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a wide range of compensation factors including but not limited to specific skills, experience and expertise, role location, certifications, licenses, and business needs. The estimated compensation range listed in this job posting reflects base salary only. This role may include additional forms of compensation such as a bonus or company equity. The recruiter assigned to this role can share more information about the specific compensation and benefit details associated with this role during the hiring process.

Candidates for certain positions are eligible to participate in Motional’s benefits program. Motional’s benefits include but are not limited to medical, dental, vision, 401k with a company match, health saving accounts, life insurance, pet insurance, and more.

Salary Range

$125,000—$167,000 USD