To drive our growth strategy in the dynamic market of autonomous robotic systems in defense we’re looking for a Technical Program Manager who will be responsible for the delivery of customer program deliverables to include hardware, software, and all product demonstrations. In this position you will have a significant contribution to the growth of the company. You will manage a portfolio of projects and will be accountable for delivering customer projects on-time, in-cost and to full customer satisfaction. This requires a holistic approach to project management covering all major disciplines tailored to the respective project sizes. In this role you will be customer facing and lead internal, cross-organizational project teams.
Responsibilities and Duties
- Lead the execution of customer programs for autonomous robotic systems, taking ownership from initial planning through integration, delivery and deployment.
- Drive engineering teams towards clear milestones and deadlines, aligning priorities, managing dependencies and removing blockers to keep delivery on track.
- Lead through influence rather than hierarchy, building trust with engineers, customers and cross-functional stakeholders to maintain momentum and achieve shared outcomes.
- Manage customer expectations through clear communication, realistic commitments and proactive resolution of technical or delivery challenges.
- Work closely with engineering, hardware, manufacturing and operations teams to translate customer requirements into practical execution plans and delivered capabilities.
- Make pragmatic decisions in a fast-moving environment, balancing technical trade-offs, delivery timelines and customer needs without waiting for perfect information or established processes.
- Own program plans, schedules, budgets, risks and delivery outcomes, introducing the structure needed to support execution without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.
- Support customer proposals and contribute insights from program execution to product development and technology roadmaps.
- Coordinate hardware deliveries, integration activities, field trials and system deployments, ensuring a smooth transition from development to operational use.
Qualifications and Skills
- 5+ years of experience in engineering, technical project management or program management, including experience in a startup or scale-up environment.
- Demonstrated ownership of complex technical projects or product delivery, with the ability to drive execution from planning through to customer delivery.
- Experience leading or coordinating engineers against deadlines, resolving competing priorities and maintaining accountability across technical teams.
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build trust, influence decisions and manage challenging customer and stakeholder relationships.
- Technical fluency in complex hardware/software systems, with the confidence to engage directly with engineers, understand technical trade-offs and challenge estimates constructively.
- A pragmatic, hands-on approach to problem-solving, comfortable making decisions with incomplete information and building lightweight processes where needed.
- Experience in robotics, embedded systems, automotive, aerospace or another complex engineering environment is advantageous.
- An engineering background, particularly in embedded software, systems engineering or a related discipline, is highly desirable.
- Fluent in German and English.
- German or EU citizenship is required for the position.
Benefits
- Flexible working hours
- Stock Options
- Generous holiday allowance
- Pension plan
- Extended social security package
- Enhanced maternity & paternity leave
- Wellpass membership
About Auterion
We are building the leading software platform for AI-powered autonomous systems for enterprise and government customers. Our team is supporting the most important missions and solving the most challenging problems.
At Auterion, we bring together the sharpest minds who love to solve the hardest problems. Join a vibrant team built on innovation, openness, and excellence, where you’ll be empowered to develop ideas, collaborate across all levels, and make an impact that matters.
Skills Required
- 5 or more years of product and program management experience
- Experience within the Aerospace or Defense industries
- Ability to travel between 20% of the time
- German or EU Citizenship required
What We Do
At Auterion we care about providing enterprise with an ecosystem of software-defined drones, payloads, and third party applications within a single easy to use platform based on open-source standards. We’re leaders in an open-source movement bigger than ourselves and we’ve been on the same mission for over a decade, since our co-founder Lorenz Meier created Pixhawk, MAVLink, QGC, and PX4 (the world’s most widely used open-source drone autopilot operating system). Our mission is to be the drone platform of choice for enterprise, government, and drone manufacturers while accelerating the drone industry by driving forward open standards to create a common, future-proof roadmap in a thriving, open ecosystem of buyers and vendors. At Auterion, we bring together the sharpest minds who love to solve the hardest problems. Join a vibrant team built on innovation, openness, and excellence, where you’ll be empowered to develop ideas, collaborate across all levels, and make an impact that matters.
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