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
- Manage a portfolio of medium to large customer programs focused on autonomous robotic systems, from contract award through delivery and sustainment.
- Lead cross-functional teams across engineering, integration, manufacturing, and testing to deliver complex HW/SW systems on time and within budget.
- Develop and maintain detailed project plans, schedules, budgets, and risk registers using agile and traditional PM methodologies.
- Coordinate with internal teams, OEM partners, and customers to align program goals, resolve issues, and ensure high-quality outcomes.
- Oversee program financials including cost estimation, budgeting, forecasting, and tracking of financial performance.
- Support proposal responses to customer RFIs and RFPs, ensuring technical accuracy, strategic alignment, and competitive positioning.
- Ensure compliance with defense and aerospace standards, including export controls and cybersecurity requirements.
- Drive continuous improvement and contribute to the product and technology roadmap with feedback from program execution.
- Support logistics planning for hardware deliveries, field trials, and system deployments.
Qualifications and Skills
- 5 or more years of product and program management experience.
- Substantial experience managing the development of commercial systems with applicability to defense applications.
- Proven experience liaising with cross-functional teams, especially engineering.
- Customer facing experience, German gov’t specifically is even better.
- Strong interpersonal and cross-cultural skills; demonstrated ability to exercise sound judgment related to controversial or sensitive subjects; ability to handle confidential information with tact and poise.
- Ability to travel between 20% of the time, both internationally and domestically.
- Experience within the Aerospace or Defense industries.
- Fluency in English & German is required.
- German or EU Citizenship required.
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.
