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Technical Program Manager

Gecko Robotics

Gecko Robotics

IT, Operations
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Posted on May 9, 2024

What We Do

Gecko Robotics is helping the world’s most important organizations ensure the availability, reliability, and sustainability of critical infrastructure. Gecko's complete and connected solutions combine wall-climbing robots, industry-leading sensors, and an AI-powered data platform to provide customers with a unique window into the current and future health of their physical assets. This enables real-time decision making to increase the efficiency and safety of operations, promote mission readiness, and protect the environment and civilization from the effects of infrastructure failure.

Role at a Glance

As Gecko continues to expand the diversity of our robotic solutions, we are building more and more robots with different specializations and need an experienced Technical Program Manager to improve our ability to plan and deliver the different creation, design, implementation, release and enhancement programs as our projected scale increases in the coming years.

The TPM role in Gecko is evolving and we are looking for an experienced leader to build the practice standards that will ensure we are shipping high quality products that align with our strategic business direction. This position requires a combination of project management, process optimization, technical proficiency and execution skills in addition to strong communication and collaboration patterns. The ideal candidate is someone who loves understanding and fixing problems, scaling technical solutions, and helps bring agreement around the best ideas and paths forward. There is potential for this function to grow inside of Gecko and the candidate for this position will be evaluated in their ability to potentially manage a small (1-3 people) team as Gecko continues to grow.

Gecko’s engineers work in a hands-on, fast-paced environment. We’re seeking self-motivated individuals who thrive in a small company environment and are passionate about developing great products which solve significant problems.

What you will do

  • Partner with Engineering Leads and Product Management to refine and build the strategic roadmap for Gecko’s Field solutions (Hardware and Software)
  • Build effective cross functional Engineering teams aligned to deliver high impact deliverables
  • Embed with Sales, Business Development, Product Management and Operations to understand the expectations, challenges and constraints around the problems we are solving and the environments in which we deploy
  • Align with leadership and ensure your teams are delivering on company priorities
  • Plan, track and manage objectives and risks across multiple projects/programs to optimize overall delivery
  • Remove roadblocks and facilitate rapid issue resolution working inside Engineering and across other teams across Gecko
  • Leverage your technical judgment and experience to effectively participate in tactical and strategic discussions to guide programs, enhance clarity, and drive long term success.
  • Identify and bring together key stakeholders needed to provide feedback and approval/acceptance for key decisions
  • Ensure messaging and communication is consistent and accessible to all Gecko stakeholders
  • Build processes, tools and standards to reinforce and set best practices
  • Focus on delivering value quickly with a tight feedback loop and a deep understanding of the requirements, system integration and support/life cycle concepts and concerns
  • Lead planning sessions to refine program scope, define roles and responsibilities, specify acceptance criteria, align resources across teams, estimate timelines, build schedules, and set leadership expectations
  • Be the single point of contact for program activities freeing up team resources to do the work
  • As needed, get hands on with the Engineering work to help move the teams forward

About You:

Required Skills

  • B.S. degree in Electrical, Mechanical, or Software Engineering or related field of study
  • 7+ years of Engineering Leadership in multidisciplinary teams
  • 5+ years experience leading business critical projects working across Sales, Marketing, Operations, Product Management and Engineering
  • Ability to work in matrixed environments and ability to work with functional leads to build clear team assignment/responsibilities
  • Strong problem solving and conceptual thinking abilities
  • Able to be hands on with sufficient depth to build trust inside of Engineering and understand cross Engineering trade-offs and approaches
  • Experience operating with PLM tools and handing off products to Operations
  • Experience establishing processes, standards and best practices in multiple different environments/companies
  • Strong habit of setting and tracking progress on goals and milestones

Preferred Skills

  • 5+ years of experience in the field of Robotics
  • Experience with people management (1-3 direct reports)
  • Experience managing product delivery in compliance or regulatory domains
  • Experience with Non-Destructive Testing (NDT)

Who We Are

At Gecko, our people are our greatest investment. In addition to competitive compensation packages, we offer company equity, 401(k) matching, gender-neutral parental leave, full medical, dental, and vision insurance, mental health and wellness support, ongoing professional development, family planning assistance, and flexible paid time off.

Gecko values collaboration, innovation, and partnership, and we believe we do our best work when we're together in person. We’re an office-first culture but understand that sometimes you may need to work from home. Many people are in the office five days a week, others need a bit more flexibility. Ultimately, we care about the outcomes we achieve - and creating a culture of autonomy and trust that enables that impact.

Gecko is committed to creating a culture of inclusion and belonging, and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We believe it is our collective responsibility to uphold these values and encourage candidates from all backgrounds to join us in our mission to protect today’s infrastructure and give form to tomorrow’s. All qualified applicants will be treated with respect and receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, uniform service, veteran status, age, or any other protected characteristic per federal, state, or local law. If you are passionate about what you do and want to use your talents to support our critical mission, we’d love to hear from you.