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Slip Robotics is seeking a Director of Program Management to build and lead the program management function for a fast-growing robotics automation company. You will own the complete lifecycle of new product development programs—from concept through production ramp, field deployment, and post-launch monitoring. This is a leadership role with real authority to run stage-gate reviews and determine when programs advance based on completion of work, not calendar dates.
Key responsibilities include building a small program management team from the ground up, with plans to hire 1–2 dedicated program managers or technical program managers in the first year as the portfolio grows. You will define PM roles, set standards for how program management operates, and develop your team members. You own the NPD portfolio across multiple products in active development, managing gate sequencing, program schedules, and risk for each initiative. You will establish and run the stage-gate process, publish the gate calendar, and ensure every gate review is rigorous and data-driven.
You are responsible for creating and maintaining an integrated master schedule per program that engineering teams actually use—not shelf-ware. You will manage requirements traceability and change control, serving as the specification of record. You will produce a single, trusted portfolio status view for the executive team without creating unnecessary status theater that pulls engineers away from their work.
Programs don't end at design freeze. You carry each one through production ramp with manufacturing, first deployments with field operations, and into post-launch field monitoring until the product stabilizes. You feed lessons learned back into the process to continuously improve.
Required experience: 8+ years in program management on physical products (hardware or hardware-plus-software), including 3+ years hiring, leading, and developing program managers or TPMs. You must have built or substantially grown a program management team from scratch, not inherited one. You have run a complete stage-gate NPD process from concept through production release on a shipped product. You have carried a program past launch, managing production ramp, early field issues, and the feedback loop back to engineering. You can build integrated master schedules that teams maintain and use. You have technical fluency to follow design reviews on electromechanical or software products and identify real risks.
Preferred: robotics, automotive, or aerospace background; experience standing up a PMO from scratch; government or defense program experience; familiarity with requirements and program management tools.
