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BackOps AI is seeking a Technical Program Manager to build the operating system for a fast-growing engineering organization. This is the company's first TPM role, reporting directly to the VP of Engineering with exposure to the CTO and Head of Product.
You will own the planning cadence, work intake, and prioritization systems that keep the organization self-coordinating. Rather than adding bureaucratic process, you'll design the minimal set of mechanisms that enable teams to work effectively across dependencies. Your responsibilities include:
- Setting the program agenda with engineering leadership and deciding which strategic initiatives exist
- Owning top strategic programs end-to-end, from problem framing through launch and validation
- Building visibility into dependencies and risks across engineering, product, and customer delivery, surfacing issues early
- Redesigning how work arrives at teams and reducing unplanned work
- Owning operational programs that span all teams: incident/escalation design, cloud cost management, and internal AI tooling adoption
- Defining metrics that show program health and giving leadership trustworthy delivery risk visibility
- Growing the program management function as it scales
You'll work with a small, autonomous team with direct access to founders and customers. The role offers genuine scope to shape how a high-growth engineering organization operates, backed by exceptional investors and advisors.
Required: 10+ years in technical program management, engineering, or a blend, including startup experience where you built processes from scratch. You must have owned an operating system (planning, intake, prioritization) that continues working after you step back. Technical credibility with senior engineers is essential—you read design docs, ask architecture-changing questions, and push back on estimates with reasoning. Track record of landing critical cross-team programs without direct authority. Experience growing other program managers and shaping organizational practices. Clear, compressed written communication for executives.
Nice to have: AI/ML or agentic systems experience, especially reliability and evaluation challenges. Experience building planning/intake systems from scratch. Enterprise or regulated-customer delivery background. Incident and escalation program design expertise.
Compensation includes competitive salary, meaningful equity, comprehensive health/dental/vision, 401(k), disability and life insurance, flexible time off, daily meals, and team events. Requires ability to work from SF office at least 3 days per week.
