SlipstreamJobs tracks this role from the company's public career site. Apply directly on the employer's site.
Salary: USD 122,000 - 151,000 / annual
Pronto AI is a global leader in commercializing autonomous vehicle technology, deploying Autonomous Haulage Systems that automate operations in mines, quarries, and construction sites worldwide. The company delivers production-ready autonomy already operating in the field and is building toward becoming the world's first profitable AV technology company.
As Technical Program Manager for Hardware & Manufacturing, you will own the critical intake and triage queue where onsite hardware and QC issues meet engineering—the seam between the build floor (OEM production lines, upfit partners, kitting) and design teams. Currently, hardware and QC issues land in a shared channel with no consistent triage, causing cosmetic and line-stopping defects to compete for attention in arrival order. This role replaces that chaos with a single owned, prioritized queue.
Key responsibilities include:
**Intake & Triage**: Own a single intake queue for hardware and QC issues reported from build lines and field sites, replacing ad hoc Slack messages and DMs. Triage every incoming issue by severity and impact—distinguishing line-stopping defects from cosmetic ones—rather than working items in arrival order. Set and hold response-time expectations for build partners and plant contacts.
**Dev-Queue Prioritization**: Prioritize the engineering dev queue against what's actually blocking a build or site, not against whichever issue was reported most recently. Identify when several individual tickets represent the same underlying defect and roll them into one engineering fix rather than let them get worked separately.
**Onsite QC & Inventory Escalation**: Own escalation for onsite QC failures and inventory shortages—the shared point between field/build floor and engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing. Track recurring hardware defects (wrong part revisions, bracket or jig issues, harness defects) back to root cause and escalate to the owning team: engineering, supplier, or the line itself. Escalate hardware issues affecting truck builds across both on-road transport upfit lines and off-road mining kit installs.
The role is based in the San Francisco office with five-day-per-week onsite work required.
**Requirements**:
- Hands-on hardware, manufacturing, or field-ops background—has worked the floor, not just reviewed reports about it
- Comfortable as the triage point between site or build partners and engineering: thick skin, high urgency, able to make prioritization calls with incomplete information
- Has stood up an intake or QC process from scratch, not just operated one someone else built
- Track record working with vehicle or heavy-equipment hardware (wiring harnesses, sensor/compute mounting, electromechanical assemblies)
**Nice to have**:
- Experience with on-road commercial vehicle (Class 8 truck) upfit, kitting, or OEM production-line environments
- Experience with off-road or heavy industrial equipment (mining, construction) hardware builds
- Familiarity with supplier and inventory escalation and part-revision control
- Experience with Linear or similar ticketing tools for tracking build issues to closure
