7+ years of technical program management experience, including 2+ years in safety-critical systems.
Experience in robotics, autonomous systems, aerospace, or similar safety-critical domains.
Familiarity with functional safety standards like ISO 26262 or IEC 61508.
Proficient in statistics and probability for interpreting validation results.
Understanding of validation rigor and cross-functional coordination in physical-world applications.
Proven ability to manage complex programs under ambiguity from concept to production.
Strong instincts in dependency, risk, and change management.
Responsibilities
Own planning and execution for safety and systems in the autonomy roadmap.
Ensure safety requirements are traceable and integrated into roadmaps from inception.
Build and maintain validation plans for simulation and on-site testing.
Manage dependencies and tradeoffs across systems, hardware, and safety.
Drive program reviews and provide clear reporting on roadmap health and safety implications.
Translate field signals into prioritized engineering tasks.
Benefits
Opportunity to shape safety practices in a pioneering role.
Work in a fast-paced startup environment with high ownership.
Collaborate across multiple disciplines and teams.
Engage in meaningful work that impacts real-world safety.
Access to cutting-edge technology and innovation in autonomy.
Full Job Description
Safety Technical Program Manager
This is Bedrock's first dedicated Safety Technical Program Manager, a role built to establish the execution structure that lets us roll out new autonomy capabilities quickly without compromising safety rigor. As we scale to new machine types and expanded operational domains, we are evolving our safety practices toward more explicit, strategic execution.
You will own program execution for the safety, systems engineering, and state estimation work that makes autonomous heavy equipment safe to operate in the real world. This is a hands-on individual contributor role driving alignment and delivery across engineering, safety, autonomy, hardware, and field operations through influence, structure, and clear communication. You will be the connective tissue between safety strategy and technical delivery, making sure requirements are traceable, dependencies are visible, and risks surface early enough to act on. We are a startup that values agility. We believe that speed and safety are compatible when the traceability behind them is solid.
What you'll do
Own planning and strategic execution for the safety and systems portions of the autonomy roadmap, from requirements through validated field deployment.
Support safety requirements being traceable, reusable across platforms and sites, and integrated into roadmaps from inception, partnering with safety and systems engineering on hazard analysis, validation evidence, and release readiness.
Build and maintain the validation plan spanning simulation and on-site testing, ensuring system-level changes are verified before they reach customers.
Map and actively manage dependencies and tradeoffs across systems, hardware, software, state estimation, and safety, weighing safety impact alongside schedule impact and identifying single points of failure on the critical path before they slip.
Drive program reviews, risk, and change management for multi-disciplinary, safety-critical initiatives, and provide reporting on roadmap health, delivery status, and safety implications clear enough to support both executive decisions and customer-facing discussions.
Translate field signals into prioritized engineering work and tracking issues to resolution.
What you'll bring
7+ years of technical program management experience, including 2+ years leading programs involving safety-critical or high-integrity systems.
Domain experience in robotics, autonomous systems, aerospace, or another physical-world safety-critical domain, with a working understanding of the software, firmware, and hardware stacks behind real-world autonomy.
Working familiarity with a functional safety standard, such as ISO 26262 or IEC 61508, and how it shapes program structure, evidence, and release gates.
Enough working fluency in statistics and probability to interpret validation results and reliability metrics critically, not just track that they exist.
Understanding of the rigor, validation, and cross-functional coordination required to operate reliably in the physical world.
A track record of managing complex, cross-functional programs under ambiguity, taking systems from concept to production.
The ability to operate at a deep technical level and to distill complex risks and interdependencies into aligned, actionable plans for engineers and executives alike.
Strong dependency, risk, and change-management instincts in environments where safety and schedule are both non-negotiable.
A track record of thriving in fast-paced, high-ownership environments, with startup experience strongly preferred and a bias toward building structure that helps us scale through complexity.
Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent experience.
