Technical Program Manager

Description

At Rhoda AI, we’re building the next generation of generalist intelligent robots. We own the full robotics stack from high-performance hardware and robot systems to the infrastructure and state-of-the-art foundation world models that control our robots. Our robots are designed to be generalists capable of operating in complex, real-world environments and handling long-tail edge cases, made possible by our cutting edge research and end-to-end system design. We've raised over $450M and are investing aggressively in model research, infrastructure, hardware development, and manufacturing scale-up to make generalist robotics a reality.

About the Application Engineering Team

Application Engineering is where Rhoda's AI meets the real world. We work directly with customers to understand their operational problems, determine where our platform can deliver value, and lead the application of Rhoda's AI model end to end — from model post-training and data collection, to robot tooling and work-cell design, to production deployments on the customer's floor. The team sits at the intersection of engineering, product, deployment operations, and business, with members in the US and Germany. Application Engineering is organized into three complementary roles — Application Engineers, Solution Engineers, and Technical Program Managers — who share ownership of every production deployment.

Responsibilities

• As a Technical Program Manager, you own delivery for Rhoda's customer engagements from first scoping call through POC completion. You'll plan timelines and resources, run customer and internal communications, coordinate across Rhoda's engineering, product, and operations teams, and make sure every site is ready when our team arrives. By owning the program, you free our Application and Solution Engineers to focus on engineering — and make sure customers and internal teams always know where things stand.
• Own end-to-end timeline and resource planning for customer programs, from Scoping through POC.
• Serve as a point of contact for customer communications, participating in regular syncs and status reporting.
• Coordinate across Rhoda teams — Application Engineering, ML, robot software, hardware, product, and business — to keep programs on track.
• Lead site planning and readiness with Application Engineers, including logistics, equipment shipping, and return logistics.
• Identify risks early and drive mitigation, escalation, and resource planning, especially around the POC stage.
• Capture feature requests and blockers from the field and channel structured feedback to product and engineering.
• Manage internal team resource coordination across concurrent programs in the US and Europe.
• Build and improve the processes, templates, and tools the team uses to deliver programs consistently.
• What You'll Bring
• Bachelor's degree in engineering or a related technical field, or equivalent experience.
• 4+ years of technical program or project management experience, ideally in robotics, automation, manufacturing, or hardware.
• Proven ability to manage multiple concurrent, customer-facing programs with competing priorities.
• Technical depth to engage credibly with engineers and customers on robotics and automation topics.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including with customer executives and plant teams.
• Strong organizational skills and comfort with project management tools.
• Willingness to travel to customer sites (domestic and international).

Requirements

• PMP or similar certification.
• Experience with industrial deployments, FAT/SAT processes, or equipment logistics.
• Experience in customer success or deployment operations at an early-stage company.
• German language proficiency is a bonus.