Associate Director of Technical Program Management
Description
Job Title: Associate Director of Technical Program Management
Engineering / Product Development
Engineering / Product Development
Reports to: Vice President of Engineering
Direct Reports: Yes (Technical Program Managers, Program Managers)
Location: Hybrid in Long Island City, NY
FLSA Classification: Exempt
About Us
Opentrons Labworks, Inc. is a disruptive life science company leveraging its integrated lab platform to supercharge the pace of innovation in research and healthcare. Through Opentrons Robotics, thousands of institutions are automating lab operations with flexible, easy-to-use liquid handling lab robots. With our own cutting edge R&D, biopharma and biotech at large can also benefit from our world-class genome-scale cell engineering solutions.
If you are looking for your next exciting opportunity, come join us! We provide excellent benefits, competitive compensation, equity packages, and opportunities for growth. Learn more on our Careers Website.
About the Role
Opentrons is seeking an Associate Director of Technical Program Management to establish and lead the company’s program execution framework across hardware, software, and integrated product development. This role is responsible for defining, implementing, and continuously improving the processes, procedures, and methodologies that govern how complex technical programs are planned, executed, reviewed, and delivered.
The Associate Director of Technical Program Management will own the company’s phase-gated development lifecycle, technical readiness criteria, and governance structure. This leader will act either as the Technical Program Manager for the company’s most critical initiatives or as a gate assessor and execution partner to project and engineering leads. The role is both strategic and operational, combining systems-level thinking with hands-on delivery leadership.
This position is ideal for someone who thrives in highly technical environments, brings structure to ambiguity, and enables teams to deliver predictably without sacrificing innovation.
What You Will Do
Program Frameworks & Process Development:
- Design, implement, and maintain Opentrons’ technical program management frameworks, including phase-gated development models, readiness reviews, and formal governance mechanisms.
- Document, maintain, and help operationalize standard operating procedures for program execution across engineering, product, manufacturing, quality, and supply chain.
- Develop and maintain templates, playbooks, metrics, and reporting standards to support consistent execution across all programs.
- Promote and reinforce best practices for scope definition, risk management, dependency tracking, and escalation.
Program Leadership & Execution:
- Serve as Technical Program Manager for select high-impact, high-complexity initiatives.
- Participate in phase-gate decision-making for technical programs, with responsibility to recommend approval, pause, or escalation based on readiness.
- Act as a gate assessor for major development phases, ensuring readiness criteria are met and surfacing risks or gaps prior to progression.
- Facilitate cross-functional alignment between hardware, software, firmware, product, quality, and operations.
- Maintain and manage integrated master schedules, dependency maps, and milestone tracking.
- Identify risks early, coordinate mitigation strategies, and track issues through timely resolution.
Organizational Leadership:
- Serve as the initial, hands-on leader of the Technical Program Management function, personally owning critical programs while laying the foundation to scale the team over time.
- Contribute to defining role clarity, performance expectations, and career development paths for TPMs and program managers.
- Develop and maintain onboarding, training, and enablement materials for program management best practices.
- Partner with engineering leadership to improve execution velocity, predictability, and delivery confidence.
Executive Communication & Governance:
- Prepare and maintain executive-level reporting dashboards and program health indicators.
- Support and facilitate formal program reviews, gate reviews, and retrospectives.
- Provide leadership with clear, data-driven insights into program status, risks, and tradeoffs.
- Provide recommendations to senior leadership on delivery strategy, sequencing, and capacity planning.
Measures of Success:
- Improved predictability and confidence in delivery timelines across hardware and software programs.
- Reduction in late-stage program surprises through earlier risk identification and mitigation.
- Successful transitions from development to manufacturing with defined ownership at each stage.
Who We Are Looking For
Experience:
- 7+ years of experience in technical program management, systems engineering, product development, or related fields.
- 3+ years of experience leading complex, cross-functional programs spanning hardware, software, and manufacturing.
- Prior experience building or scaling program management processes and organizations.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
- Proven experience delivering complex electromechanical or robotic products from concept through mass production.
- Strong understanding of phase-gated development cycles, NPI processes, and technical readiness frameworks.
- Ability to think systemically across engineering, product, manufacturing, quality, and supply chain.
- Exceptional organizational, prioritization, and execution skills.
- Strong executive communication and stakeholder management abilities.
- Comfortable operating in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.
- High attention to detail while maintaining a strategic perspective.
- Experience with Jira, Confluence, Smartsheet, Asana, or similar tools.
Extra Qualifications (Preferred):
- Experience in life sciences, robotics, laboratory automation, or medical devices.
- Experience implementing or operating PLM systems.
- Familiarity with regulatory-driven or quality-critical development environments.
- Experience supporting manufacturing ramp, yield improvement, and sustaining engineering.
Working Conditions and Physical Effort
- Fast-paced, high-accountability environment.
- Prolonged periods of sitting and working at a computer.
- Regular cross-functional collaboration.
- Occasional travel to manufacturing partners or global team locations.
Compensation Range: The pay range for this position at commencement of employment is expected to be between $215,000 and $235,000 per year; base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and years of experience. We typically target mid-range for well-qualified candidates. The total compensation package for this position may also include other elements, including equity and full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits (including 401(k) eligibility and various paid time off benefits, such as vacation, sick time, and parental leave), dependent on the position offered. Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment. Following employment, growth beyond the hiring range is possible based on performance.
Opentrons Labworks Inc. is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service, or other non-merit factor. The position will be posted until a final candidate is selected for the requisition or the requisition has a sufficient number of applications.
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