Principal TPM, Drone & Autonomy Software

About This Role

We are seeking a Principal Technical Program Manager (TPM), Drone & Autonomy Software to lead execution across BRINC’s device software and autonomy stack for drones and public safety products.

In this role, you’ll drive programs spanning embedded/on-device software and the full autonomy pipeline (perception, navigation, controls) coordinating releases, aligning software delivery with new hardware product introductions (NPI), and managing the weekly release cadence for in-market devices.

You will serve as the connective tissue between the device software, autonomy, and hardware engineering teams, ensuring that features are developed, validated, and delivered in lockstep with the broader device software stack.

You’ll be responsible for creating predictable releases, maintaining cross-team alignment, and ensuring software ships safely and reliably into the field. This is a critical role with software program leadership spanning new autonomy feature development, embedded platform evolution, and sustaining engineering for existing products.

Key Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end execution of device software and autonomy programs spanning embedded/firmware, on-device services, perception, navigation, controls, mission logic, test, and release engineering.
• Drive the week-to-week release cadence for deployed devices, including planning, readiness, rollout coordination, and post-release follow-up for OTA updates.
• Coordinate cross-team release scope and sequencing across device software and autonomy (including perception, SLAM/VIO, guidance, and control subsystems), ensuring clear dependencies, interfaces, and integration timelines.
• Partner closely with hardware engineering and product teams to align device software deliverables with new hardware releases (EVT/DVT/PVT milestones as needed).
• Lead release readiness reviews: quality gates, test coverage, performance/regression expectations, rollback plans, and operational comms.
• Ensure tight collaboration with QA, flight test, and field stakeholders to validate software and autonomy features across simulation, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL),and real-world flight conditions.
• Establish and continuously improve program management processes across both device software and autonomy: release planning, change control, simulation and validation workflows, incident learnings, and metrics.
• Provide clear, concise status reporting to engineering leadership, surfacing risks early and driving tradeoffs across quality, schedule, and scope.
• Drive planning and delivery of autonomy features and capabilities, including localization, mapping, path planning, obstacle avoidance, and intelligent mission behaviors.
• Manage cross-cutting technical dependencies between autonomy subsystems (perception, navigation, controls) and the device software platform, proactively identifying integration risks and resolving blockers.
• Track and communicate program health across multiple parallel development threads, balancing new capability development, safety and reliability improvements, and integration into production releases.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (CS, EE, CE, Robotics, Aerospace, Systems, or related) or equivalent practical experience.
• 7+ years of technical program management experience delivering embedded/device software or autonomy/robotics software for hardware products (robotics/UAVs/aerospace/safety-critical strongly preferred).
• Proven track record coordinating release trains and shipping updates to real-world deployed devices (e.g., OTA, staged rollouts).
• Strong technical fluency across embedded systems and autonomy: firmware/software boundaries, hardware-software interfaces, perception/navigation/controls pipelines, performance constraints, logging/telemetry, and validation strategies.
• Excellent cross-functional leadership skills with ability to align engineering, autonomy, QA, hardware, and operations around a single release plan.

Preferred Skills

• Experience with complex hardware/software mission-critical systems.
• Familiarity with embedded Linux, RTOS, and common device update mechanisms.
• Experience managing hardware/software co-development schedules across EVT/DVT/PVT and production ramp.
• Strong understanding of CI/CD for embedded software and autonomy, including automated test infrastructure, simulation pipelines, and fleet health metrics.
• Familiarity with autonomy or robotics concepts such as SLAM/VIO, GNSS/INS fusion, path planning, obstacle avoidance, or flight controls.
• Experience managing programs involving simulation, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, or field validation of autonomous systems.
• Understanding of fault-tolerant or safety-critical system design, redundancy strategies, and UAV flight safety requirements.
• Startup experience: high ownership, comfort with ambiguity, and bias for action.

Brinc Culture Values

• Try the hard stuff
• Be innovative - Invent the future
• Move fast
• Listen to end-users
• Strive for excellence
• Don’t build a dystopia
• Be frugal
• Save lives through technology

Additional information

If you’re interested in this role and in joining BRINC, we hope you’ll apply. We’d love to review your application and get to know more about you!

Benefits and perks listed below may vary based on the nature of your employment with BRINC and/or the country within which you work

• Comprehensive medical, dental and vision plans for our employees and their families
• 401K plan
• Maternity and paternity leave
• Flexible Time Off (Exempt) / Paid time off (Non-Exempt)
• Flexible work environment
• Orca pass (for those in Puget Sound)
• Free snacks, drinks and espresso (Seattle office)