Technical Product / Program Manager (Robotics & Communications)

Company Description

UC Berkeley SkyDeck-backed deep-tech startup building sub-millisecond optical wireless infrastructure for robotics and physical AI.

Job Description

As the first Technical PM, you will drive the execution of breakthrough optical wireless systems (Wi-OW™) that outperform Wi-Fi by orders of magnitude. You will bridge hardware, firmware, and software teams while leading customer field trials in robotics and defense, translating complex real-world needs into foundational communication infrastructure for autonomous systems.

Location

Campbell, USA

Why this role is remarkable

• Lead the commercialization of a novel optical wireless technology that solves the fundamental latency bottleneck for the next generation of physical AI and industrial automation.
• Join an elite team of 10 including optical physicists and hardware veterans at a pivotal pre-seed stage with meaningful equity ownership (0.5–1.5%).
• Work at the intersection of high-stakes industries, delivering dual-use technology to both commercial robotics leaders and mission-critical government/defense programs.

What You Will Do

• Own the end-to-end product roadmap and program delivery, defining technical requirements and managing milestones across hardware, firmware, and software engineering.
• Coordinate and lead high-stakes field trials and pilot deployments, gathering direct feedback from early customers in robotics and defense.
• Act as a technical translator between engineering, commercial stakeholders, and leadership to align system architecture with market-driven use cases.

The ideal candidate

• 5–10 years of experience in product management, TPM, or systems engineering within robotics, industrial automation, or high-performance networking.
• Deep technical fluency capable of engaging engineers on complex system architecture tradeoffs such as latency, bandwidth, and hardware-firmware integration.
• Proven ability to navigate early-stage ambiguity and a "Swiss-army-knife" mindset to manage product, programs, and customer relations simultaneously.