Technical Programme Manager SENTINEL Programme

Job Description:

You will own integrated delivery of the SENTINEL program to a pilot installation and beyond. Three nearshore vendor teams build in parallel against frozen interface contracts, and test suite while the printed circuit board (PCB) completes its final revision and the test bench, calibration and tuning campaign, installation plan and pilot support model are stood up. Your job is to keep every workstream on the critical path, run the stage gates, surface decisions before they become slips, and report status the CEO can act on.

This is a delivery role with real technical content, not an administrative one. You must be able to chair a design review, challenge a vendor estimate, and understand why a firmware soak test and a factory pre-flash date are coupled.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Programme Planning & Gate Management

• Own the integrated programme schedule across hardware, firmware, backend and test workstreams.
• Run the stage-gate reviews : entry/exit criteria, evidence, sign-offs, and slip recovery.
• Maintain the critical path; identify and resolve cross-workstream dependencies before they cost calendar time.
• Own the risk register and action tracker; escalate with options and a recommendation, never with a problem alone.

Vendor & Contract Management

• Manage day-to-day delivery of three parallel nearshore vendor engagements (firmware, backend, test suite) each structured in stages with a binding not-to-exceed (NTE) budget per stage.
• Run stage acceptance: review deliverables against acceptance criteria with the Product Owner, System Architect and Principal Electrical Engineer; issue written stage-entry approvals; release retention on Acceptance.
• Own T&M cost control: review and approve vendor timesheets weekly inside the contractual five-business-day window (unqueried timesheets are deemed approved); track burn against each Stage NTE; challenge the estimate-to-complete when the 75% burn notice lands.
• Enforce rate-card and effort-mix discipline and reject charges for onboarding, ramp-up, bench time or unapproved overtime.
• Own GRT's dependency obligations: decisions, approvals and access delivered inside the contractual two-business-day window, so GRT is never the cause of billable delay.
• Coordinate Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) and PCB assembly vendors with the Project Coordinator.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• 8+ years of technical programme or project management delivering embedded / Internet of Things (IoT) products spanning hardware, firmware and a cloud platform.
• At least one full cycle taking custom electronics through EMS manufacture, factory test and field deployment.
• Demonstrated management of outsourced/nearshore development teams under time-and-materials (T&M) contracts with not-to-exceed (NTE)
• Fluency with gate-based delivery: critical-path scheduling, dependency management, risk registers, measured progress.
• Sufficient technical depth to chair design reviews and challenge estimates across embedded systems; cloud platforms and PCB / manufacturing topics.
• Evidence of delivering to a fixed external deadline with a small team and little slack.
• Excellent written communication; concise, decision-oriented reporting.
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science or a related discipline.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Project Management Professional (PMP) or PRINCE2 certification, or equivalent demonstrated practice.
• Familiarity with microcontrollers, AWS IoT architectures, and hardware test / calibration workflows.
• Experience planning field installations at industrial or marine sites, including in Europe.