Program Manager Contract Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

The Contract Steering Program Manager - Autonomous Driving role sits within the MOIA America Commercialization department and serves as the business-side lead for steering and managing complex commercial and intercompany contracts that make U.S. operations possible.

This role is all about turning business intent into executed agreements. Acting as the primary project manager for contracts, the role ensures vehicle supply, importer, dealer, and intercompany agreements are clearly defined, well-coordinated, and delivered on time. Working closely with Legal, Finance, Operations, Business Development, and external partners, the role keeps contract workstreams moving, aligns inputs, untangles open topics, and helps teams get to "signature-ready" efficiently.

The position also serves as the primary business account interface for Volkswagen Group of America (VWGoA) on contract-related and importer coordination topics, helping bring clarity and alignment across MOIA America, MOIA SE, VWGoA, dealer partners, and fleet customers.

Success in this role means clear, well-structured contracts, strong delivery discipline, and agreements built to scale-supporting SOP today and enabling smooth expansion to multi-city commercial rollout tomorrow, without late-stage surprises.

Role Responsibilities:

Contract Steering & Program Management - 40%

• Serve as the business-side lead and project manager for vehicle supply, sales, aftersales, importer, and dealer-related contracts
• Translate commercial and operational objectives into clear contract requirements, scopes, and success criteria
• Own contract timelines, milestones, dependencies, and decision paths to ensure agreements progress efficiently from kickoff through execution
• Coordinate inputs across legal, finance, operations, business development, and external partners to drive contracts to completion
• Identify risks, open items, and misalignment early; escalate and resolve in partnership with Legal and business leadership

Intercompany & Importer Agreement Coordination - 25%

• Lead the business coordination and steering of intercompany agreements covering warranty responsibility, accrual logic, services, and financial flows
• Act as the primary business interface for importer partner agreements, including coordination with VWGoA and other relevant entities
• Ensure cross-border and intercompany agreement structures reflect operational reality and agreed business intent
• Align intercompany and importer contracts with downstream dealer, fleet, and customer agreements to avoid gaps or overlap

Dealer & Commercial Framework Enablement - 20%

• Coordinate and maintain Dealer Framework Agreements (MFA) from a business and operational perspective, including

o Sales administration

o PDI responsibilities

o Leasing and financing support

o Service and warranty execution

• Ensure dealer frameworks are aligned with fleet and autonomous mobility operating models
• Support consistency and clarity across dealer, importer, and fleet customer contractual arrangements

Account Management & Importer Service Enablement - 15%

• Act as primary business account manager for MOIA America on contract-related and importer coordination topics
• Coordinate importer service scope and execution readiness for functions such as

o Port operations

o Vehicle logistics

o Warranty auditing

o Parts fulfillment

o Recall and campaign execution

o IT and systems interfaces

Proactively surface operational or contractual gaps related to importer services and drive resolution with appropriate stakeholders

Years of Relevant Experience:

• 8+ years of experience in a business, commercial, or operational role within an OEM, importer, distributor, fleet, or complex B2B environment

Education

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience
• Masters in Business Administration or equivalent graduate certification strongly preferred

Skills:

• Business-Led Contract Steering - Strong business acumen with the ability to translate commercial and operational objectives into structured contract requirements, partnering closely with legal to ensure timely and effective execution
• Program and Project Management - Demonstrated ability to lead contract workstreams end-to-end from the business side, managing timelines, stakeholders, dependencies, and decision paths to ensure contracts are completed on schedule
• Stakeholder Coordination - Proven capability to coordinate across legal, finance, operations, business development, and external partners to align inputs, resolve open items, and drive agreements to execution
• Structured Problem Solving - Ability to break down complex, ambiguous contracting topics into clear issues, options, and recommendations to enable effective decision-making
• Risk Awareness & Escalation - Strong judgment in identifying contractual, commercial, and operational risks early, and escalating appropriately while working with legal to mitigate issues pragmatically
• Communication - Clear, concise written and verbal communication skills, capable of aligning diverse stakeholders and driving closure on open commercial and legal topics
• Adaptability - Comfortable operating in fast-paced, evolving environments with a high degree of ownership and autonomy, particularly in pre-launch and scale-up phases

Specialized Skills:

Required:

• Experience acting as a business-side lead for complex contracting initiatives, serving as the primary project manager responsible for driving contracts from concept through execution in close coordination with Legal
• Strong working knowledge of commercial contract structures related to vehicle supply, importer operations, dealer frameworks, warranty, and aftersales, with the ability to translate business and operational needs into clear contractual requirements
• Proven experience coordinating cross-functional contract inputs across legal, finance, operations, business development, and external partners to ensure timely contract completion
• Ability to manage contract development timelines, dependencies, and approvals, including tracking open legal and commercial topics to closure
• Experience working within importer, distributor, or OEM-dealer ecosystems, including fleet-oriented agreements
• Comfort operating in cross-border and intercompany environments, coordinating business requirements with legal entities across regions

Desired:

• Experience supporting early-stage commercialization through initial launch and scale-up, where contract clarity and speed are critical
• Familiarity with autonomous, mobility, or fleet-based business models
• Experience partnering effectively with in-house and external legal counsel in a non-legal ownership role, ensuring contracts are business-led, well-scoped, and execution-oriented

Work Flexibility:

• 20% business travel

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