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Program Manager Research Operations Jobs in California

Stryker

Program Manager, R&D - NPD

San Jose, CA · On-site

$153K - $255K/yr

Hybrid As a Program Manager in New Product Development, you will lead cross-functional teams in planning and execution of business critical, complex projects and programs to bring innovative medical ...

Stryker

Program Manager, R&D - NPD

San Jose, CA · Hybrid

$153K - $255K/yr

Hybrid As a Program Manager in New Product Development, you will lead cross-functional teams in planning and execution of business critical, complex projects and programs to bring innovative medical ...

BryceTech

Program Manager

El Segundo, CA

... research, development, production, operations and maintenance, and lifecycle acquisition activities. The SSC/CG Directorate is responsible for the planning, acquisition, and sustainment of space ...

Hologic, Inc.

Sr Program Manager, R&D

San Diego, CA · On-site

$123K - $123K/yr

They are seeking a Sr Program Manager for their Diagnostics division who will manage new assay development and engineering projects, leading cross-functional teams to ensure successful project ...

BryceTech

Program Manager

El Segundo, CA · On-site

... research, development, production, operations and maintenance, and lifecycle acquisition activities. The SSC/CG Directorate is responsible for the planning, acquisition, and sustainment of space ...

Hologic Inc.

Sr Program Manager, R&D

San Diego, CA

$147K - $245K/yr

Hologic's Diagnostics division is seeking a Sr Program Manager who will be dedicated to program management of new assay development and instrumentation/engineering project and programs. This is a ...

Hologic

Sr Program Manager, R&D

San Diego, CA · On-site

$147K - $245K/yr

Hologic's Diagnostics division is seeking a Sr Program Manager who will be dedicated to program management of new assay development and instrumentation/engineering project and programs. This is a ...

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Program Manager Research Operations information

What are Program Manager Research Operations?

Program Manager Research Operations are professionals who oversee and coordinate the administrative and operational aspects of research programs within organizations such as universities, corporations, or healthcare institutions. Their responsibilities typically include managing budgets, ensuring compliance with regulations, supporting research teams, and improving efficiency in research processes. They act as a bridge between researchers, administrative staff, and external partners to ensure projects run smoothly and meet organizational goals. Program Managers in Research Operations play a critical role in enabling scientific and academic research by providing strategic and logistical support.

What is the difference between Program Manager Research Operations vs Research Coordinator?

AspectProgram Manager Research OperationsResearch Coordinator
CredentialsBachelor's or higher in related field, project management certifications often preferredBachelor's degree in a relevant field, research experience
Work EnvironmentOversees multiple projects, collaborates with teams, manages budgetsSupports research projects, handles data collection, assists with study logistics
Employer & IndustryResearch institutions, biotech, pharma, academiaResearch labs, clinical settings, academic institutions
Search & Comparison IntentUnderstanding managerial roles in research operationsDetails on research support roles and coordination tasks

The Program Manager Research Operations typically oversees multiple research projects, manages teams, and handles budgets, requiring project management skills. In contrast, a Research Coordinator focuses on supporting specific research studies, managing data collection, and logistical tasks. Both roles are essential in research environments but differ in scope and responsibilities.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Program Manager Research Operations, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Program Manager Research Operations, you need expertise in research administration, project management, and budget oversight, often supported by a relevant degree and experience in research environments. Familiarity with project management tools (e.g., Asana, MS Project), research compliance systems, and grant management platforms is typically essential. Strong leadership, organizational skills, and effective communication enable collaboration across multidisciplinary teams and stakeholders. These skills ensure efficient research operations, regulatory compliance, and successful project outcomes.

What are the main challenges Program Managers in Research Operations typically face when coordinating cross-functional teams?

Program Managers in Research Operations often encounter challenges related to aligning diverse stakeholders, balancing multiple project timelines, and ensuring smooth communication between research, product, and operations teams. Successfully navigating these challenges requires strong organizational skills, adaptability, and the ability to manage competing priorities while maintaining research quality and compliance. Regularly facilitating meetings, setting clear expectations, and using project management tools help mitigate these challenges and ensure collaborative progress.
What are popular job titles related to Program Manager Research Operations jobs in California? For Program Manager Research Operations jobs in California, the most frequently searched job titles are:
What job categories do people searching Program Manager Research Operations jobs in California look for? The top searched job categories for Program Manager Research Operations jobs in California are:
What cities in California are hiring for Program Manager Research Operations jobs? Cities in California with the most Program Manager Research Operations job openings:
Program Manager Research Operations jobs near you

Technical Program Manager, Model Alignment and Deployment

Character.ai

Redwood City, CA • On-site

$220K - $260K/yr

Full-time

Posted 4 days ago

Job description

About the role
Model Alignment and Deployment is a critical, cross-functional effort spanning our Post-Training, Safety Engineering, Trust & Safety, ML Infra/Model Serving, and User Experience Research (UXR) teams. Together, these groups are responsible for transforming powerful pretrained language models into intelligent, engaging, safely aligned, and highly scalable products-working across data, compute, algorithms, infrastructure, and user insights to improve model performance and ensure reliable delivery.
As a Technical Program Manager, you will be the operational and programmatic backbone connecting these teams: driving clarity, structure, and execution across some of the most technically complex and high-stakes work at Character.AI. This is a role for someone who thrives at the intersection of research, safety, user experience, and production. You'll partner closely with research engineers, safety experts, data scientists, infrastructure engineers, and UX researchers to turn ambitious model development goals into well-scoped, well-tracked, cross-functional programs. You will ensure that the data pipelines, evaluation frameworks, alignment workflows, and serving infrastructure underpinning our models are moving fast and moving well. You'll operate effectively in high-ambiguity environments, anticipate risks before they become blockers, and bring the kind of technical fluency needed to earn trust with researchers while communicating clearly to leadership.
What you'll do
  • Program ownership: Lead planning and execution of cross-functional programs spanning data collection, annotation pipelines, alignment workflows (RLHF, DPO, Constitutional AI), safety guardrails (adversarial testing, red-teaming), and model serving. Establish scopes, goals, timelines, risks, and success metrics.
  • Cross-functional coordination: Serve as the connective tissue between Post-Training, Safety Engineering, Trust & Safety, ML Infra, UXR, and Product. Translate model development, safety, and user experience priorities into executable roadmaps, keeping tightly coupled workstreams aligned from post-training through to production deployment.
  • Evaluation & quality: Develop and maintain custom evaluation frameworks to track model performance and user satisfaction. Drive comprehensive quality evaluation initiatives alongside rigorous safety and toxicity baselines. Partner with UXR, researchers, and engineers to identify quality signals, incorporate human feedback, and surface actionable insights on model behavior in production.
  • Operational excellence: Drive visibility into data pipeline health, annotation quality, training run progress, and deployment readiness. Identify bottlenecks across teams and lead efforts to improve tooling, process, and developer velocity.
  • Strategic partnership: Partner with research, safety, product, and UXR leadership on prioritization, sequencing, and tradeoffs-balancing aggressive capability scaling with strict safety requirements, user needs, and infrastructure constraints.
  • Process development: Build and refine the operational patterns, ontologies, and frameworks used to scale new capability development-from prompt engineering and data generation to model behavior specification and safety guidelines.
  • Vendor & partner management: Own external partner relationships supporting these workstreams, including general and safety-focused annotation vendors, evaluation tooling providers, and data partners.
What you'll bring
  • 5+ years of experience in technical program management, research operations, or product execution in a fast-moving AI, ML, or research environment.
  • Deep familiarity with post-training and alignment concepts (supervised fine-tuning, RLHF, AI safety frameworks, LLM evaluation) as well as model deployment/serving, sufficient to engage substantively with both research and infrastructure engineers.
  • Proven ability to lead complex, multi-team programs in ambiguous, rapidly evolving environments; track record of shipping with quality and speed.
  • Strong analytical mindset; comfortable working with data and user insights to measure program health, identify trends, and drive decisions.
  • Proficiency in SQL and Python.
  • Exceptional communication skills - able to translate deep technical work into clear narratives for leadership, and to hold detailed technical conversations with engineers across different disciplines.
  • Obsessive about data integrity, operational rigor, and process quality without letting process slow teams down.
  • BS in a quantitative, scientific, or technical field; MS or PhD a plus.
Nice to have:
  • Hands-on experience with data pipelines, annotation platforms, ML evaluation tooling, or human-in-the-loop workflows.
  • Experience managing annotation vendors or external data partners.
  • Familiarity with distributed training, experiment tracking, or ML infrastructure (Kubernetes, Docker, cloud) and model serving systems.
  • Prior experience embedded in an AI research team, foundation model lab, or Trust & Safety engineering team.
  • Direct experience managing AI safety, trust, quality eval, or red-teaming programs.

About Character.AI
Character.AI empowers people to connect, learn and tell stories through interactive entertainment. Over 20 million people visit Character.AI every month, using our technology to supercharge their creativity and imagination. Our platform lets users engage with tens of millions of characters, enjoy unlimited conversations, and embark on infinite adventures.
In just two years, we achieved unicorn status and were honored as Google Play's AI App of the Year-a testament to our innovative technology and visionary approach.
Join us and be a part of establishing this new entertainment paradigm while shaping the future of Consumer AI!
At Character, we value diversity and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. As an equal opportunity employer, we firmly uphold a non-discrimination policy based on race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, or disability. Your unique perspectives are vital to our success.

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