Test Program Manager Jobs in Phoenix, AZ (NOW HIRING)

Why This Role Exists

Mattur is moving from a small startup with a handful of projects into a multi-product hardware company shipping at scale. We have three product lines, a shared platform, and a fundraise that requires us to deliver against committed timelines.

The Technical Program Manager is the person who makes that possible — and they do it by building one of the most advanced R&D operating systems in hardware. Not a traditional TPM running JIRA tickets and chasing status updates. An AI-first operator who automates everything that can be automated, builds dashboards that update themselves, and uses LLMs and modern tooling to give engineers their time back so they can focus on engineering.

This is a role for someone who believes the next generation of operations isn’t about managing more — it’s about automating more, instrumenting more, and creating systems that scale without adding headcount. If that excites you, this is the role.

Position Overview

Reports to: CEO.

Partners with: CTO daily. All engineering team leads continuously. The Procurement function (separate role) on supply chain coordination.

You will be the operational spine of the engineering organization. You will own the cadence, the planning, the commitment tracking, the dashboards, and the operating system that makes Mattur’s R&D move faster than companies 10x our size. You will be a peer to engineering leadership and a trusted partner to the CEO. You will be in fundraise diligence conversations, board updates, and customer discussions where program health matters.

You will be AI-first in everything you do. Every meeting recorded and summarized automatically. Every status update generated from data, not chased from people. Every dashboard live and self-updating. Every recurring workflow automated. Your job is to use AI tools to make the engineering org 2–3x more productive than it would be otherwise.

Key Responsibilities

Program Planning and Roadmap Ownership

• Own and drive program planning across Mattur’s hardware development portfolio — developing and maintaining structured roadmaps that align with company goals, technical feasibility, and resource availability.
• Break down high-level objectives into clear, actionable workstreams with defined deliverables, ownership, and deadlines; maintain visibility into progress and dependencies across all active programs.
• Track execution against roadmaps proactively — using AI-powered tools to surface risks, blockers, and schedule misalignments before they become problems, not after.
• Map program milestones to company milestones — fundraise, pilot, certification, first delivery — and ensure engineering execution is sequenced to support them.
• Maintain structured program documentation that is automatically generated, versioned, and searchable — not manually maintained spreadsheets that go stale within a week.

Cross-Functional Execution and Coordination

• Serve as the primary coordination point across mechanical, electrical, firmware, controls, manufacturing, and product teams — ensuring dependencies are well-managed and programs stay synchronized.
• Run the engineering operating cadence: daily stand-ups, weekly cross-functional reviews, monthly integrated demonstrations, monthly planning. Set the rhythm and hold teams accountable to it. Co-own all R&D meetings with the CEO.
• Design and run the integrated demonstration cadence — the monthly forcing function where products, platform, and shared capabilities prove themselves together against customer-relevant outcomes.
• Identify and resolve cross-functional blockers quickly — escalating when needed and driving decisions rather than waiting for them.
• Partner with the CTO and engineering team leads to ensure technical decisions are made with schedule and manufacturing constraints in mind, and that trade-offs are clearly documented.
• Support NPI activities and production transition planning — coordinating engineering and manufacturing workstreams as designs move toward pilot builds and first deliveries.

State-of-the-Art Engineering Operating System

• This is the differentiator of the role. We are building one of the most advanced R&D operating environments in hardware, and the TPM is the architect of it.
• Automate everything that can be automated. Status reporting. Meeting summaries. Action item tracking. Dashboard updates. Risk register maintenance. Documentation generation. If a human is doing it more than twice, it should be automated.
• AI-powered visibility across the program. Build dashboards that pull from Asana, Microsoft 365, Teams, fab systems, and engineering tools to give leadership real-time program health without anyone manually updating a slide.
• LLM-driven workflows for the engineering team. Use Claude, ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, and other tools to accelerate documentation, design review prep, test plan generation, and decision logs. Build prompts and templates that the whole team can use.
• Meeting intelligence as default. Every meeting recorded with Teams AI or equivalent. Every meeting auto-summarized with action items extracted. The team should never have to write notes during a meeting again.
• Build, evaluate, and roll out new AI tools continuously. The tooling landscape is moving fast. Your job is to stay on the frontier and bring the best of it to Mattur — not to standardize on what worked two years ago.
• Implement milestone-based program plans with daily commitment tracking. Gantt views, weekly risk reviews, and structured documentation that scales with the team. The format matters less than the discipline of using it consistently.
• Identify systemic inefficiencies and drive process improvements that compound over time. Every quarter, the operating system should be measurably better than the quarter before.

Qualifications

• 6–10 years of experience in technical program management, engineering program management, or a closely related role, with a track record of delivering complex hardware programs on time.
• Deep familiarity with hardware development lifecycles — from early-stage R&D and prototyping through DVT, NPI, and production release.
• Technical fluency across at least one hardware discipline (electrical, mechanical, embedded systems, or controls); able to engage credibly with engineers and understand trade-offs without owning detailed design work.
• AI-first mindset and demonstrated experience using modern AI tools to accelerate operations. You use Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or equivalent tools daily. You’ve built automated workflows, prompts, and dashboards. You’re excited about what AI does, not skeptical of it.
• Proven ability to manage multiple parallel programs in a fast-paced, resource-constrained environment.
• Builder, not just operator. Experience building and improving engineering execution processes from the ground up, not just inheriting and maintaining existing systems. Comfortable writing scripts, configuring tools, and creating templates — not just managing them.
• Demonstrated ability to engage substantively in design reviews and test planning — reading schematics, interpreting test results, and understanding hardware trade-offs well enough to independently assess schedule risk.
• Strong service orientation toward engineers. Clears their path rather than directing them. Comfortable holding senior engineers accountable to commitments without owning their technical work.
• Strong proficiency with Asana and Microsoft 365. Comfortable building dashboards and structured trackers from scratch.
• Clear, direct communicator — able to translate technical complexity into crisp status updates for both engineering teams and executive leadership including investors and board members.
• Based in Phoenix, AZ; this is a full-time, on-site role.

Bonus Points

• Experience with API integrations, scripting (Python, JavaScript), or building lightweight internal tools.
• Familiarity with MCP servers, agentic workflows, or building custom AI tooling for operations.
• Experience operating in a pre-revenue, venture-backed environment with investor exposure.
• Aerospace or defense program management background.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary — targeted range $160K–$200K base, dependent on experience, plus meaningful early-stage equity.
• Comprehensive benefits including health, vision, dental, and life insurance.
• Direct exposure to fundraise, board, and customer conversations — this is a senior role with executive visibility from day one.
• Opportunity to shape Mattur’s engineering operating model from the ground up using the most advanced tools available.
• A small, talent-dense team where your work is visible and your decisions matter.