Technical Program Manager, Autonomy (Aerospace)

Location: Hybrid workplace, based on-site at Merlin HQ in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Travel up to 15% for integration events, flight-test campaigns, and customer engagements.

Salary: $150,000–$200,000 per year, plus potential equity and benefits.

Company

hirify.global is a publicly traded aerospace and defense company developing the Merlin Pilot, a full-stack autonomy system for aircraft.

What you will do

• Own execution of Merlin Pilot software release programs from capability definition through development, integration, verification, and flight validation.
• Run release planning, requirements decomposition, gate reviews, build readiness, and delivery into aircraft integration programs.
• Coordinate execution across perception, planning, flight controls, human-machine interface, platform, systems engineering, safety, simulation, and flight-test teams.
• Manage dependencies between autonomy releases, aircraft integration, certification, and customer milestones.
• Maintain program plans, scope, milestones, traceability, risks, and mitigation strategies.
• Lead stakeholder communications, technical escalations, proposal inputs, and process improvements.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field.
• 5+ years of experience managing complex software or autonomy programs, ideally in robotics, autonomous systems, aerospace, or safety-critical software.
• Strong technical fluency in software architecture, interfaces, dependencies, and technical risk.
• Working knowledge of sensing and perception, guidance and planning, vehicle or flight controls, and simulation-based validation.
• Expert program management, planning, agile, milestone-based delivery, and stakeholder communication skills.
• Ability to obtain a U.S. Secret Security Clearance and work in the United States without visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Nice to have

• Active U.S. security clearance.
• Experience with DO-178C, ARP4754A, DoD airworthiness, flight autonomy, avionics software, or ML/AI-enabled systems.
• Experience using Jira with an integrated master schedule.
• Familiarity with flight-test planning and autonomous-system validation.

Culture & Benefits

• Innovative, entrepreneurial, and team-focused startup environment.
• Health, dental, and life insurance.
• Unlimited vacation and 401(k) with match.
• Professional development support and work/life integration.
• On-site catered lunches, snacks, and beverages.