Technical Program Manager, AI Research

At Wayve we're committed to creating a diverse, fair and respectful culture that is inclusive of everyone based on their unique skills and perspectives, and regardless of sex, race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, pregnancy or related condition  (including breastfeeding) or any other basis as protected by applicable law.  

About us   

Founded in 2017, Wayve is the leading developer of Embodied AI technology.  Our advanced AI software and foundation models enable vehicles to perceive, understand, and navigate any complex environment, enhancing the usability and safety of automated driving systems.

Our vision is to create autonomy that propels the world forward.  Our intelligent, mapless, and hardware-agnostic AI products are designed for automakers, accelerating the transition from assisted to automated driving. 

In our fast-paced environment big problems ignite us—we embrace uncertainty, leaning into complex challenges to unlock groundbreaking solutions. We aim high and stay humble in our pursuit of excellence, constantly learning and evolving as we pave the way for a smarter, safer future.

At Wayve, your contributions matter.  We value diversity, embrace new perspectives, and foster an inclusive work environment; we back each other to deliver impact.  

Make Wayve the experience that defines your career!  

As a Technical Program Manager (TPM), AI Research at Wayve, you will play a pivotal role in driving delivery across our cutting-edge AI research initiatives. You’ll work directly with our Chief Scientist and research leadership team, acting as a strategic partner to turn innovative ideas into tangible impact. Your mission will be to accelerate the pace of scientific discovery, bridge research-to-production pipelines, and align technical efforts with Wayve’s long-term vision for embodied intelligence.

This is a unique opportunity to shape the trajectory of AI development in a fast-paced, research-driven environment. You will work hands-on with some of the brightest minds in the field and ensure our research programs are impactful, coordinated, and execution-ready.

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Key Responsibilities

• Drive program delivery and execution across multiple AI research workstreams, from ideation to deployment.

• Act as a strategic partner to the Chief Scientist, managing the research portfolio to balance exploration and applied impact.

• Facilitate research-to-production translation by overseeing handoffs, proof-of-concepts, and applied technology integration.

• Lead strategic planning and roadmap development across scientific programs.

• Foster strong collaboration across research, engineering, product, and operations teams.

• Identify and remove delivery blockers, proactively managing dependencies and ambiguity across initiatives.

• Champion continuous improvement in research workflows, experiment pipelines, and infrastructure.

• Manage relationships with external academic, research, and industry partners.

• Enable knowledge sharing and best practices within the research org through documentation, tooling, and culture-building.

• Communicate program updates, risks, and value to diverse stakeholders—from researchers to executives.

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About You

In order to set you up for success as a Science Technical Program Manager at Wayve, we’re looking for the following skills and experience:

Essential

Technical Domain Expertise

• Deep understanding of AI/ML fundamentals, research methodologies, and current trends in the field.

• Familiarity with research tooling, compute infrastructure (e.g., GPU clusters, distributed training), and experiment tracking.

• Experience with academic research processes, including publications, peer review, and collaboration.

Program Management Excellence

• At least 5 years of experience as a Technical Program Manager in AI/ML or research-heavy environments.

• Proven track record of delivering complex, multi-stakeholder programs with ambiguous goals and evolving requirements.

• Experience managing research-to-production handoffs and technical proof-of-concepts.

• Versatility with both agile and waterfall methodologies, and adapting these to research contexts.

Leadership and Influence

• Exceptional ability to influence and lead without formal authority.

• Experience working with senior research leaders and interfacing with external research institutions.

• Effective communicator with both technical and non-technical stakeholders; able to distill complex ideas into business-relevant insights.

• Hands-on leadership approach, comfortable working at both strategic and tactical levels.

Strategic and Analytical Thinking

• Strong analytical mindset; capable of aligning research initiatives to business goals and impact metrics.

• Experience in research prioritisation, portfolio planning, and resource allocation under uncertainty.

• Understanding of IP management and ethical AI practices.

Desirable

• Advanced degree (MS/PhD) in Computer Science, AI, Machine Learning, or related technical field.

• Background in AI research labs (academic or industrial).

• Experience with tools like Weights & Biases, MLflow, or other experiment tracking systems.

• Experience leading cross-functional TPM teams or managing external research partnerships.

• Contribution to open-source AI projects or published academic work.

We understand that everyone has a unique set of skills and experiences and that not everyone will meet all of the requirements listed above. If you’re passionate about self-driving cars and think you have what it takes to make a positive impact on the world, we encourage you to apply.

For more information visit Careers at Wayve. 

To learn more about what drives us, visit Values at Wayve 

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DISCLAIMER: We will not ask about marriage or pregnancy, care responsibilities or disabilities in any of our job adverts or interviews. However, we do look to capture information about care responsibilities, and disabilities among other diversity information as part of an optional DEI Monitoring form to help us identify areas of improvement in our hiring process and ensure that the process is inclusive and non-discriminatory.