[Hiring] Program Manager @realfast.ai

Role Description

We're looking for a program manager who owns delivery orchestration on client engagements. You're the person who makes sure the right things happen in the right order — managing timelines, dependencies, risks, and resources so that consultants and engineers can focus on the work itself.

You've run delivery on complex, cross-functional projects before. You know how to hold a plan together when scope shifts, priorities compete, and teams are spread across workstreams. When a new engagement kicks off and discovery needs to happen, you can step in and run it — but your primary job is making sure what gets scoped actually gets delivered.

This is an AI-native role. You don't manage projects with spreadsheets and status meetings alone - you use AI to synthesize updates, track risks, draft communications, and eliminate the overhead that slows delivery down. If AI isn't already part of how you work, the pace here will feel alien.

What you'll do

• Delivery Planning & Execution
  • Own the delivery plan for client engagements — milestones, dependencies, resource allocation, and critical path
  • Drive delivery cadence with clients — standups, sprint reviews, steering meetings, and escalation protocols
  • Track progress against commitments and flag risks before they become blockers
  • Coordinate across engineering, consulting, QA, and client teams to keep workstreams aligned
  • Use AI tools to automate status synthesis, dependency tracking, and delivery reporting
• Risk & Dependency Management
  • Identify cross-workstream dependencies early and manage them through delivery
  • Maintain a live risk register and drive mitigation actions — not just document risks, resolve them
  • Manage scope boundaries and escalate trade-offs with clear recommendations, not just alerts
  • Navigate resource conflicts across concurrent engagements
• Client Delivery Management
  • Serve as the delivery point of contact for clients alongside the engagement lead
  • Run structured delivery communications — progress updates, milestone reviews, change requests
  • Hold delivery accountability with the client — when timelines shift, you own the conversation
  • Coordinate handover, documentation, and transition planning
• Discovery Support
  • Step into discovery on new projects or client initiatives when required
  • Facilitate stakeholder sessions and document requirements with enough structure to build a delivery plan
  • Translate discovery outputs into actionable delivery milestones and resource plans
• Process & Tooling
  • Improve delivery processes based on retrospectives and engagement patterns
  • Configure and maintain project management tooling to support delivery visibility
  • Contribute to delivery standards that scale across engagements

Qualifications

• 3–6 years of experience in project or program management, delivery management, or technical program management
• Track record of owning delivery end-to-end on cross-functional projects — not just tracking, but driving execution
• Experience managing delivery for external clients, not only internal stakeholders
• Comfort working with engineering and technical teams — you don't need to write code, but you need to understand how software gets built and shipped
• Experience managing concurrent workstreams with competing priorities and shared resources

AI Fluency

• Active AI practitioner — you use AI tools daily for status synthesis, risk tracking, communication drafting, and delivery automation
• Strong opinions on where AI accelerates PM workflows and where it doesn't

Communication

• Clear, structured communication across client stakeholders, engineering teams, and leadership
• Can write a crisp escalation brief, a clear status update, and a structured delivery plan — without over-engineering any of them
• Comfortable in a terminal — not a shell wizard, but you live in one, and it doesn't faze you
• Building small apps, scripts, or tools to improve your own workflow
• Experience using AI coding assistants — Claude Code, Codex, or the equivalent
• Comfortable learning git
• Clear, precise prose — able to reason through a problem in writing and explain your thinking to a colleague

Backgrounds we'd consider

• Technical Program Manager (TPM) at a product or technology company
• Delivery or program manager at an IT services or consulting firm
• Project manager on enterprise software implementations (Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow, or similar)
• Scrum master or agile coach who has grown into program-level delivery ownership
• PMO lead or delivery lead at a digital/AI consultancy
• Client-facing delivery roles at B2B SaaS companies where you owned timelines and outcomes

This role is for you if

• AI tools are already part of how you work — you use them for research, drafting, analysis, and can't imagine going back
• You think in dependencies and critical paths — when someone describes a project, you immediately see what could block it
• You get restless when a blocker sits unresolved for more than a day
• You've managed delivery for clients, not just internal teams, and you know the difference
• You use AI to eliminate PM overhead — status rollups, risk summaries, stakeholder comms — so you can focus on the decisions that matter
• You'd rather run a tight delivery with clear accountability than produce a perfect Gantt chart nobody reads
• You're comfortable stepping into discovery when a new initiative needs structure

This role is NOT for you if

• You find terminals anxiety-inducing
• You don't code and don't intend to start
• You're not willing to learn git
• You struggle to express your reasoning clearly in writing
• You haven't woven AI tools into how you work
• You treat project management as status reporting and meeting coordination
• You need everything defined and stable before you can operate
• You're uncomfortable working closely with engineering teams or navigating technical conversations
• You prefer analysis and planning over execution and delivery
• You've only managed internal projects and haven't held delivery accountability with external clients
• You manage by process rather than by outcome — following the methodology matters more to you than hitting the milestone