Technical Project Manager

07 Oct Technical Project Manager

About

BlackSwift designs and delivers advanced unmanned aerial systems and mission-enabling technologies for demanding operational environments. The company is known for technically rigorous aircraft development, rapid engineering execution, and deep experience supporting aerospace, defense, research, and specialized field operations where reliability, flight performance, and disciplined delivery matter.

BlackSwift’s work spans aircraft design, system integration, flight operations, and the practical engineering required to move from concept to flight-ready capability. The company operates close to the hardware, close to the mission, and close to the realities of certification, airspace access, customer delivery, and field execution.

BlackSwift is powered by KrateoSky which reflects a shared commitment to building trusted autonomous aerial systems with stronger operating discipline, modern engineering workflows, and AI-native execution. Through this connection, BlackSwift is part of a broader effort to scale reliable, mission-ready autonomy with the rigor, speed, and systems thinking required in regulated and mission-critical environments.

This is an opportunity to do consequential work alongside experienced leaders, help build a category-defining platform, and solve hard engineering and operational challenges that matter in the real world. As an AI-native organization, KrateoSky is also building an environment where modern tools, automation, and connected systems help teams move faster, reduce manual work, and focus their energy on the highest-value problems. For people who are motivated by mission, energized by building, and excited by the chance to combine speed, rigor, and intelligent automation, KrateoSky offers the opportunity to have outsized impact on technology, operations, and the future of trusted autonomy.

Position Summary

BlackSwift is hiring a Technical Product Manager to drive disciplined execution across engineering programs from kickoff through closeout. This role exists to convert technical goals, product priorities, and customer commitments into executable plans, visible workstreams, and reliable delivery rhythms across unmanned aerial systems programs operating in regulated, mission-critical environments.

This individual will serve as the primary delivery lead for sprint execution, backlog translation, milestone management, customer coordination, and program reporting. Partnering closely with the CTO and technical leads, the Technical Product Manager will translate high-level roadmap objectives into structured epics, stories, tasks, dependencies, and review cadences that keep teams aligned and moving. The role also owns the operating mechanics behind execution quality: maintaining the program Agile board, running sprint ceremonies, managing Risks, Issues, and Opportunities, and ensuring issues move early enough to be useful.

This role will help drive certification schedules, flight-permission processes, internal and external reviews, proposal support, and deliverable readiness across integrated hardware and software efforts. Success requires comfort in technical environments, strong judgment under ambiguity, and a practical instinct to use AI and automation to reduce administrative load, improve reporting quality, and keep engineering teams focused on the highest-value work.

Key Responsibilities

• Program Planning & Proposal Support: Develop project and program plans, support proposal inputs, and establish execution baselines for scope, schedule, milestones, and deliverables from program start through closeout.
• Backlog Translation & Proxy Product Ownership: Partner with the CTO and technical leads to translate roadmap priorities into actionable epics, stories, tasks, acceptance criteria, and dependencies so engineering teams can execute without unnecessary bottlenecks.
• Agile Delivery & Sprint Facilitation: Lead sprint planning, daily standups, sprint reviews, retrospectives, and increment planning with a strong focus on throughput, work-in-progress discipline, and practical execution rather than process theater.
• Execution Control & Milestone Management: Drive day-to-day program execution across kickoff, technical milestones, customer reviews, and closeout; maintain schedule integrity, surface slips early, and coordinate recovery actions when needed.
• Asana Administration & Workflow Discipline: Own the health, structure, and consistency of program tooling in Asana, ensuring tasks, owners, due dates, dependencies, and status signals remain current and decision-useful.
• Risk, Issue & Opportunity Management: Maintain the RIO register, drive mitigation planning, and use flow metrics and first-principles analysis to identify emerging execution risks before they impact delivery, certification, or flight readiness.
• Customer Communication & Program Reviews: Draft status reports, deliverable documentation, and review materials; lead internal and customer meetings with clear communication on progress, tradeoffs, risks, and next actions.
• Certification & Flight Permissions: Coordinate schedules, documentation, submissions, and stakeholder actions required for certification activity and flight-permission efforts, working across engineering, operations, and external parties to keep approvals on track.
• Documentation & Deliverable Readiness: Produce and maintain planning assumptions, meeting outputs, lessons learned, closeout documentation, and deliverable packages with a high standard of completeness, traceability, and accuracy.
• Agile Coaching & Team Support: Reinforce empiricism, Definition of Done discipline, blameless reporting, and continuous improvement while removing blockers and reducing administrative drag on the engineering team.
• Cross-Functional Integration: Work across engineering, flight operations, product, and customer stakeholders to synchronize priorities, resolve dependencies, and align technical execution with business commitments.
• AI-Native Program Operations: Apply AI and automation tools to improve ticket drafting, reporting, documentation quality, workflow efficiency, and decision speed, with a clear bias toward eliminating repetitive manual work.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in technical project management, program management, agile delivery, Scrum Master, or related execution roles in engineering-led environments.
• Demonstrated success managing complex cross-functional work from kickoff through closeout in hardware, software, robotics, aerospace, industrial, or government-contracted programs.
• Experience translating technical strategy or product roadmaps into executable backlog structures, sprint plans, milestones, and day-to-day tasking.
• Strong command of Agile and Scrum practices, including sprint ceremonies, backlog management, and delivery facilitation in integrated hardware-software environments.
• Excellent facilitation, organization, scheduling, and stakeholder communication skills, with the ability to influence outcomes without formal authority.
• Comfort operating in technical environments and partnering closely with engineers and technical leaders on planning, tradeoffs, execution risks, and delivery decisions.
• Experience with project and work-management tooling such as Asana, Jira, or equivalent, including maintenance of work in progress (WIP) boards, dependencies, reporting, and status visibility.
• Strong written communication skills, including status reporting, review materials, deliverable documentation, and customer-facing program communications.
• Practical proficiency using AI and automation tools to improve planning, documentation, reporting, or workflow efficiency in a measurable and credible way.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in UAS, aerospace, defense, robotics, or other regulated mission-critical industries.
• Prior work on SBIR/STTR efforts, government-funded R&D programs, or contracts requiring disciplined technical and administrative execution.
• Familiarity with certification processes, flight permissions, airspace approvals, test coordination, or related operational-readiness workflows for aerial systems.
• PMP, PMI-ACP, Certified ScrumMaster, or comparable project, program, or agile certification.
• Experience supporting flight-test programs, system qualification efforts, or transitions from development into deployment or production.
• Familiarity with requirements traceability, configuration control, engineering review discipline, and related rigor expected in safety-critical or regulated product development.
• Experience building lightweight automations, dashboards, or AI-assisted workflows that improve transparency, reduce manual work, and strengthen delivery execution.

Location(s): Boulder, CO.

Reports To: BlackSwift Chief Technology Officer

Travel: Up to 25%

Base Salary Range:

Security Clearance: Due to the nature of this role and the work performed, candidates must be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. Department of Defense security clearance, as required for the position.

Export Control Requirements: This position must meet U.S. export control compliance requirements. To meet U.S. export control compliance requirements, a “U.S. Person” as defined by 22 C.F.R. §120.62 is required. “U.S. Person” includes U.S. Citizen, U.S. National, lawful permanent resident, refugee, or asylee.

Equal Opportunity: BlackSwift is an equal opportunity employer. We make all employment decisions based on lawful, job-related qualifications, merit, and business need, and do not discriminate on the basis of any protected characteristic under applicable federal, state, or local law. We are committed to building an inclusive workplace where employees with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives can contribute and succeed. BlackSwift is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities and to applicants who require accommodation during the recruiting, application, or interview process, consistent with applicable law. If you need assistance or an accommodation, please let us know.

Compensation & Benefits: The total compensation package for this role includes base salary and may also include eligibility for annual bonus, incentive compensation, and/or equity, depending on role level, experience, skills, qualifications, and work location. In addition, BlackSwift offers a competitive benefits package, which may include medical, dental, and vision coverage, retirement benefits, paid time off, and other employee benefit programs, subject to plan terms and eligibility requirements. Any posted compensation range reflects the good-faith estimate of base salary for this role at the time of posting. Actual compensation will be determined based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience, skills, education, certifications, internal equity, market data, and geographic location. BlackSwift reserves the right to modify compensation, benefits, and other terms of employment in accordance with applicable law.