Technical Program Manager - Confidential AI / Climate Technology Company
About the Company
Our client is an early-stage AI-driven technology company focused on climate asset risk, renewable energy project diligence, and decision support for energy and infrastructure stakeholders. The company is preparing for its next phase of growth, including stronger go-to-market readiness, more formal internal operating processes, and future capital raise preparation.
The organization is lean, entrepreneurial, and fast-moving, with approximately 15 employees headquartered in New York City.
Position Overview
Our client is seeking a hands-on Technical Program Manager to help bring structure, process, and execution discipline to its product, engineering, and business operations. This is a newly created role designed to bridge the gap between business strategy and technical execution as the company prepares to scale.
The Technical Program Manager will manage the end-to-end program lifecycle, including planning, scoping, prioritization, sprint management, testing, deployment coordination, stakeholder communication, and progress reporting. This person will work closely with executive leadership, product, engineering, business stakeholders, full-time team members, and interns to ensure priorities are clear, timelines are managed, blockers are escalated appropriately, and execution remains aligned with company goals.
This is an ideal opportunity for a seasoned technical program/project leader who is comfortable creating structure in an early-stage environment and driving execution across multiple workstreams without requiring a heavily layered corporate infrastructure.
Location
Hybrid role in the Financial District - Manhattan
The consultant should be available to work onsite approximately 2-3 days per week.
Position Type
Contract / fractional role
Expected schedule: 20-25 hours per week
Working hours: Normal business hours, Monday through Friday, generally between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM ET
Reporting Structure
This role will report directly to the company's CEO & Founder.
The Technical Program Manager will work closely with a broader team of approximately 15 employees and help coordinate execution across approximately 6 full-time employees and 2-3 interns.
Key Responsibilities
- Establish practical program management structure, operating rhythms, and execution processes to support the company's next stage of growth.
- Bridge the gap between business strategy, product priorities, and technical execution.
- Manage technical initiatives from planning and scoping through requirements gathering, prioritization, testing, deployment coordination, and post-launch follow-up.
- Partner with leadership, product, engineering, and business teams to align priorities, clarify ownership, and maintain delivery momentum.
- Run sprint planning, stand-up meetings, progress reviews, and recurring execution cadences.
- Track milestones, timelines, dependencies, deliverables, risks, and open issues across multiple workstreams.
- Identify and mitigate technical, operational, and resource-related roadblocks before they impact delivery.
- Provide clear status reporting and executive-level communications to leadership and business stakeholders.
- Support roadmap development, strategic planning, and prioritization of product and technical initiatives.
- Help assess resource planning, team capacity, delivery feasibility, and timeline commitments.
- Support budget, forecasting, vendor coordination, and third-party management where applicable.
- Drive process improvement, operational excellence, documentation, and repeatable internal practices.
- Help prepare the organization for future go-to-market execution, investor readiness, and scalable delivery.
Required Qualifications
- Strong experience in technical program management, technical project management, or a similar cross-functional technical delivery role.
- Demonstrated experience managing programs or portfolios across product, engineering, and business stakeholders.
- Proven ability to lead initiatives from planning and scoping through execution, testing, deployment, and reporting.
- Strong understanding of SDLC processes and technical project delivery.
- Experience with Agile, Scrum, and Waterfall methodologies, with the ability to adapt process to the needs of a lean environment.
- Experience running sprint planning, stand-ups, status meetings, and structured delivery cadences.
- Strong requirements gathering, prioritization, roadmap support, and stakeholder management skills.
- Ability to identify risks, resolve issues, remove blockers, and keep teams aligned around priorities and timelines.
- Excellent executive communication skills, including the ability to provide concise updates to founders, leadership, and business stakeholders.
- Experience with resource planning, capacity management, timeline management, budget tracking, forecasting, and operational planning.
- Strong process improvement mindset with the ability to create structure where little formal process currently exists.
- Comfortable operating hands-on in a fast-paced, early-stage environment with shifting priorities, limited layers of support, and a need for practical execution.
Preferred Qualifications
- Familiarity with renewable energy, climate technology, energy infrastructure, asset risk, project diligence, or adjacent energy-related sectors.
- Experience working with early-stage or growth-stage technology companies.
- Experience helping organizations prepare for scale, go-to-market execution, investor readiness, or formal capital raise preparation.
Contract Length & Timing
The client would like this person to start as soon as possible, ideally shortly after July 4th, pending candidate identification and onboarding.
Initial contract length: 3-6 months + extension
Potential conversion: The company would consider conversion to full-time/salary depending on business needs and how the engagement unfolds.
Compensation
Target rate: $90-$100 per hour, depending on experience.
Interview Process
Expected interview process: Approximately 2 interviews with Company Leadership
About Korn Ferry
Korn Ferry unleashes potential in people, teams, and organizations. We work with our clients to design optimal organization structures, roles, and responsibilities. We help them hire the right people and advise them on how to reward and motivate their workforce while developing professionals as they navigate and advance their careers. To learn more, please visit Korn Ferry at www.Kornferry.com
