Principal TPM, Drone & Autonomy Software

About BRINC:
At BRINC, we are redefining public safety with an innovative ecosystem of life‑saving tools, from drones and ruggedized throw phones to 911 response networks that deliver real‑time visual data to first responders. Our solutions are deployed by over 600 public safety agencies across America, and we have raised more than $150M from investors such as Index Ventures, Motorola Solutions, Sam Altman and others.

We are seeking a Principal Technical Program Manager (TPM), Drone & Autonomy Software to lead execution across BRINC’s device software and autonomy stack for drones and public safety products. This role drives programs spanning embedded/on‑device software and the full autonomy pipeline (perception, navigation, controls), coordinates releases, aligns software delivery with new hardware product introductions (NPI), and manages the weekly release cadence for in‑market devices.

• Own end‑to‑end execution of device software and autonomy programs across embedded/firmware, on‑device services, perception, navigation, controls, mission logic, test, and release engineering.
• Drive the week‑to‑week release cadence for deployed devices, including planning, readiness, rollout coordination, and post‑release follow‑up for OTA updates.
• Coordinate cross‑team release scope and sequencing across device software and autonomy, ensuring clear dependencies, interfaces, and integration timelines.
• Partner closely with hardware engineering and product teams to align device software deliverables with new hardware releases (EVT/DVT/PVT milestones as needed).
• Lead release readiness reviews: quality gates, test coverage, performance/regression expectations, rollback plans, and operational communications.
• Ensure tight collaboration with QA, flight test, and field stakeholders to validate software and autonomy features across simulation, hardware‑in‑the‑loop (HIL), and real‑world flight conditions.
• Establish and continuously improve program management processes across both device software and autonomy: release planning, change control, simulation and validation workflows, incident learnings, and metrics.
• Provide clear, concise status reporting to engineering leadership, surfacing risks early and driving trade‑offs across quality, schedule, and scope.
• Drive planning and delivery of autonomy features and capabilities, including localization, mapping, path planning, obstacle avoidance, and intelligent mission behaviors.
• Manage cross‑cutting technical dependencies between autonomy subsystems (perception, navigation, controls) and the device software platform, proactively identifying integration risks and resolving blockers.
• Track and communicate program health across multiple parallel development threads, balancing new capability development, safety and reliability improvements, and integration into production releases.

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (CS, EE, CE, Robotics, Aerospace, Systems, or related) or equivalent practical experience.
• 7+ years of technical program management experience delivering embedded/device software or autonomy/robotics software for hardware products (robotics/UAVs/aerospace/safety‑critical strongly preferred).
• Proven track record coordinating release trains and shipping updates to real‑world deployed devices (e.g., OTA, staged rollouts).
• Strong technical fluency across embedded systems and autonomy: firmware/software boundaries, hardware‑software interfaces, perception/navigation/controls pipelines, performance constraints, logging/telemetry, and validation strategies.
• Excellent cross‑functional leadership skills with ability to align engineering, autonomy, QA, hardware, and operations around a single release plan.

• Experience with complex hardware/software mission‑critical systems.
• Familiarity with embedded Linux, RTOS, and common device update mechanisms.
• Experience managing hardware/software co‑development schedules across EVT/DVT/PVT and production ramp.
• Strong understanding of CI/CD for embedded software and autonomy, including automated test infrastructure, simulation pipelines, and fleet health metrics.
• Familiarity with autonomy or…