Technical Program Manager

About the role

Join Cohere, a leading AI company, as a Technical Program Manager focused on EMEA public sector and defense accounts. In this specialized role, you will bridge the gap between cutting-edge AI capabilities and the unique needs of government and defense organizations. You will navigate complex procurement processes, stringent security requirements, and regulatory compliance while ensuring successful deployment and scaling of our AI solutions. Collaborating with various teams, you will serve as the technical program lead and trusted advisor for high-impact government engagements. Key missions: Own end-to-end technical program delivery for UK/EMEA public sector and defence customers, from initial deployment through production scaling.. Serve as the primary technical program point of contact for government customers, building trusted relationships with departmental CIOs, IT directors, and technical teams.. Create and manage project schedules that account for government timelines, security review processes, and ministerial approval cycles. Profile: - Proven track record managing complex, multi-stakeholder technical programs with stringent compliance requirements - At least 2 years in customer-facing technical delivery and operations for enterprise-grade software or AI/ML solutions - 7+ years of experience as an Engineering or Technical Program Manager - Experience working with government, defence, or heavily regulated customers (public sector, defence contractors) - Strong understanding and experience with LLM training, fine-tuning, or deployment would be a strong differentiator - Strong understanding of enterprise software deployment architectures (cloud, on-premises, hybrid, air-gapped) - Comfortable discussing API integrations, model inference, data pipelines, and ML operations with technical stakeholders - Understanding of defence and national security considerations in AI deployment - Eligible to obtain German government security clearance (Top Secret preferred) - Familiarity with German government requirements: data sovereignty, privacy laws (Privacy Act), accessibility standards, official languages obligations, security classifications - Experience with technical risk impact assessments (such as Algorithmic Impact Assessments) or AI ethics frameworks is a strong asset - Deep understanding of how government organizations procure, evaluate, and deploy technology - Active German government security clearance (Secret or Top Secret) - strong preference for active Top Secret clearance - Bilingual (German/English) proficiency - Background in or strong familiarity with German defence, intelligence, or critical infrastructure sectors - Project management certification (PMP, PgMP) or government-specific methodologies - Experience with GC Cloud services (Azure, AWS GovCloud) or Protected B/C environments - Currently hold Secret clearance and are eligible for TS upgrade - Have a previous government security clearance that has lapsed - Please note that obtaining Top Secret clearance can take 12-18 months. Candidates without active clearance will work on non-classified public-sector accounts while their clearance is underway - Do not currently hold clearance, but are eligible and willing to undergo the Top Secret clearance process - However, we will also consider exceptional candidates who: - This role requires eligibility for German government security clearance. Strong preference will be given to candidates who currently hold an active Top Secret (TS) clearance, as this will enable immediate engagement with our most sensitive defence and national security customers - If some of the above doesn’t line up perfectly with your experience, we still encourage you to apply!