Technical Program Manager (Software Engineer)
RunPod is hiring a Technical Program Manager (Software Engineer) for a remote role open to applicants in United States. It pays $140k-$165k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Level.
AI in this role
Drive execution and planning for core GPU cloud infrastructure that powers AI training and inference workloads.
Runpod is the AI Developer Cloud. More than one million developers, from indie researchers to teams running frontier models in production, use Runpod to experiment, train, fine-tune, deploy, and scale AI on one platform. The platform has processed more than 20 billion inference requests. We closed a $100M Series A in June 2026. We're at an inflection point for AI infrastructure, and we're building the platform the next generation of developers will depend on.
We're a small, remote-first team. We take ownership seriously, move fast, and ship work that more than a million developers rely on every day. We're looking for people who care deeply, build with urgency, and want to matter at scale.
Learn more in our CEO's funding announcement: https://www.runpod.io/blog/one-million-developers.
We’re seeking a Technical Program Manager (TPM) who understands how distributed systems are built and why they fail, and pairs that depth with exceptional organizational and communication skills. The ideal candidate is a self-starter who thrives in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and can drive execution through ambiguity with confidence and clarity.
As a TPM at Runpod, you’ll lead complex, cross-functional programs across product and platform teams, working closely with engineering leads and stakeholders across the company. You’ll help build the core of our cloud platform: the systems that schedule, scale, route, and run customer workloads on GPU infrastructure across regions. You’ll anticipate risks early, keep teams focused on what matters, and deliver high-impact work that creates real value for our customers.
The ideal candidate is a dynamic problem solver - not a pure process follower.
Responsibilities:
Partner with engineering leads to understand squad architecture, constraints, and technical debt, and build plans that reflect how the systems actually behave.
Own planning and delivery for complex, multi-team programs: scope, sequencing, dependencies, and timelines, with close attention to cross-service and cross-region dependencies.
Identify technical risk early (scaling limits, failure modes, capacity constraints, migration complexity) and drive mitigation before it reaches customers or commitments.
Participate in design and architecture reviews, surfacing gaps in rollout plans, observability, and fault tolerance.
Drive launch readiness and safe rollout of platform changes, including staged releases, rollback plans, load and failure testing, and operational handoff.
Serve as the primary point of contact for stakeholders, with clear, regular status updates and risks escalated early alongside options and recommendations.
Work with Data, Product, and Engineering leads to define and track success metrics for performance, reliability, utilization, and cost, tied to customer outcomes.
Partner with SRE to build visibility into system health, and help leadership balance investment in reliability, scale, and new capabilities.
Coordinate with Supply and Data Center teams on how capacity and infrastructure changes affect platform roadmaps.
Run post-launch and post-incident reviews, and drive the resulting improvements to completion.
Requirements:
3+ years in technical program management or software/infrastructure engineering, leading complex programs for cloud or infrastructure products.
Hands-on engineering experience on production distributed systems, with deep understanding of consistency and availability tradeoffs, queueing, scheduling, autoscaling, load balancing, failure handling, and performance at scale.
Hands-on familiarity with cloud infrastructure fundamentals: compute, networking, storage, containers and orchestration, and multi-region architectures.
Ability to read architecture docs, review designs, and hold credible technical conversations with senior engineers, including on reliability, latency, and capacity tradeoffs.
Experience with observability and operational practices (metrics, logging, tracing, SLOs, incident response) and using them to drive program decisions.
Proven track record of delivering multiple high-impact programs across 3+ cross-functional teams, from planning through launch.
Strong quantitative skills, with the ability to turn system and cost data into clear recommendations.
Deep understanding of the software development lifecycle and how engineering teams design, build, test, and ship production systems.
Exceptional written and verbal communication, with the ability to align stakeholders across teams and functions.
Ownership mindset: highly organized, proactive, and calm under pressure, favoring clarity and follow-through over rigid process.
Preferred:
Previous experience in AI/ML developer platforms or GPU/cloud infrastructure-focused organizations.
Experience in a fast-paced startup environment.
Technical degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
What You’ll Receive:
The competitive base pay for this position ranges from ($140,000 - $165,000). This salary range may be inclusive of several career levels at Runpod and will be narrowed during the interview process based on a number of factors, including the candidate’s experience, qualifications, and location
Meaningful equity in a fast-growing company- everyone on the team receives stock options — your impact drives our growth, and you share in the upside.
Generous medical, dental & vision plans
Flexible PTO- take the time you need to recharge
Most roles are remote work first with an inclusive, collaborative teams utilizing slack as the main form of internal communication
Join a passionate team on the cutting edge of AI infrastructure — where culture, learning, and ownership are at the heart of how we scale.
$1,200 Home Office & Equipment Stipend- We set you up for success from day one with gear and support to create your ideal workspace
Runpod is committed to maintaining a workplace free from discrimination and upholding the principles of equality and respect for all individuals. We believe that diversity in all its forms enhances our team. As an equal opportunity employer, Runpod is committed to creating an inclusive workforce at every level. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We welcome every qualified candidate eligible to work in the United States; however, we are currently unable to sponsor employment visas.
How we rate this
Technical Program Manager (Software Engineer) at RunPod rates 60 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Works on AI (AI Level 3 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.
Works on AI. The daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
- ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
- ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
- ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
- ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39
Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Open the description and count.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Pay
- This job starts at
- $140k
- Typical software engineer job
- $168k
This posting starts 17% below the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs
Questions you could be asked
- Tell me about a project where distributed systems was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where program management was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where infrastructure was part of your work. What did you do?
- What's a project where you used Kubernetes hands-on?
- Walk me through how you've used GPU in your day-to-day work.
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: Distributed Systems, Program Management, Infrastructure, Kubernetes, and GPU. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
- Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
- Show where AI is part of your daily process, not a one-off project. This role expects it to be a running habit.
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