Technical Program Manager, Merlin Labs
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Aviation tech for fully autonomous flight
Be an early applicant
Aviation tech for fully autonomous flight
101-200 employees
Be an early applicant
More information about location
101-200 employees
Company mission
To build the AI-powered operating system of record that allows aircraft, large and small, to fly autonomously.
Role
Who you are
- You are a mission-driven builder who thrives at the intersection of technology, execution, and impact
- You bring technical fluency, structured thinking, and the ability to bring clarity to complexity
- You’re energized by hard problems, unafraid of ambiguity, and relentless about delivering results
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical field
- 5+ years of experience managing complex technical programs—ideally within aerospace, defense, or autonomy
- Demonstrated success delivering integrated hardware-software systems under high accountability
- Technical fluency—you can engage deeply with engineers and recognize risks and tradeoffs
- Expert-level project management skills—tools, methods, and the ability to bring order to chaos
- Strong communicator—able to engage diverse technical and non-technical audiences
- Proven ability to work within dynamic environments and adapt to evolving priorities
- Ability to obtain a U.S. Secret Security Clearance
Desirable
- Active U.S. Security Clearance
- Experience leading defense programs with DoD and/or FAA certification elements
- Background in autonomous systems, flight control, or avionics integration
- Familiarity with U.S. DoD airworthiness, flight test planning, and acquisition processes
What the job involves
- As a Technical Program Manager at Merlin Labs, you’ll play a central role in bringing our autonomy technology to life—delivering the Merlin Pilot into operational service on military aircraft and driving execution across some of the most ambitious programs in aerospace
- Embedded within our fast-moving autonomy and flight systems teams, you’ll work side-by-side with engineers, business stakeholders, and customer teams to ensure technical momentum and cross-functional alignment
- This role sits at the heart of Merlin’s mission and next stage of growth. You’ll support a dynamic portfolio that spans internally funded R&D and customer programs
- Above all, you believe in the mission: to accelerate autonomy, support the warfighter, and redefine what’s possible in aviation
- Own delivery of complex, cross-functional aerospace and defense programs—spanning autonomy development, flight test, integration, and certification
- Drive technical execution rhythms across engineering, systems integration, certification, flight test, and business stakeholders
- Serve as the central point of coordination for internal teams, subcontractors, and government customers—ensuring alignment, transparency, and trust
- Define and maintain detailed program plans, including scope, milestones, dependencies, and risk mitigation strategies
- Identify blockers early and drive resolution through structured problem-solving and escalation
- Shape and manage program scopes and deliverables in alignment with contractual, technical, and business objectives
- Support capture and proposal efforts by developing cost estimates, technical inputs, and schedules
- Lead stakeholder communications—from internal reviews to formal customer engagements and milestone briefings
- Build scalable processes and tools that improve execution velocity and visibility across projects
Our take
Companies like Xwing and Reliable Robotics are retrofitting aircrafts for full autonomy, however, Merlin Labs is taking a different route. Rather than building its own aircradt, it's developing the Merlin Pilot - an autonomous flight system designed to integrate into existing fleets. And this systems-first approach is gaining rel traction across commercial and defense sectors.
Instead of developing an autonomous vehicle, the company has designed configurable software that can be fitted into any plane to turn it into one. It’s already received certification from the FAA in the US, and the CAA in New Zealand; now, the goal is to get it fitted into large commercial aircraft to help reduce crew sizes. Ultimately, Merlin Labs is hoping its software will be used to fly smaller aircraft completely autonomously.
Providing a way for non-autonomous aircraft to be repurposed is a neat and attractive solution: costly aircraft needn’t be scrapped, human co-pilots don’t require retraining, and there’s a wealth of existing commercial and private applications for the software. So it’s an astute way of manoeuvring ahead of well-funded competition. Investors are paying attention, as are top-tier clients: Merlin has partnered with the likes of Ameriflight, the U.S. Air Force, and Dynamic Aviation, and pulled in millions of dollars of funding. It will need it: the competition is fierce.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
55% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)
Apr 2023
$1m
GRANT
Jul 2022
$105m
SERIES B
Total funding: $170.8m
Company HQ
Leather District, Boston, MA
Leadership
Matt George
(CEO)Served in an OPC role at The White House, then on the Senior Advisory Board at Boston 2024. Went on to found and lead tech company Bridj.
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