Technical Program Manager, AI Delivery for Public Sector & Defence
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Key skills for this role
About the Role
Cohere is seeking a Technical Program Manager to lead AI delivery for Canadian public sector and defence accounts. You will bridge cutting-edge AI capabilities with government requirements, manage complex programs, and ensure successful deployment.
Key Skills for This Role
Responsibilities
- Own end to end technical program delivery for Canadian public sector and defence customers
- Serve as the primary technical program point of contact for government customers
- Translate complex government requirements into actionable engineering plans
- Navigate government procurement processes, RFP responses, and contractual technical obligations
- Provide clear, timely, and objective communication across engineering and customer stakeholders
- Translate between AI/ML technical concepts and government appropriate language
- Create and manage project schedules accounting for government timelines and security review processes
- Identify and manage dependencies across government departments, security authorities, and internal teams
- Ensure on time delivery of AI solutions meeting government grade security, privacy, and performance standards
- Coordinate technical work across multiple teams: model customization, security hardening, integration
Requirements
- 6+ years of experience as a customer facing Technical or Engineering Program Manager in AI/ML consulting, technology transformation, or enterprise software delivery
- Excellent executive communication and stakeholder management
- Experience working with government, defence, or heavily regulated customers
- Proven track record managing complex, multi stakeholder technical programs with stringent compliance requirements
- Strong understanding of enterprise software deployment architectures (cloud, on premises, hybrid, air gapped)
- Working knowledge of modern AI: LLMs, agentic systems, RAG, fine tuning, etc.
- Deep understanding of how government organizations procure, evaluate, and deploy technology
- Familiarity with Canadian government requirements: data sovereignty, privacy laws, accessibility standards, official languages, security classifications
- Eligible to obtain Canadian government security clearance (Top Secret preferred)
- Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field
Full Job Posting
Who are we?
- Cohere is the leading security first enterprise AI company. We build cutting edge foundation AI models and end to end products.
Why This Role?
- We're seeking an experienced Program Manager to join Cohere's customer facing Program Management team, with a focus on Canadian public sector and defence accounts.
What You'll Do
- Own end to end technical program delivery for Canadian 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
- Translate complex government requirements (security, compliance, accessibility, bilingualism, data sovereignty) into actionable engineering plans
- Navigate government procurement processes, RFP responses, and contractual technical obligations
- Provide clear, timely, and objective communication across Cohere's engineering organization and customer stakeholders
- Translate between AI/ML technical concepts and government appropriate language
- Present technical roadmaps and status updates to senior government officials
- Create and manage project schedules that account for government timelines, security review processes, and ministerial approval cycles
- Identify and manage dependencies across government departments, security authorities, cloud service providers, and internal Cohere teams
- Navigate risks unique to government deployments: privacy compliance, Algorithmic Impact Assessments, Treasury Board submissions, security authorizations
- Drive alignment between product development priorities and specific government requirements
- Ensure on time delivery of AI solutions that meet government grade security, privacy, accessibility, and performance standards
Required Experience
- 6+ years of experience as a customer facing Technical or Engineering Program Manager in AI/ML consulting, technology transformation, or enterprise software delivery
- Excellent executive communication and stakeholder management
- Experience working with government, defence, or heavily regulated customers
- Proven track record managing complex, multi stakeholder technical programs with stringent compliance requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field; advanced degree or technical certs a plus
- Strong understanding of enterprise software deployment architectures (cloud, on premises, hybrid, air gapped)
- Working knowledge of or experience with modern AI: LLMs, agentic systems, MCP, RAG, fine tuning, evals, and responsible AI
- Comfortable discussing API integrations, model inference, data pipelines, and ML operations with technical stakeholders
- Deep understanding of how government organizations procure, evaluate, and deploy technology
- Familiarity with Canadian government requirements: data sovereignty, privacy laws, accessibility standards, official languages obligations, security classifications
- Understanding of defence and national security considerations in AI deployment
- Experience with Algorithmic Impact Assessments or AI ethics frameworks is a strong asset
Nice To Have
- Active Canadian government security clearance (Secret or Top Secret) strong preference for active Top Secret clearance
- Bilingual (English/French) proficiency
- Background in or strong familiarity with Canadian defence, intelligence, or critical infrastructure sectors
- Experience with GC Cloud services (Azure, AWS GovCloud) or Protected B/C environments
- Project management certification (PMP, PgMP) or government specific methodologies
Compensation Range
- For candidates in Canada, the Compensation Range is: CAD 160,000 – CAD 245,000 [CAD]
Full Time Employees At Cohere Enjoy These Perks
- A weekly lunch stipend of CAD 75
- Full health and dental benefits, including a separate budget for mental health
- RRSP matching, 401K, Pension Scheme
- 100% Parental Leave top up for up to 6 months
- Annual enrichment benefits: Arts & culture, fitness/wellness, quality time, and workspace improvement credit
- Education & learning stipend for conferences, courses, and coaching
- 6 weeks of paid vacation (30 working days!)
- Budget for traveling to other offices if you are remote, plus an annual company offsite
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