Technical Program Manager (R&D)

Our Mission  

SPAN develops products that accelerate the rapid adoption of renewable energy in the home. The flagship SPAN Smart Panel is the first true evolution for the traditional home electric panel, harnessing enhanced technology for metering, monitoring, and control. An expanded product suite of intelligent, integrated solutions radically lowers the cost and complexity of energy upgrades–including solar, batteries and EVs–empowering homeowners to be active, resilient and informed players in the energy market.

The Role 

We are looking for a passionate Technical Program Manager for SPAN’s R&D organization to drive product releases across our systems architecture, hardware R&D, software, data science, controls and software engineering teams.  In this role, you will also work closely with all members of our R&D team as well as with our hardware and software teams to manage upcoming hardware products. You will develop and own program schedules from discovery and design to final release, partnering effectively with multiple technology teams, and managing deliverables for critical milestones. This will involve allocating work, highlighting resource needs, finding efficiency improvements, and communicating timeline changes across the organization including executive staff.

In this role, you will:

• Collaborate and communicate with cross-functional teams across systems, hardware, software, and business
• Anticipate risks throughout the development of products and services, develop mitigation plans, and keep organization updated on release dates
• Work with the R&D team to negotiate schedule/cost/feature tradeoffs as well as prioritize development efforts
• Monitor and report on project status in pursuit of releasing new products and features on time and with high quality
• Assist in the prioritization of bug fixes and elimination of technical debt throughout continued product development

About You 

Required Qualifications

We are seeking a technical program manager who has:

• 5+ years of experience in technical project management of hardware products
• Experience tracking dates and requirements in a complex environment involving multiple products, platforms, and technologies
• Experience working with R&D, hardware and systems engineering teams on highly technical projects, and a track record of shipping releases on time
• High level of comfort with ambiguity and fast-paced environments
• JIRA, Confluence, Atlassian experience
• Ability to step outside their comfort zone and wear a multitude of hats as they help throughout the organization
• Ability to influence and align efforts of disparate groups to achieve a common goal

Bonus Qualifications

We would love to hire someone who has:

• Prior experience in smart home, IoT, or renewable energy (solar and battery energy storage)
• Prior experience partnering with hardware teams to coordinate software schedules and manage software projects alongside associated hardware product development
• Strong analytical and quantitative skills with the ability to use data and metrics to back up assumptions and recommendations
• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal
• BS technical degree or equivalent

Life at SPAN

SPAN embraces diversity and equal opportunity in a serious way. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. 

Headquartered in San Francisco’s vibrant SoMa neighborhood, we are an eclectic group of creative thinkers who value open communication, teamwork, and a ‘make it happen’ approach to addressing complex challenges. 

Our CEO, Arch Rao⁠—former head of the Tesla Powerwall team⁠—fosters an energetic and collaborative environment, with a strong emphasis on maintaining work-life-balance across the organization.

We’re hiring talented individuals who are driven by success and are passionate about shaping the future of renewable energy. If that sounds like you, we’d love for you to consider joining the rapidly growing team at SPAN.

The Perks:

⚡ Competitive compensation + equity grants at a well-funded, venture-backed company

⚡ Comprehensive benefits (including medical; dental, vision, life and disability insurance)

⚡ Comfortable, sunny office space located near BART and Caltrain public transit

⚡ Strong focus on teambuilding and company culture (events, meet-ups, clubs)

⚡ Flexible hours and unlimited PTO

Our Mission & Values:

At SPAN, we believe that powering your home with clean energy should be a simple and delightful experience that is at its essence human-centered and technology-forward.

Our core values include:

• Making home energy more accessible, intuitive, and convenient.
• Enabling homes and vehicles to be powered by the sun.
• Building resilient homes with reliable power.
• All-electric everything.
• A more flexible & distributed grid.

Interested in joining our team? Submit an application today and we’ll be in touch with next steps!