# Technical Program Manager, AI Delivery for Public Sector & Defence

**Company:** [Cohere](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/cohere)
**Location:** London, United Kingdom
**Role:** Technical Program Management
**Experience:** 6+ years
**Skills:** AI/ML, LLMs, Agentic Systems, Mcp, RAG, Fine-Tuning, API Integrations, Model Inference, Data Pipelines, MLOps, Azure, Aws Govcloud, Project Management, Data Sovereignty, Security Clearance
**Posted:** 2026-07-21

> Leads end-to-end AI delivery programs for UK public sector and defence customers, translating stringent security, compliance, and infrastructure requirements into executable plans. Requires 6+ years of customer-facing technical program management experience, government or regulated-industry expertise, and eligibility for UK security clearance.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities

### Customer Program Leadership
- Own end-to-end technical program delivery for UK 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.
- Translate government requirements—including security, compliance, accessibility, bilingualism, and data sovereignty—into actionable engineering plans.
- Navigate government procurement processes, RFP responses, and contractual technical obligations.

### Strategic Communication
- Provide clear, timely, and objective communication across engineering, customer, and government stakeholders.
- Translate AI/ML technical concepts into language appropriate for government decision-makers.
- Present technical roadmaps and status updates to senior government officials and departmental executives.
- Represent technical capabilities in sensitive government and defence contexts.

### Complex Program Management
- Create and manage project schedules that account for government timelines, security reviews, and approval cycles.
- Identify and manage dependencies across government departments, security authorities, cloud providers, and internal teams.
- Navigate risks involving privacy compliance, security authorisations, technical constraints, and infrastructure limitations.
- Align product development priorities with government requirements.

### Technical Delivery and Execution
- Ensure on-time delivery of AI solutions meeting government-grade security, privacy, accessibility, and performance standards.
- Coordinate technical work across model customisation, security hardening, government-system integrations, and bilingual support.
- Establish governance checkpoints for high-stakes government deployments.
- Solve complex technical challenges in air-gapped, on-premises, or highly regulated environments.

## 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 skills.
- Experience working with government, defence, or heavily regulated customers.
- Proven success managing complex, multi-stakeholder technical programs with stringent compliance requirements.
- Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field.
- Strong understanding of enterprise software deployment architectures, including cloud, on-premises, hybrid, and air-gapped environments.
- Working knowledge of modern AI, including LLMs, agentic systems, MCP, RAG, fine-tuning, evaluations, and responsible AI.
- Ability to discuss API integrations, model inference, data pipelines, and ML operations with technical stakeholders.
- Deep understanding of how government organisations procure, evaluate, and deploy technology.
- Familiarity with UK government requirements involving data sovereignty, privacy, accessibility, official-language obligations, and security classifications.
- Understanding of defence and national-security considerations in AI deployment.
- Eligibility to obtain UK government security clearance.

## Nice to Have

- Active UK government Secret or Top Secret clearance; active Top Secret clearance is preferred.
- Experience with UK defence, intelligence, or critical-infrastructure sectors.
- Experience with GC Cloud services, Azure, AWS GovCloud, or Protected B/C environments.
- PMP, PgMP, or government-specific project-management methodology certification.
- Experience with Algorithmic Impact Assessments or AI ethics frameworks.

## Compensation and Benefits

- Weekly lunch stipend of $75/£75 or equivalent in local currency.
- Full health and dental benefits, including a separate mental-health budget.
- RRSP matching, 401K, or pension scheme.
- 100% parental-leave top-up for up to six months for either parent.
- Annual enrichment benefits for arts and culture, fitness and wellness, quality time, and workspace improvements.
- Education and learning stipend.

## Similar jobs

- [Senior Implementation Project Manager](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/bddcce3d-641c-4715-8fe3-47c708120ac9) - OpenLoop - Remote
- [Technical Deployment Lead](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/e3c2b913-6046-4485-88f6-2bd58d9c6552) - Anthropic - London, United Kingdom - £165k – £230k/yr
- [Technical Deployment Lead, Semiconductors](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/9f58bc66-c60f-45bb-8163-31b5a719b504) - OpenAI - Remote - $176k – $224k/yr
- [Technical Deployment Lead, Applied AI](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/e20b9e3a-0191-4b0c-8607-39f360e1f305) - Anthropic - Austin, TX - $275k – $380k/yr
- [Design Program Manager, AI Evals](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/b92136fc-0a26-4b54-8328-d3247dd6905d) - Figma - London, United Kingdom

**Apply:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/ba1552c3-f752-4bf0-9efc-ab02db7d29af
**Canonical:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/ba1552c3-f752-4bf0-9efc-ab02db7d29af