NYC Preferred | Fractional (20–30 hrs/week)

About the Role

We’re an early-stage, technology company preparing for Beta launch and looking for an experienced Technical Delivery Manager to help lead this critical stage.

Our product is already built and entering real-world validation. We’re looking for someone who can establish strong delivery discipline, improve release quality, coordinate multiple technical teams, and help us ship quickly without sacrificing stability or security.

This is not a software architecture role. The core platform already exists. Your job is to improve how the team delivers, tests, releases, communicates, and responds to Beta feedback.

You will work directly with company leadership, engineering, QA, DevOps, design, vendors, and Beta users to make sure the product ships safely, quickly, and with clear visibility across the team.

What You’ll Own

You will own the operating rhythm for Beta delivery.

This includes translating founder and users' feedback, Slack conversations, customer input, vendor updates, bugs, and feature requests into clear engineering tickets with strong acceptance criteria.

You will coordinate priorities across engineering, QA, DevOps, product, design, and leadership while keeping everyone aligned on what is shipping, what is blocked, what is at risk, and what decisions need to be made.

You will also help strengthen our delivery workflow by improving release planning, QA discipline, GitHub processes, CI/CD coordination, and executive reporting.

Responsibilities

• Lead the daily delivery rhythm across engineering, QA, DevOps, product, design, vendors, and leadership.
• Convert Slack requests, founder feedback, Beta-user feedback, vendor updates, bugs, and feature needs into clear, actionable engineering tickets.
• Define acceptance criteria so engineers and QA know exactly what success looks like.
• Manage prioritization, blockers, dependencies, release readiness, and delivery risk.
• Hold vendors and engineering partners accountable for scope, quality, timelines, and communication.
• Lead or support the migration from GitLab to GitHub.
• Establish strong GitHub workflows, including pull requests, branch protection, review gates, release branches, and merge standards.
• Coordinate GitHub Actions or similar CI/CD workflows.
• Ensure every release passes the right QA, code review, security, and deployment checks.
• Improve defect tracking, release notes, and post-release follow-up.
• Deliver clear executive updates covering what shipped, what is next, what is blocked, what is at risk, and what decisions are needed.
• Introduce AI-assisted delivery workflows using tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, Amazon Bedrock, or similar platforms.
• Use AI to improve documentation, ticket creation, QA review, status reporting, release planning, and delivery speed while keeping human judgment in control.

Required Experience

• 7+ years in Technical Program Management, Technical Delivery Management, Engineering Program Management, Product Operations, or a similar role.
• Proven experience taking software products through Beta, launch, or post-launch iteration.
• Strong technical understanding of modern software delivery.
• Ability to challenge engineers and vendors when quality, scope, timeline, or execution is unclear.
• Experience managing offshore engineering teams or external development vendors.
• Strong understanding of Agile delivery without being rigid or process-heavy.
• Hands-on experience with GitHub workflows, pull requests, branch protection, release branches, code review, and issue tracking.
• Experience with GitHub Actions or similar CI/CD tools.
• Working knowledge of cloud environments, containers, deployment pipelines, QA workflows, and DevOps coordination.
• Strong written communication skills, especially for leadership updates.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-moving Beta environment where priorities evolve quickly.

Nice to Have

• Experience with SaaS, marketplace, mobile, fintech, healthcare, or regulated software products.
• Experience in compliance-sensitive environments.
• AWS experience.
• Familiarity with Docker, Kubernetes, ECR, EKS, ArgoCD, Terraform, CloudFormation, IAM, or related infrastructure tools.
• Experience implementing AI-assisted engineering or delivery workflows.
• Experience with remote, distributed, or offshore technical teams.
• Startup or early-stage company experience.

What Success Looks Like

Within the first 90 days, you will have:

• Created a clear and predictable delivery operating rhythm.
• Improved visibility across roadmap, priorities, blockers, bugs, and releases.
• Strengthened GitHub workflows and release discipline.
• Improved QA standards and reduced release risk.
• Helped the team ship fixes and improvements faster.
• Improved vendor accountability and communication.
• Built AI-assisted delivery workflows that make the team more efficient.
• Helped prepare the company for a successful Beta launch.

Engagement

This is a fractional role to start, estimated at 20–30 hours per week.

There is potential for the role to expand as the company moves beyond Beta and into broader launch.

You will work directly with company leadership and have significant influence over how the product delivery organization operates.

Location

NYC-based candidates are strongly preferred.

Candidates within commuting distance of New York City who can meet in person when needed will receive priority consideration.

Who This Is For

This role is for someone who knows how to create order in a fast-moving technical environment.

You do not need to be the architect. You do need to understand engineering well enough to ask the right questions, catch vague answers, push for clarity, and make sure the team ships with discipline.

We are looking for someone who has been through the pressure of Beta, understands what can go wrong before launch, and knows how to help a team move fast without becoming careless.

Pay: $2,400.00 - $2,800.00 per week

Application Question(s):

• 1. Product Release Leadership

Think about a software release that was at risk because engineering was blocked.

Describe a real situation where you personally removed the blocker and helped get the release back on track.

Please include:
- Product or app name
- Company
- Industry
- What caused the blocker
- Who was involved
- The actions you personally took
- The outcome
- If you could do it again, what would you do differently?

• 2. Product Launch Experience

Tell us about the last three software products or mobile apps you helped bring to market.

For each product, include:

- Product or app name
- Company
- Industry (HealthTech, Marketplace, SaaS, FinTech, etc.)
- Web, Mobile (iOS/Android), or both
- Approximate engineering team size
- Your role/title
- Stage at which you joined (Development, Beta, Launch, or Post-launch)
- Your primary responsibilities
- Approximately how long you worked on the product

• 3. Your Day-to-Day Responsibilities

Choose one of the products above and describe what a typical week looked like.

We’re interested in your personal responsibilities, not your team’s accomplishments.

Please include:
- Meetings you led
- Decisions you were responsible for
- Teams you worked with (Engineering, QA, Product, Design, DevOps, Founders, Vendors, Customers, etc.)
- Tools you used daily
- What success looked like in your role
- Approximately how your time was divided between planning, delivery, QA, release management, communication, problem-solving, and leadership

• 4. Ownership & Decision-Making

Which of the following were you personally accountable for?

For each item selected, briefly describe your level of ownership and decision-making authority.
- Product Roadmap
- Sprint Planning
- Engineering Delivery
- Release Management
- QA Coordination
- DevOps Coordination
- Vendor Management
- Incident Management
- Customer Feedback
- Executive Reporting
- Budget or Resource Planning
- Other

• 5. Most Challenging Delivery Problem

Describe the most difficult delivery challenge you have solved.

Please include:
- Product or app name
- The business impact
- Root cause
- Your specific role
- Decisions you made
- Trade-offs you considered
- Final outcome
- What you learned from the experience

• 6. Technical Environment

Describe your hands-on experience with the following technologies and tools.

For each one you’ve used, explain how you personally used it.
- GitHub
- GitHub Actions
- Pull Requests
- Branch Protection
- CI/CD
- Docker
- Kubernetes
- AWS
- Azure
- Jira
- Linear
- Slack
- Other

• 7. Vendor & Offshore Team Management

Describe your experience working with offshore engineering teams or external software vendors.

Please include:
- Approximate team size
- Countries or time zones
- Your responsibilities
- How work was planned and tracked
- The biggest challenge you faced
- How you measured vendor performance
- Final outcome

• 8. AI-Assisted Delivery

Which AI tools are part of your daily workflow today?

Describe specific examples of how you use AI to improve software delivery.

Examples include:
- Writing requirements
- Creating engineering tickets
- Sprint planning
- QA
- Release notes
- Documentation
- Meeting summaries
- Risk analysis
- Code review
- Engineering communication
- Executive reporting

• 9. Executive Communication

Imagine it’s Friday afternoon and the CEO asks for a Beta status update before speaking with investors.

Write the update you would send (maximum 300 words).

Your update should include:
- What shipped this week
- Current blockers
- Key risks
- Decisions requiring leadership
- Priorities for next week

• 10. Availability

Please provide:
- Current location
- Time zone
- Earliest available start date
- Hours available per week
- Are you currently employed full-time?
- Are you available to work during U.S. Eastern Time business hours?
- Are you able to meet in person in the NYC area when needed?

• 11. Product Verification

Please provide a public link for at least one product listed above.

Examples include:
- App Store
- Google Play
- Company website
- Product website
- Press release
- Portfolio
- Case study

(If the product is confidential, briefly explain why it cannot be shared.)

Work Location: Hybrid remote in New York, NY 10023