Senior Technical Project/Program Manager — Defense and Public Programs

About the role

Apex.AI is seeking a Senior Technical Project Manager to lead software projects for the German Armed Forces, public-sector defense organizations, and industrial partners. The role involves shaping project scope, aligning operational needs with technical feasibility, and managing delivery across multiple organizations within the defense and autonomous systems sectors. You will work at the intersection of customer relations, technical sales, and engineering to support European technological sovereignty.

Responsibilities

• Lead defense and public-sector software projects from project initiation through iterative delivery
• Define and continuously refine project scope together with customers and engineering teams
• Translate operational needs into actionable technical work packages and delivery priorities
• Balance customer value, technical feasibility, budget, timing and engineering capacity
• Coordinate engineering execution across internal teams and external partners
• Manage schedules, budgets, risks, dependencies and contractual commitments
• Represent Apex.AI in customer reviews, demonstrations and steering committees

Required skills

• Program Management
• Technical Project Management
• Distributed software systems
• Embedded systems
• German
• English

Nice to have

• Software-Defined Defense
• C2/C4ISR
• Multi-Domain Operations
• Tactical communications
• AI-enabled defense systems
• DevSecOps
• CI/CD
• Software integration
• Verification & validation
• Public procurement

Qualifications

• Several years of experience leading technically complex, iterative projects
• Proven experience in defense, public-sector technology, robotics, embedded software, aerospace, or comparable environments
• Proven experience working with the Bundeswehr ecosystem or NATO / allied defense customers
• Eligibility to obtain security clearance

About the Company

Apex.AI is building the software foundation for a new generation of sovereign, software-defined defense systems. The company brings modern software engineering, deterministic middleware, safety-critical AI systems, and continuous integration into the defense sector.