Technical Program Manager, AI Delivery for Public Sector & Defence

Stack

Responsibilities

• ▹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 with departmental CIOs and IT directors
• ▹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 communication across the engineering organization, customer stakeholders, and government leadership
• ▹Present technical roadmaps and status updates to senior government officials
• ▹Manage risks unique to government deployments: privacy compliance, Algorithmic Impact Assessments, security authorizations
• ▹Coordinate technical work across multiple teams: model customization, security hardening, integration with government systems, bilingual support

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
• ▹Bachelor's degree in a relevant field
• ▹Strong understanding of enterprise software deployment architectures (cloud, on-premises, hybrid, air-gapped)
• ▹Eligible to obtain Canadian government security clearance (Top Secret preferred)

Nice to have

• ▹Active Canadian government security clearance (Secret or Top Secret), strong preference for active Top Secret
• ▹Bilingual (English/French) proficiency
• ▹Background 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
• ▹Working knowledge of modern AI: LLMs, agentic systems, MCP, RAG, fine-tuning, evals

Soft skills

What we offer

• ▹Weekly lunch stipend ($75/£75 or local currency equivalent)
• ▹Full health and dental benefits, including a separate mental health budget
• ▹RRSP matching, 401K, Pension Scheme
• ▹100% Parental Leave top-up for up to 6 months, for either parent
• ▹Annual enrichment benefits: arts & culture, fitness/wellness, quality time, workspace improvement credit
• ▹Education & learning stipend for conferences, courses, and coaching
• ▹6 weeks of paid vacation (30 working days)
• ▹Travel budget to other offices for remote employees, plus an annual company offsite
• ▹Compensation range in Canada: $160,000–$245,000 CAD

About the company

Cohere is the leading security-first enterprise AI company, building cutting-edge foundation AI models and end-to-end products that solve real-world business problems. A global technology company co-headquartered in Toronto and San Francisco, with offices in London, New York City, Montreal, Seoul, Germany, and Paris.