Innovation Program Manager
Location: Bangalore
Type: Full-time
About the Role
The Innovation Program Manager steers a portfolio of deep‑tech robotics and AI projects from concept to prototype to product‑market fit, supplying the repeatable innovation process for technology and product development, customer‑centric experimentation, and resource oversight that empower technical teams to transform breakthrough ideas into viable products.
Key Responsibilities
Create and evolve the stage‑gate / lean‑innovation framework and toolset.
Coach 4-8 concurrent project teams, ensuring milestones, learning objectives, and decision gates are clear and met.
Drive structured customer discovery, prototype development and testing, and iteration to validate value propositions and product‑market fit.
Manage integrated schedules, budgets, and risk registers; surface issues early with mitigation plans.
Report progress and ROI to senior leadership; enable cross‑project knowledge sharing through demos and retrospectives.
Required qualifications
Bachelor’s or higher in Engineering/CS/Robotics
8+ years managing complex tech programs, with ≥2 years in advanced hardware‑software systems or robotics.
Hands‑on experience with TRL/stage‑gate methods, agile/scrum, lean startup and design thinking.
Proficiency with project‑tracking and collaboration tools (e.g., Jira, Azure DevOps,Miro).
PMP, PMI‑ACP, or equivalent certification desired.
Essential Skills
Systems thinking across mechanical, electrical, software, and ML domains.
Data‑driven experimentation and decision‑making.
Budgeting and financial management for R&D portfolios.
Clear communication and facilitation across technical and commercial stakeholders.
Empathy for engineers, customers, end‑users, and funders
Reporting & Location
Matrix reporting to CEO and other leaders.
On-site at our primary R&D centre in Bangalore, with travel to other sites as needed.
ARTPARK @ IISc : Innovation factory for next-gen robotics & AI
ARTPARK is India's leading deep-tech venture builder and incubator focused on robotics, connected autonomous systems, and AI. Leveraging our unique facilities and ecosystems, we strive to provide meaningful support to very early-stage startups building deep-tech products based in research. We are a nonprofit organization created by Indian Institute of Science (IISc, Bengaluru) with support from the Department of Science & Technology (Government of India) and the Government of Karnataka.