--- title: 'Technical Program Manager, Product Design at Sesame' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/technical-program-manager-product-design-sesame-san-francisco-c39j4ewzmywn' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-17' --- # Technical Program Manager, Product Design at Sesame - **Company:** Sesame - **Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Compensation:** $175k–$250k - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** onsite - **Posted:** 2026-10-02 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-17 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/sesame/da94ca35-deb2-40cc-af7a-3238e0246a1e ## Job description ## About Sesame Sesame believes in a future where computers are lifelike - with the ability to see, hear, and collaborate with us in ways that feel natural and human. With this vision, we're designing a new kind of computer, focused on making voice agents part of our daily lives. Our team brings together founders from Oculus and Ubiquity6, alongside proven leaders from Meta, Google, and Apple, with deep expertise spanning hardware and software. Join us in shaping a future where computers truly come alive. ## About the Role Sesame is integrating a complex sensing and computing system into a compact wearable that has to be light, comfortable and attractive, and available in many styles and colors. The Product Design TPM owns the program plan for the mechanical side of that product: enclosures and cosmetic parts, materials and finishes, mechanisms, packaging and accessories. You will carry hundreds of mechanical parts through design release, tooling, validation and factory builds, working with our Product Design, Industrial Design, Manufacturing and Operations teams and with our contract manufacturers and tooling and materials suppliers. The ideal candidate has a mechanical or product design engineering background, has run part release and tooling for a consumer product through EVT, DVT and PVT, and knows how to keep design change under control when the schedule is tight and the design is still moving. You are comfortable telling a designer or an executive what a change will cost in weeks and dollars, and then building the plan that makes it happen. We are a small team working on very ambitious projects. In a fast-paced startup, everyone must be comfortable, collaborative, decisive, and able to achieve results with limited supervision. Responsibilities: - Own the Product Design program schedule from concept through EVT, DVT and PVT, including part release, tooling kickoff, first-shots, validation and phase exit criteria. - Run the PD release and change-control process: every part has a release date, an owner and a status in our PLM tool. - Program-manage styles, colors and materials: cosmetic material qualification, color development, SKU rollout planning. - Coordinate design validation and reliability testing for mechanical parts, and own closure of design-review action items. - Manage tooling, materials, cosmetic-part and packaging suppliers: quotes, POs, sample requests, tooling timelines and delivery schedules. - Plan mechanical materials and build matrices for prototype builds, and lead mechanical build readiness across factory sites. - Run failure analysis triage for mechanical and cosmetic issues: every issue has an owner, a due date and a path to closure. - Maintain the Product Design section of the program's master issues list and weekly status, aligned with area leads. - Travel to contract manufacturer and supplier sites for builds, tooling reviews and validation as needed. Minimum Qualifications: - BS in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent practical experience. - 5+ years of experience in hardware program management or mechanical/product design engineering of consumer electronics, with at least 2 years managing programs. - Hands-on experience releasing mechanical parts and taking them through tooling and prototype builds (EVT/DVT/PVT or equivalent). - Working knowledge of high-volume manufacturing processes (injection molding, machining, stamping, cosmetic finishing) and tolerance, DFM and validation practices. - Direct experience managing tooling, materials or fabrication suppliers, including quotes, POs, samples and schedules. - Experience running change control and part release in a PLM tool. - Strong written communication; able to run a program with clear plans, decision logs and status updates. - Ability to travel internationally, up to 25%. Preferred Qualifications: - Experience with wearables or other products with heavy industrial design and cosmetic constraints. - Experience with premium cosmetic materials and finishes and their supply chains. - Experience managing many SKUs, colors or configurations through a single program. - Experience with packaging or accessories programs. - Experience working with contract manufacturers. - Experience with Linear, Arena or similar issue and PLM tools. - Startup experience, or ownership of new product programs at a large company. Sesame is committed to a workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered. We welcome all qualified applicants, embracing diversity in race, gender, identity, orientation, ability, and more. We provide reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities. Contact careers@sesame.com for assistance. Full-time Employee Benefits: - 401 (k) max employer match: 3.5% of compensation - 100% employer-paid health, vision, and dental benefits for you and your dependents - Unlimited PTO and sick time - Flexible spending account with employer matching up to $1,650/year (medical FSA) - Guardian Employee Assistance Program (EAP) - Opportunity to share in the company's success with competitive stock options Benefits do not apply to contingent/contract workers. ## About Sesame ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Sesame is building lifelike, conversational AI agents integrated into lightweight eyewear, aiming to bring ambient intelligence to daily life. - **Entity Type**: Private (early-stage, backed by prominent venture firms) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA - **Founded**: 2023 - **Founders**: Brendan Iribe, Ankit Kumar, Ryan Brown, Angela Gayles, Nate Mitchell ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Artificial intelligence / Voice assistants / Consumer electronics - **Target customers**: Consumer (B2C) – individuals seeking hands-free, intelligent personal agents integrated into everyday eyewear - **Mission or purpose statement**: “Bringing the computer to life” – creating a personal companion that understands you, with natural conversation and lightweight, all-day wearable hardware. ## Products & Services - **Sesame Personal Agents**: Software-based conversational AI agents capable of natural dialogue, personality modeling, and multimodal interaction (voice, gesture). Currently in development; initial hardware (eyewear) targeted for 2027. - **Sesame Eyewear**: Lightweight, all-day comfortable glasses with high-quality audio and hands-free agent access. Coming 2027. - **Research Platform**: In-house deep learning research covering speech generation, personality modeling, multimodality, and scaled training infrastructure. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available. Unconfirmed reports suggest a potential fundraising round of ~$200 M (source: Techmeme via LinkedIn snippet). The company has not officially disclosed its valuation. - **Key Metric**: Total employees ~70 (as of mid-2026), with +5.8 % monthly headcount growth. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Backed by a16z, Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, Matrix Partners, plus a collection of founders and investors. - **Growth Signals**: 55 total employees on BuiltIn (likely older data); 63 active job postings (+14.5 % monthly trend); monthly LinkedIn follower growth of +3.8 % (20,969 followers). Talent sources include Meta, Apple, Google, DeepMind, and Microsoft. ## Competitive Advantages - **Interdisciplinary approach**: Tightly integrated hardware, software, and ML teams (hardware engineers, ML researchers, product designers) working on a unified product vision. - **Founding team pedigree**: Led by Oculus VR veterans (Brendan Iribe, Nate Mitchell) and experienced AI/ML innovators, giving deep expertise in both consumer hardware and conversational AI. - **Research depth**: Active push in speech generation, personality modeling, and multimodality, with scaled GPU infrastructure for training. ## Strategic Focus - **Near-term**: Ship the first generation of personal agent software and finalize the eyewear device for a 2027 launch. Continue advancing foundational ML research. - **Long-term**: Build a new category of ambient, always-available AI companions that replace traditional screen-based interaction. - **Growth areas**: Expanding engineering team rapidly (63 open roles), especially in ML, embedded systems, iOS/Android, supply chain, and hardware. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Small, focused, interdisciplinary team with a clear vision. Emphasis on tight collaboration between research, product, and hardware. Described as “artists, makers, and engineers.” - **Work environment**: In-office for most roles (San Francisco, Bellevue, New York). Roles are listed as “In-Office” (not remote/hybrid). Offices in SF, Bellevue, NY. - **Perks & engineering culture**: Not explicitly detailed, but the company invests heavily in infrastructure (GPU clusters) and research. Strong engineering focus with roles spanning embedded ML, OS architecture, and developer infrastructure. - **Notable**: Opportunities to work on cutting-edge voice AI and physical product design from the ground up. ## Sources 1. [sesame.com](https://www.sesame.com/) – Company overview and product vision 2. [sesame.com/team](https://www.sesame.com/team) – Leadership, investors, team description 3. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/sesame-sesamecom) – Founded year, HQ, employee count, office policy 4. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/sesameai) – Employee count, growth, talent sources, funding rumor 5. [jobs.ashbyhq.com](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/sesame) – Open positions and location details ## Other roles at Sesame - [Speaker Systems Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/speaker-systems-engineer-sesame-san-francisco-0n2w3gdydh91) — San Francisco, CA - [Technical Program Manager, Electrical](https://feeny.ai/job/technical-program-manager-electrical-sesame-bellevue-r0mzb8s3vpj1) — Bellevue, WA - [Fabrication Shop Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/fabrication-shop-manager-sesame-bellevue-z681vhqvvavf) — Bellevue, WA - [Mechanical Engineer, Product Design](https://feeny.ai/job/mechanical-engineer-product-design-sesame-san-francisco-zkkzarsbya1a) — San Francisco, CA - [Electrical Engineering Technician (Contract)](https://feeny.ai/job/electrical-engineering-technician-contract-sesame-san-francisco-re7hrcqavmdm) — San Francisco, CA - [Product Engineering Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/product-engineering-lead-sesame-san-francisco-frrrpwp06s6z) — San Francisco, CA - [Executive Assistant](https://feeny.ai/job/executive-assistant-sesame-new-york-e0mdmkv43s9f) — New York, NY - [iOS/Android Automation Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/ios-android-automation-engineer-sesame-san-francisco-yg3qrrfeze2g) — San Francisco, CA - [Research Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/research-scientist-sesame-san-francisco-dn2g1qez13fh) — San Francisco, CA - [Hardware Test Automation Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/hardware-test-automation-engineer-sesame-san-francisco-fvyd7w3bj32c) — San Francisco, CA