What is a Project Manager at & General Intuition?

As a Project Manager at & General Intuition, you are the critical bridge between complex engineering initiatives and strategic business delivery. Internally, this role is often titled Technical Program Manager (TPM), reflecting the deep technical engagement required to drive our most ambitious projects. You will not just be tracking timelines; you will be untangling ambiguity, aligning cross-functional teams, and ensuring that our cutting-edge systems actually make it to the real world.

Your impact in this position is profound, directly influencing highly specialized verticals such as our Trucking and Defense divisions. Whether you are scaling autonomous logistics systems in Sunnyvale or deploying mission-critical defense technologies in Washington, DC, your work ensures that hardware and software integrate seamlessly. The products you manage operate in high-stakes environments where safety, security, and precision are non-negotiable.

What makes this role uniquely compelling at & General Intuition is the sheer scale and complexity of the problem space. You will be working alongside top-tier engineers, product leaders, and operational experts to build systems that require both rigorous compliance and rapid innovation. Expect a fast-paced environment where your ability to synthesize technical details into actionable roadmaps will directly dictate the success of our most visible public and government-facing initiatives.

Common Interview Questions

The questions below represent the types of challenges you will be asked to navigate during your interviews. They are drawn from patterns observed in our hiring process and are designed to test your real-world experience. Do not memorize answers; instead, use these to practice structuring your thoughts using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) and highlighting your specific impact.

Program & Risk Management

These questions test your ability to structure chaos, plan effectively, and mitigate risks before they derail a project.

• Tell me about the most complex program you have managed from inception to launch. What made it complex?
• How do you approach building a project schedule when the technical requirements are still ambiguous?
• Describe a time when a critical dependency was delayed. How did you adjust your roadmap and communicate the impact?
• What metrics do you use to evaluate the health of a program, and how do you implement them?
• Walk me through your process for conducting a post-mortem after a project failure.

Technical & System Design

These questions evaluate your ability to engage with engineers on a technical level and understand the architecture of the systems you manage.

• Explain the architecture of a technical product you recently worked on. Where were the single points of failure?
• How do you balance the need for technical debt reduction with the pressure to ship new features?
• Describe a time when you had to translate a highly complex technical issue into a business impact statement for leadership.
• How do you manage the integration lifecycle when software updates must coordinate with physical hardware deployments?
• If an engineering team tells you a feature will take three months, but leadership needs it in one, how do you evaluate the technical tradeoffs?

Behavioral & Leadership

These questions assess your stakeholder management, conflict resolution skills, and alignment with our company values.

• Tell me about a time you had to influence a senior stakeholder who disagreed with your proposed roadmap.
• Describe a situation where two engineering teams had conflicting priorities. How did you drive alignment?
• How do you onboard yourself quickly into a new technical domain where you have no prior experience?
• Give an example of a time you recognized a process was broken and took the initiative to fix it.
• Tell me about a time you failed to deliver on a commitment. What did you learn, and how did you change your approach?

Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparing for a Technical Program Manager interview at & General Intuition requires a strategic mindset. You should approach your preparation by thinking holistically about the lifecycle of complex, multi-disciplinary projects. Your interviewers are looking for a blend of technical fluency, flawless execution, and the leadership presence required to guide teams through inevitable roadblocks.

To succeed, you will be evaluated across several core dimensions:

Program Execution and Problem Solving – This evaluates your ability to take a massive, ambiguous goal and break it down into a clear, executable roadmap. Interviewers want to see how you identify critical paths, manage dependencies, and pivot when timelines or resources shift unexpectedly. You can demonstrate strength here by sharing specific examples of how you rescued failing projects or optimized inefficient processes.

Technical and Domain Fluency – While you are not expected to write production code, you must be able to hold your own in deep technical discussions with engineering leads. This criterion assesses your understanding of system architecture, hardware-software integration, and the specific domain constraints of either defense systems or autonomous trucking. Strong candidates ask probing technical questions and foresee architectural bottlenecks before they occur.

Cross-Functional Leadership – At & General Intuition, you lead by influence, not by authority. This area tests your ability to communicate effectively across diverse teams, manage difficult stakeholders, and build consensus when opinions clash. You will shine by detailing how you foster collaboration, tailor your communication style to different audiences, and maintain team morale during high-pressure sprints.

Culture Fit and Adaptability – We operate in environments where regulations, technologies, and client needs evolve rapidly. Interviewers will look for resilience, a bias for action, and a user-centric approach to problem-solving. Showcasing your comfort with ambiguity and your willingness to dive into the weeds when necessary will strongly align you with our core values.

Interview Process Overview

The interview loop for a Project Manager at & General Intuition is rigorous, structured, and designed to test both your theoretical knowledge and your practical execution skills. The process typically begins with an initial recruiter screen to align on your background, location preferences (such as Sunnyvale or Washington, DC), and baseline qualifications. This is followed by a deeper technical screen with a hiring manager or senior TPM, where you will discuss your past projects, your approach to program management, and your technical depth.

If you advance to the onsite stage—which is usually conducted virtually—you should expect a comprehensive panel of four to five interviews. These sessions are highly cross-functional. You will meet with engineering leads, product managers, and fellow TPMs. The discussions will range from deep behavioral evaluations to complex system design and program execution case studies. Our interviewing philosophy heavily emphasizes data-driven decision-making; expect interviewers to push for metrics, specific outcomes, and the "why" behind your strategic choices.

What distinguishes the & General Intuition process is the focus on real-world, domain-specific scenarios. Rather than generic project management questions, you will likely face prompts directly related to hardware-software integration, regulatory compliance, or scaling autonomous systems.

This visual timeline outlines the typical progression from your initial application through the final onsite panel and offer stage. Use this to pace your preparation, focusing first on refining your core behavioral narratives for the screens, and then diving deep into technical and system-level case studies for the onsite rounds. Keep in mind that specific team requirements, particularly for cleared Defense roles, may introduce additional compliance or security screening steps.

Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

To excel in the onsite panel, you must understand exactly how & General Intuition evaluates candidates across our core competencies. Below is a detailed breakdown of the major evaluation areas you will face.

Program Management and Execution

This is the bread and butter of the Technical Program Manager role. Interviewers want to see your mastery over the end-to-end project lifecycle, from initial scoping and requirement gathering to deployment and post-launch maintenance. Strong performance here means demonstrating a proactive approach to risk management, rather than just reacting to fires as they arise.

Be ready to go over:

• Risk mitigation strategies – How you identify, quantify, and communicate risks before they impact the critical path.
• Dependency management – Tracking and unblocking cross-team dependencies, especially between hardware and software teams.
• Agile and hybrid methodologies – Adapting your project management frameworks to fit the specific needs of the engineering team.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Resource leveling across multiple concurrent programs, vendor and supply chain management for hardware components.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk me through a time when a critical project was falling behind schedule. How did you identify the root cause, and what steps did you take to get it back on track?"
• "How do you manage a situation where your software team is ready to deploy, but the hardware team is delayed by supply chain issues?"
• "Describe your process for building a roadmap from scratch when the initial requirements are highly ambiguous."

Technical Architecture and Systems Thinking

Because you will be managing highly technical programs in Trucking or Defense, you must prove you can understand the underlying technology. Interviewers are evaluating whether you can translate business requirements into technical constraints and whether you can spot architectural flaws that might jeopardize the program.

Be ready to go over:

• System design fundamentals – High-level understanding of distributed systems, data pipelines, and API integrations.
• Hardware-software lifecycle – The unique challenges of integrating software updates with physical hardware deployments.
• Security and compliance – Understanding data privacy, regulatory standards, and security protocols (highly critical for Defense roles).
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Machine learning deployment pipelines, sensor integration (LiDAR, radar) for autonomous vehicles.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Explain the architecture of the most complex system you have recently managed. What were the primary bottlenecks?"
• "If an engineering lead proposes a major architectural change midway through a project, how do you evaluate the impact on your program timeline?"
• "How do you ensure security and compliance requirements are baked into the development lifecycle rather than treated as an afterthought?"

Leadership and Stakeholder Alignment

As a Project Manager, you are the central node of communication. This area evaluates your emotional intelligence, your ability to negotiate, and your skill in managing expectations up, down, and across the organization. A strong candidate provides frameworks for how they build trust and drive alignment without having direct reporting authority over the engineers.

Be ready to go over:

• Conflict resolution – Navigating disagreements between product and engineering regarding scope or timelines.
• Executive communication – Distilling complex technical issues into clear, actionable updates for senior leadership.
• Cross-functional empathy – Understanding the different incentives and working styles of various departments.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Leading teams through organizational restructuring or sudden shifts in company strategy.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Tell me about a time when you had to push back on a senior stakeholder's request. How did you handle the conversation, and what was the outcome?"
• "Give an example of a time when two engineering teams disagreed on the technical approach for a shared dependency. How did you facilitate a resolution?"
• "How do you keep a team motivated when they are forced to pivot away from a project they have been working on for months?"

Key Responsibilities

As a Project Manager at & General Intuition, your day-to-day work will be highly dynamic, requiring you to constantly shift between high-level strategy and granular execution. Your primary responsibility is to drive the successful delivery of complex technical programs. This involves defining project scopes, creating detailed execution plans, and establishing the metrics by which success will be measured. You will spend a significant portion of your time aligning roadmaps across multiple engineering pods, ensuring that everyone is working toward a unified goal.

Collaboration is at the heart of this role. You will partner closely with Product Managers to understand user needs and with Engineering Managers to determine technical feasibility and resource allocation. In our Trucking division, this might look like coordinating the rollout of a new autonomous navigation software update across a fleet of test vehicles. In the Defense sector, you might be managing the integration of a new sensor suite, ensuring it meets strict government compliance and security standards before deployment.

You are also the primary shield for your engineering teams. You will be responsible for identifying blockers, managing external vendor relationships, and handling cross-functional communications so that engineers can focus on building. This requires you to run effective stand-ups, lead sprint planning, and draft comprehensive executive summaries that keep leadership informed of progress, risks, and resource needs.

Role Requirements & Qualifications

To be competitive for the Technical Program Manager position at & General Intuition, candidates must possess a blend of technical acumen, strategic foresight, and exceptional communication skills. We look for individuals who have a proven track record of delivering large-scale initiatives in complex, fast-paced environments.

• Must-have skills – You need deep experience in program management methodologies (Agile, Scrum, Waterfall) and proficiency with standard tracking tools (Jira, Asana, Confluence). You must have a strong technical foundation, typically demonstrated by a degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent technical experience. Exceptional written and verbal communication skills are mandatory, as is the ability to manage complex cross-functional dependencies.
• Nice-to-have skills – Experience specifically within autonomous vehicles, logistics, or defense contracting is a massive plus. Familiarity with hardware-software integration lifecycles will set you apart. For Defense roles, holding an active security clearance or being eligible to obtain one is highly advantageous.
• Experience level – We typically look for candidates with 5+ years of experience in technical program management, software engineering, or systems engineering. You should have a history of leading projects that span multiple teams and require significant architectural understanding.
• Soft skills – You must exhibit strong leadership without authority, high emotional intelligence, and the resilience to navigate extreme ambiguity. A bias for action and a calm demeanor under pressure are essential traits for success in our culture.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How technical do I need to be for the Project Manager / TPM role? While you do not need to write code, you must be able to understand system architecture, APIs, and data flows. You should be comfortable challenging engineering estimates and understanding the technical tradeoffs of different design decisions.

Q: What is the typical timeline from the initial screen to an offer? The process usually takes between three to five weeks. This timeline can occasionally stretch if you are interviewing for a Defense role that requires preliminary clearance checks or specific compliance verifications.

Q: What differentiates a good candidate from a great candidate? A good candidate can track a project and report on status. A great candidate anticipates bottlenecks, actively unblocks engineers, shapes the technical strategy, and brings a sense of calm and clarity to highly ambiguous situations.

Q: Is this role remote, hybrid, or onsite? & General Intuition strongly values in-person collaboration, especially given our hardware integrations. Roles in Sunnyvale (Trucking) and Washington, DC (Defense) typically operate on a hybrid model, requiring you to be in the office or on-site with hardware teams several days a week.

Other General Tips

To maximize your chances of success during the & General Intuition interview loop, keep these strategic tips in mind:

• Structure is your best friend: When answering complex scenario questions, always outline your approach before diving into the details. Use frameworks to show how you break down a problem into manageable phases (e.g., Discovery, Planning, Execution, Review).
• Quantify your impact: Do not just say you "improved efficiency." State that you "reduced deployment time by 20% by automating the QA pipeline." Data-driven answers resonate strongly with our hiring managers.

• Showcase hardware/software empathy: If you are interviewing for the Trucking or Defense verticals, explicitly acknowledge the differences in iteration speed between software (fast, iterative) and hardware (slow, rigid). Highlighting how you bridge this gap is a massive differentiator.
• Focus on the "I", not just the "We": While teamwork is crucial, interviewers need to evaluate your specific contributions. Be clear about what you personally owned, decided, and delivered.

• Prepare thoughtful questions: Use the end of the interview to ask deep, domain-specific questions. Asking about the specific regulatory challenges in Defense or the sensor-integration hurdles in Trucking shows you are already thinking like an owner.

Summary & Next Steps

Stepping into a Project Manager or Technical Program Manager role at & General Intuition is an opportunity to be at the forefront of transformative technology. Whether you are driving the future of autonomous logistics in our Trucking division or securing critical infrastructure in our Defense sector, your leadership will directly shape products that matter. The challenges are steep, the environments are complex, and the work is incredibly rewarding.

The compensation data above reflects the competitive ranges for this position, varying by location and domain. The Sunnyvale, CA (Trucking) range spans $115,000 to$222,000, while the Washington, DC (Defense) range spans $140,000 to$185,000. When interpreting these figures, keep in mind that your specific offer will depend heavily on your years of experience, your technical depth, and your performance during the interview loop.

Your preparation moving forward should be highly focused. Review your past projects and extract the most impactful, data-driven narratives you can find. Practice speaking confidently about system architecture, cross-functional conflict resolution, and risk management. Remember that your interviewers want you to succeed; they are looking for a capable partner to help them build the future. For more insights, practice scenarios, and community advice, continue exploring resources on Dataford. You have the experience and the drive—now it is time to showcase it. Good luck!