Technical Program Manager, Service & Support Operations at Formic

Who We Are:

At Formic, we’re on a mission to revolutionize American manufacturing and create more abundance in the world. We believe in continuing the American legacy of innovation by making automation accessible to all manufacturers and increasing their factory productivity by 10x.

Built upon deep expertise in robotics and manufacturing, our unique full service automation solutions combine the best automation technology, software, and analysis tools for manufacturers with best in class uptime, support, and maintenance services. We are creating a new era of supercharged efficiency and competitiveness for US manufacturers.

As the world faces growing pressure from tariffs, rising costs, and labor shortages, Formic is uniquely positioned as the industry leading solution to overcome these challenges. Fueled by our vision for a re-industrialized domestic supply chain, everything we do is aimed at growing “Made in America” products. And we’re growing fast - achieving 7x growth in production hours YoY.

Supporting us in our mission, with investments thus far totaling over $60 million, are backers including Lux Capital, Initialized Capital, Blackhorn Ventures, Mitsubishi HC Capital NA, and CEOs and founders of multiple Fortune 50 companies.

Formic is seeking a Technical Program Manager to support the operational excellence and key initiatives for our Production Optimization team, which provides equipment maintenance, field service, and customer support for our fleet of robotic cells and customers across the US. In this role you will lead the execution of key technical initiatives that drive operational efficiency; streamline system integrations; and enhance the customer, field service, and technician experience. You will standardize critical workflows and processes such as spare parts, inventory, work processes, backups, continuous improvement efforts, customer outreach, and develop scalable automation solutions that improve monitoring, analytics, and internal communication across our organization.

This is a highly collaborative role, working cross-functionally with Customer Success, Deployment, Field Services, and Engineering teams to align business objectives with technical execution. You will also be responsible for developing technician training programs, managing work order automation, and ensuring seamless data flow between systems like Slack, Salesforce, and CMMS (MaintainX).

This role is highly strategic and execution-focused, ensuring that Formic’s internal operations are efficient, scalable, and seamlessly integrated across our growing fleet of automation solutions. The day to day function of this role is working on the problems of tomorrow rather than in the day to day operations of the business.

As Technical Program Manager, Production Optimization, you will:

Navigate, discover and identify the unknown-unknowns across the business, engage leadership in prioritization efforts, and build real world, reliable, and scalable solutions to solve day to day problems.
Drive the successful implementation of a CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) including work order automation, technician scheduling, performance tracking, automated reporting, etc.
Crossfunctional collaborate with other Technical Program Managers, Product Managers, Business Systems Engineers, and department heads
Define, document, and optimize business workflows across Field Service, Deployment, Continuous Improvement, and Customer Success, ensuring consistent execution and accountability.
Own and manage the Production Optimization roadmap, aligning technical initiatives with company OKRs and operational goals.
Assess project resourcing needs and align staffing with program priorities, ensuring high-impact initiatives are appropriately supported and sequenced.
Define functional and technical requirements for internal tooling, APIs, and automations; collaborate with software and data engineering teams to validate feasibility and implementation.
Define and deploy standard work for critical business processes—spare parts management, technician scheduling, D&A handoffs, and field communications.
Design, build, and maintain automated workflows connecting Grafana, Slack, Airtable, Salesforce, Gmail, and other internal systems for real-time visibility and reporting.
Build process flow and map information flows throughout the business using Lucid Char / Lucid Spark (or similar technologies).
Partner cross-functionally with Product Managers to optimize the customer experience with Formic’s proprietary mobile app.
Improve monitoring and analytics capabilities by aligning with Formic’s Product Intelligence team to bridge the gap between proposed solutions and real-world performance.
Enhance technician onboarding, training, and leveling, ensuring a scalable, structured approach to skills assessment and development.
Coordinate with Field Service, Supply Chain, and Customer Success teams to establish and maintain localized spare parts inventories that ensure rapid on-site repairs and minimize system outages.
Ensure easy access to robust data backups and critical knowledge bases, including BOMs, CAD files, robot configurations, automation passwords, etc.
Lead special projects to improve system reliability across Formic’s fleet of palletizers, case packers, and more.

What makes you a great fit:

5+ years of experience in technical program management, business systems engineering, or enterprise systems integration in a manufacturing, automation, logistics, or industrial environment.
Hands-on experience with CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) platforms required (e.g. ServiceNow, eMaint, UpKeep, Limble… we use MaintainX)
Ability to analyze complex business processes and develop scalable automation solutions.
Strong knowledge of technician workflows, preventive maintenance, continuous improvement and field service operations.
Proven ability to manage cross-functional projects, balancing technical execution with strategic business priorities.
Strong problem-solving skills, with a bias toward automation, efficiency, and scalability.
Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, with experience working across technical and non-technical teams.
Familiarity with industrial automation, robotics, PLCs, and fleet-wide maintenance strategies preferred.
Ability to travel approximately 1x/month to Formic headquarters, customer sites, etc. as needed.
Chicago-area applicants: Willingness to work on a hybrid basis (3+ days/week) in our Woodridge, IL facility.

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Our Total Rewards

At Formic, we believe you perform your best when you're supported in caring for yourself and your loved ones. That's why we've thoughtfully designed a comprehensive benefits and perks package for our full-time, U.S.-based team members, including:

Equity in Formic: Own a meaningful stake in a fast-growing Series A startup, backed by leading global investors
Comprehensive Healthcare Coverage: 99% covered Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance plans, with 75% coverage for dependents, provided by Blue Cross Blue Shield and Guardian
Additional Fully Covered Insurance Benefits: FSA & DCFSA, Life Insurance, Short-Term Disability, and Long-Term Disability through Guardian, all 100% employer-paid
Employee Assistance Program (EAP): Fully funded by Formic and provided via Guardian, offering support when you need it most
Paid Parental Leave: Generous parental leave to support our employees and their growing families
Company-sponsored 401(k): Invest in your future with our company-backed retirement savings plan
Home Office Stipend: A one-time allowance for fully remote employees to set up your ideal at-home or on the road work environment
Monthly Cell-Phone Reimbursement: Monthly stipend toward phone and internet expenses
Flexible Time-Off: Take the time you need, when you need it, supported by our flexible PTO policy
Paid Company Holidays: Celebrate important dates with paid time off

Compensation Philosophy

Formic’s compensation packages - including salaries and equity - are thoughtfully benchmarked against peer companies at a similar growth stage. Equity represents a critical part of our mutual investment: when Formic succeeds, so do you.

Final compensation packages are carefully customized based on candidate preference for cash and equity balance, experience, geographic location, and market considerations. Our goal is to attract and reward top talent who will significantly impact our organization. We're open to meaningful discussions about compensation structure to secure exceptional team members.

The anticipated base pay range for this position is detailed below.

Base Salary Range:

$120,000—$170,000 USD

What we look for:

We’re building a company from the ground up, so every single person we hire has a massive impact on our team, culture, and ability to accomplish our mission. While each individual brings their own unique skills and perspectives to Formic, we look for people who share our vision and act in alignment with our Operating Principles. If this sounds like you, Formic could be the place for you!

Fearless Optimism: You share our ambitious vision of what we can accomplish. You’re aware of the challenges we will face as a startup doing new things in an old space, but you’re energized by the incredible opportunity we have to drive change for our customers, and for the manufacturing industry at large.
Factories First: You have a strong customer focus, no matter who your customer is. You seek to make things easier and better for our customers, even if it makes your job a little harder.
Today, Not Tomorrow: There are always plenty of projects to tackle in a startup, but you prioritize, take accountability for work, and have a bias toward action.
Be Right Often: You don’t do things just because that’s how they’ve always been done. You keep looking for ways to improve, seek out feedback along the way, and back your decisions up with data.
Made of Rubber: Just like rubber, when you fall you bounce back up. You know there’s going to be a lot of challenge and change in our work ahead but you are adaptable, resilient, and ready to thrive through it all.
Good Baton Passes: You work with a desire to make things easier and better for your team members. You use empathy to understand the needs and goals of others and support each other so Formic can be successful together.

Equal Opportunity

Formic is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion or religious creed, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, marital status, family or parental status, disability, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. All employment decisions are based on a person’s merit, business needs, and role requirements. If you require further accommodations or have questions regarding accessibility of our roles, please reach out to [email protected].

AI Use

At Formic, fairness and transparency are at the heart of our hiring process. We use AI-powered tools in some interviews to help our teams evaluate candidate responses, but all final hiring decisions are made by humans. You can learn more about how AI is used in our recruitment process by reviewing our AI Hiring Disclosure linked here.

Technical Program Manager, Service & Support Operations

AI overview

Our Total Rewards

Compensation Philosophy

Perks & Benefits Extracted with AI