Engineering Program Manager, Public Sector & Defence at Cohere

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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Not SpecifiedCompensation

Senior (5 to 8 years)Experience Level

Full TimeJob Type

UnknownVisa

AI, Public Sector, Defence, GovernmentIndustries

Requirements

Experienced Engineering Program Manager with understanding of technical complexity of frontier AI models and unique requirements of government and defence organizations
Ability to navigate complex procurement processes, stringent security requirements, data sovereignty concerns, and regulatory compliance
Location: Ottawa or Toronto required (proximity to government customers)
Active Top Secret security clearance strongly preferred; eligible and willing to obtain clearance also considered

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, IT directors, and technical teams
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, and objective communication across Cohere's engineering organization, customer stakeholders, and government leadership
Translate between AI/ML technical concepts and government-appropriate language for decision-makers who may not have deep technical backgrounds
Present technical roadmaps and status updates to senior government officials and departmental executives
Represent Cohere's technical capabilities in sensitive government and defence contexts
Create and manage project schedules that account for government timelines, security review processes, and ministerial approval cycles
Identify and manage dependencies across government departments, security authorities, cloud service providers, and internal Cohere teams
Navigate risks unique to government deployments: privacy compliance, Algorithmic Impact Assessments, Treasury Board submissions, security authorizations
Drive alignment between product development priorities and specific government requirements
Ensure on-time delivery of AI solutions that meet government-grade security, privacy, accessibility

Skills

Key technologies and capabilities for this role

Engineering Program ManagementAI ModelsPublic SectorDefenceProcurement ProcessesSecurity RequirementsData SovereigntyRegulatory ComplianceApplied MLForward Deployed Engineering

Questions & Answers

Common questions about this position

What is the work location for this role?

The position is hybrid and requires location in Ottawa or Toronto due to proximity to government customers.

Is security clearance required for this position?

Active Top Secret clearance is strongly preferred, but candidates eligible and willing to obtain clearance will also be considered.

What salary or compensation does this role offer?

This information is not specified in the job description.

What experience is needed for this Engineering Program Manager role?

The role requires experience understanding technical complexity of frontier AI models, unique requirements of government and defence organizations, navigating procurement processes, security, compliance, and regulatory needs.

What kind of company culture does Cohere have?

Cohere obsesses over what they build, works hard and moves fast for customers, values top talent passionate about their craft, and believes in diverse perspectives for great products.

Cohere

Provides NLP tools and LLMs via API

About Cohere

Cohere provides advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools and Large Language Models (LLMs) through a user-friendly API. Their services cater to a wide range of clients, including businesses that want to improve their content generation, summarization, and search functions. Cohere's business model focuses on offering scalable and affordable generative AI tools, generating revenue by granting API access to pre-trained models that can handle tasks like text classification, sentiment analysis, and semantic search in multiple languages. The platform is customizable, enabling businesses to create smarter and faster solutions. With multilingual support, Cohere effectively addresses language barriers, making it suitable for international use.

Toronto, CanadaHeadquarters

2019Year Founded

$914.4MTotal Funding

SERIES_DCompany Stage

AI & Machine LearningIndustries

501-1,000Employees

Risks

Competitors like Google and Microsoft may overshadow Cohere with seamless enterprise system integration.

Reliance on Nvidia chips poses risks if supply chain issues arise or strategic focus shifts.

High cost of AI data center could strain financial resources if government funding is delayed.

Differentiation

Cohere's North platform outperforms Microsoft Copilot and Google Vertex AI in enterprise functions.

Rerank 3.5 model processes queries in over 100 languages, enhancing multilingual search capabilities.

Command R7B model excels in RAG, math, and coding, outperforming competitors like Google's Gemma.

Upsides

Cohere's AI data center project positions it as a key player in Canadian AI.

North platform offers secure AI deployment for regulated industries, enhancing privacy-focused enterprise solutions.

Cohere's multilingual support breaks language barriers, expanding its global market reach.

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