Technical Program Manager, AI

Overview

Estes Forwarding Worldwide (EFW) is a leading domestic and international freight forwarder in the United States, providing customized logistics and warehousing solutions for clients around the world and across all industries via air, ground, and ocean freight. A subsidiary of Estes Express Lines with corporate located in Richmond, Virginia, EFW is uniquely backed by Estes Express Lines’ extensive line haul network providing EFW clients with a hybrid transportation network.

The company has received industry awards, including Specialty Carrier of the Year and E-Commerce Delivery Carrier of the Year, and has been recognized by Global Trade Americas as a leading 3PL to watch.

We are proud to offer highly competitive pay and a comprehensive benefits package, including

• Paid vacation, sick time, and holidays
• 401(k) plan with company match
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Short- and long-term disability plans
• Life and accidental death & dismemberment insurance
• Job referral bonus program

Reporting to the Director, IT Project & Program Management, the Technical Program Manager, AI is responsible for driving the successful execution and strategic prioritization of the organization’s artificial intelligence and machine learning initiatives. This role serves as a key connector between business leaders and technical teams—shaping, sequencing, and delivering AI solutions that align with enterprise goals and produce measurable business impact.

This is an individual contributor role with meaningful influence over what gets built, how, when, and why. The role focuses on intake, prioritization, delivery, and continuous refinement of the AI portfolio, ensuring that initiatives are not only executed well, but chosen with strategic impact, ROI, and feasibility in mind.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must satisfactorily perform each essential duty. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential duties.

• Partner with business and technical leaders to identify, evaluate, determine feasibility, and refine AI use cases.
• Assess proposed initiatives for business value, feasibility, risk, and scalability.
• Develop structured recommendations on prioritization, sequencing, and resourcing.
• Maintain a clear, continuously updated view of the AI initiative pipeline and roadmap.
• Support leadership decision-making through impact analysis, tradeoff articulation, and scenario modeling.
• Track realized value and inform future prioritization based on outcomes.

• Manage multiple concurrent AI and/or machine learning initiatives from concept through production.
• Create and maintain project plans, milestones, dependencies, and risk logs.
• Facilitate cross-functional collaboration across business, engineering, data, security, and legal teams.
• Proactively identify risks, resolve blockers, and keep initiatives moving forward.
• Ensure projects meet defined business goals, technical requirements, and governance standards.
• Provide clear, executive-ready updates on status, risks, and progress.

• Translate business challenges into structured, AI-ready problem statements.
• Help stakeholders understand what AI can and cannot do in practical terms.
• Define success metrics and measurable outcomes for each initiative.
• Document requirements, assumptions, constraints, and decisions.
• Serve as a trusted thought partner for business leaders exploring AI opportunities.

• Ensure AI initiatives comply with data privacy, security, and regulatory standards.
• Apply governance frameworks consistently across initiatives.
• Coordinate reviews with security, legal, and compliance teams.
• Support responsible, ethical, and explainable AI practices throughout the lifecycle.

• Support evaluation and selection of AI tools, platforms, and vendors as needed for projects.
• Coordinate pilot programs and proof-of-concept efforts.
• Manage vendor timelines, dependencies, and deliverables.
• Partner with internal teams on integration and scaling…