I’m a hands-on Technical & Design Program Manager with 20 years of experience building products and programs across AI, voice, audio, data collection, software, and hardware at Meta, Google DeepMind, and Uber. I’m happiest behind the scenes, getting my hands into the work and making sense of the chaos.
If you’re looking for someone who can build complex programs, drive strategy, and still get their hands dirty when needed, let’s talk.
01 · The person behind the programs
Hello! 👋
I’m Lindsay Vora (she/her), a hands-on Technical & Design Program Manager with twenty years of experience working behind the scenes of AI, voice, audio, data collection, software, hardware, and product development.
Program management is the spine of what I do, but I’ve never been the PgM who only holds the schedule and assigns tasks. I like getting into the details: turning ambiguous ideas into requirements, defining what “good” means and making it measurable, building tools and workflows when something is missing, and creating the structure that helps teams do their best work.
Voice has been a through-line for much of my career. If you’ve talked to an assistant in the last decade, there’s a fair chance I worked on its voice. I’ve helped design and develop Siri’s international voices, the flagship en-US Google Assistant voice, Meta AI and Assistant voices, and Gemini voices and models. Along the way, I’ve worked across the entire development lifecycle: voice design, recording and production, training data collection, vendor and customer management, model development, evaluation, DSP and tuning, tooling, localization, and the global operations needed to ship and scale it all.
But voice is only part of the story. I’ve built and led programs spanning business operations, smart glasses, VR/MR/XR, home devices, UX sound and spatial audio, haptics, AI data collection, evaluation systems, technical prototyping, internal tools, and large-scale operations. I’ve managed multimillion-dollar budgets and global vendor networks, built teams and programs from 0 → 1, and developed portfolio systems supporting organizations of 100+ people. My work has shipped across Meta, Google DeepMind, Uber, and products ranging from Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses and Quest to Google Home, Gemini, and two Emmy Award-winning immersive experiences.
I came up as a sound engineer, and that hands-on instinct never really left. I still write specs, prototype tools, dig into data, and yes, open the session file. I like understanding how things actually work, being close enough to the details to spot what’s wrong, and broad enough to connect the people, technology, and operations needed to fix it.
When I’m not doing any of that, I’m usually spending time with my family, at a Valkyries or Giants game, seeing one of my favorite bands play live, or buried in a fantasy or sci-fi novel. I also run, hike, snowboard, and play drums, with varying levels of skill and dignity depending on the day.
At least at first. I like problems I haven’t seen before, and I try not to assume I already know the answer. I ask questions, poke around, experiment, and pull ideas from places that don’t always look like traditional program management. Sometimes that means building a tool, prototyping something myself, or finding a completely different way through. Not knowing the answer yet leaves a lot more room to find a better one.
I’m hands-on by nature. I like understanding how things actually work, not just managing the process around them. I’ll sit in the recording session, test the build myself, dig into the data, or prototype something when there’s a gap. It makes me a better collaborator and helps me catch problems early. I’ll zoom in when there’s a problem to solve, then zoom back out to make sure we’re still solving the right problem.
A lot of my favorite projects started with “I wish we had a tool for this.” I’m not an engineer, but I’m good at figuring out what something needs to do and getting a working version into people’s hands. I’ve helped build evaluation and audio tooling, capacity systems, dashboards, and scrappy prototypes that made their way into PRDs. I’m a big believer in show, don’t tell. Sometimes the fastest way to get everyone on the same page is to make the idea real.
I like taking something complicated and figuring out how the pieces fit together: requirements, priorities, ownership, and a path forward, without adding process just for the sake of process. The goal is enough structure to help people move faster, make better decisions, and know what good looks like.
The work matters, but so do the people doing it. I try to lead by example, give credit loudly, say thank you often, and admit when I’m wrong or just don’t know. I want people to feel like they can ask questions, disagree, make mistakes, and be themselves. You can hold a high bar while still being kind. I strive to be a person people actually want to work with.
02 · The journey so far
Twenty years is a lot to cram onto one page, and something good always gets cut. So I stopped trying. There are four versions instead: same career, different emphasis. Pick the one that makes the most sense for what you’re looking for.
The record — most recent first.
Staff Technical Program Manager, GenAI · Sunnyvale, CA
Voice AI product and tooling development for complex customer data programs, from technical requirements through launch and scale.
Technical Program Manager, Studio Operations · Remote (contract via Blink)
Voice AI data, design, evaluation, and production programs supporting Gemini model development and product integration.
Menlo Park, CA · Nine years, three roles
Led programs spanning AI, product development, technical prototyping, QA, tooling, and operations — building the teams and systems behind the work while staying close to what shipped.
Built Meta’s Voice AI program from the ground up, spanning voice design, training data, model development, quality, tooling, production, and product integration.
Hands-on technical sound design and spatial audio across Meta’s early AR/VR/MR, multimodal, and mobile products.
Earlier · 2006–2016
Sound Engineer & Studio Manager · Mountain View, CA (vendor via Dreamtek)
Voice data collection and studio operations supporting the development of Google’s first-party voice assistants.
Read moreShow lessSenior Audio Designer, Advanced Speech Design & Development · Sunnyvale, CA
Global speech data, production systems, and vendor operations supporting Apple Siri and enterprise voice products.
Read moreShow lessSenior Project Manager & Sound Engineer · Fremont, CA
Where program management, voice technology, and hands-on audio engineering first came together.
Read moreShow lessA custom planning and staffing system for a large multidisciplinary org, built from initial vision through development, UAT, and launch, with real-time dashboards.
Case study on request Open the live demo20+ multilingual voice models, built end to end from voice design, dataset strategy, and production through model development, QA, integration, and deployment across Quest, Portal, Wearables, and mobile products.
Case study on requestThe evaluation workflow behind voice model quality — qualitative and quantitative measures, regression testing, and launch readiness for model deployment.
Case study on requestCustom data collection for LLM, voice AI and agentic model development.
VisitGoogle Labs experiments in Search — celebrity speaker portraits, audio overviews and agentic capabilities.
Labs in Search Google LabsGemini arrives on Google Nest devices.
VisitNative text-to-speech in Gemini 2.5, for developers.
VisitA standalone app for the Meta AI assistant.
VisitDisplay glasses paired with a wrist-worn neural input band, announced at Connect 2025.
VisitPerformance AI glasses built for athletes.
VisitThe Quest line’s entry headset, announced at Connect 2024.
VisitSpatial and surround audio support across Meta Quest.
VisitFable Studio’s cinematic VR experience — Emmy for Outstanding Innovation in Interactive Media, and a Peabody.
Emmy win PeabodyThe Oculus Story Studio short that won an Emmy — the first for a VR film.
The film Emmy winOculus Story Studio’s hand-painted VR short.
VisitOculus Story Studio’s first cinematic VR short.
VisitA free library of music and sound effects for creators.
VisitA design-team kit for putting real sound into prototypes.
VisitDesign at Meta on the craft of UX sound design — empathy, collaboration and human connection.
ReadBuying and selling inside Facebook, launched 2016.
VisitSeasonal camera effects across Facebook.
VisitRead-along stories with live AR effects, sound and music on Portal.
VisitThe Portal family of video-calling devices, from the 2018 launch onward.
The launch The devicesThe first generation of Ray-Ban smart glasses.
VisitDesign at Google on conversation design and voice user interfaces.
ReadThe first Google Home speaker, announced at I/O 2016.
The announcement The VergeTwo new ways Google made its assistant conversational, from I/O 2016.
ReadBehind the recording of the Google app’s voice.
WatchGoogle’s own tour of what the assistant could do.
WatchCNET on the new Siri voices, display and actions in iOS 7.
ReadABC News on synthetic speech.
WatchUSA Today on the voice-ordering app Nuance built for Domino’s.
ReadNPR’s All Tech Considered on synthetic voice and attachment, after Her.
ListenThe Verge’s Machine Language on recording the voice behind Siri. Look for me in the video, working the studio.
WatchThe premium TTS voice catalogue, by language.
VisitMaking the songs — and the IGN review of the game they went into.
Making the songs IGN reviewIGN on WaveGroup bringing Steve Vai, Widespread Panic and Reverend Horton Heat to Rock Band.
ReadIGN’s review.
ReadActivision on the launch.
ReadIGN’s review.
ReadIGN’s review of the game that taught guitar with a real guitar.
ReadAn Emmy Award-winning documentary series.
Emmy nominationThe first intelligent wireless speaker and speakerphone.
ReadTechCrunch on the first Bluetooth headset with a built-in accelerometer.
ReadScreen credits on IMDb .
03 · Side projects
I’m not an engineer, but I have a habit of looking at something and thinking, “There’s got to be a better way to do this.” Sometimes that turns into a tool, sometimes a prototype, and sometimes just an experiment to see if an idea will work. AI has made it a whole lot easier to turn those ideas into working things myself. Here they are — every one is live, and free to try.
Run blind, randomized A/B/n listening studies — build the experiment, send it to raters, get back results you can actually defend.
Open the toolA bill rate calculator that counts the days that actually exist — workdays, weekends and holidays, by locale.
Open the toolCapacity planning for a multidisciplinary team — who is on what, how much is left, and what happens if one more thing lands.
Open the toolBuild a soundboard, play it from the keyboard, send someone the link.
Open the toolBrowse, search and bulk-tag every audio asset in a workspace — with waveforms and transcripts attached.
Open the toolA multitrack editor in a browser tab. Drop audio in, trim and fade on a timeline, export stereo WAV, mono WAV or marker metadata.
Open the toolBuild, version, organize and export tailored résumés from one workspace.
Open the tool04 · In other people’s words
Nice things people have said about me, from LinkedIn.
“Lindsay is a true expert in audio collection and simply one of the most effective PgMs I’ve partnered with. Lindsay is a strategic, adaptable, and highly technical program manager who brings out the best in her cross-functional partners.”
“Lindsay is innovative and always looking for ways to use technology to solve real business problems. Having worked with hundreds of clients across major tech companies, Lindsay is a standout at collaborating and leading outsourced engagements.”
“I highly recommend Lindsay for her exceptional program management abilities and broad range of skills in the field of audio. Lindsay is a master of design pipeline development and process pipeline development and a proven domain expert in audio experience optimization for hardware and software.”
“I relied heavily on Lindsay’s extraordinary organization and communication detail, identifying product deliverables, scope, timelines, POCs, and asset tracking systems to keep pace with a multitude of design efforts. Lindsay has been above and beyond an excellent partner in the most complex and chaotic space I’ve worked in.”
“Lindsay brought deep audio expertise to the team in an area where we had a significant gap, and her knowledge was instrumental in shaping our approach and capabilities. She excelled in customer-facing technical discussions, translating complex audio requirements into practical solutions and building strong customer relationships.”
“Lindsay has a rare ability to take complex, undefined problems and turn them into clear, actionable plans. Her PgM skills shine in her ability to bring clarity to ambiguity, anticipate risks, and keep multiple work streams moving forward seamlessly without losing sight of quality or user experience.”
“What sets Lindsay apart is her ability to combine technical excellence with a genuine dedication to lifting others up. She leads by example, builds systems that scale, and consistently creates opportunities for those around her.”
“Lindsay is a problem-solver first and foremost. No objective too hard to attack, and every program will become more efficient under her watch. She leads through empathy while striving for quality.”
“Lindsay is an effective organization leader, able to set a vision, communicate that vision, trust the right people to share and forward that vision, and marshal resources to make it a reality. She made sure the right people were in the room in nailing down requirements for the capabilities of new plugins or tools.”
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