Principal, Technical Program Manager

Description

The company is hiring a Principal Technical Program Manager to run large, multi-program technology work across several engineering areas.

The role sits within a team that builds and operates the company's technology, and the work covers planning, delivery, and technical direction for complex initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Define goals, stage gates, critical paths and key deliverables for large programs that span several workstreams, with dependencies, timelines and resource limits.
• Secure commitments on program scope, delivery dates and resources, and manage cross-functional dependencies.
• Resolve unclear situations where business and product strategies conflict, and drive clarity to program teams and leadership on strategy and end-to-end technology solutions.
• Find synergies, overlaps and waste across program tracks, and mentor team members.
• Lead efforts to improve how teams work.
• Take part in end-to-end discussions on high-level system design for simple to medium-complexity systems, and explain design trade-offs for scalability, high availability and performance.
• Make sure dependencies between system contracts are sound, so upstream and downstream changes do not cause production issues.
• Direct the finding, investigation, reporting and follow-up of defects raised during testing or after release.
• Clarify requirements with engineering teams through discussion, writing and simple architecture diagrams, and turn product needs into technical designs.
• Understand dependencies between capabilities, services and systems in your assigned areas, and spot reuse opportunities across products during planning and execution.
• Make sure every release has tested roll-forward and rollback plans, monitoring and alerting, and operational excellence practices.
• Build end-to-end delivery plans based on impacts and dependencies across applications and infrastructure, including modernization work such as end-of-life retirement and upgrades.
• Find patterns and possible solutions that reuse existing capabilities and avoid duplication.
• On moderately complex initiatives, turn outcomes into system, platform, security and component-level work across several engineering teams.
• Propose frameworks, tools and methods that increase automation across initiatives.
• Set up methods for launch and post-launch work, reviewing engineering practices for testing, triage and maintenance with guidance.
• Help create simple, modular, extensible and functional designs that meet requirements.
• Extend program plans to cover communications, marketing and field service management.
• Lead discussions and impact analysis, with due diligence, to guide build-versus-buy decisions.
• Find where new processes, automation and updated ways of working can help, considering effects on related domains.
• Research new processes and automation used across domains and industries, and use it to shape product roadmaps.
• Track performance metrics across several programs and break them into measures for individual projects.
• Identify key risks, judge their severity and likelihood, create mitigation plans, and manage issues that block a program.
• Assess and manage the likelihood and impact of risks across several areas of work, and escalate issues to the right stakeholders.
• Use program budgets well by setting clear priorities, aligning resources and tracking dependencies so teams focus on the highest-value work.
• Release underused environments, such as staging and test systems, after production release.
• Stop work that no longer adds enough value.
• Own complex, large-scale programs through their full lifecycle, and mentor team members on best practices.
• Reassess and adjust roadmaps as things change, and find paths back to green for programs at risk.
• Put processes and tactics in place to speed up timelines.
• Define and improve standard, scalable, measurable and repeatable workflows for cross-functional teams.
• For a vague program, set goals and objectives, and split it into sub-projects and sub-processes that teams can run in parallel.
• Simplify concurrent deliverables and manage queues for engineering teams across development and testing cycles.
• Set prioritization frameworks to re-sequence a portfolio of initiatives as needs change.
• Communicate progress and risks early, work with core teams to resolve issues, and keep wider teams and stakeholders updated.
• Adapt your communication style to each stakeholder and program team member to reach agreement.
• Write clear, concise and well-structured reports and materials backed by data.
• Give and ask for constructive feedback, anticipate questions, and respond with actionable input.
• Present complex information to large audiences, in meetings and in writing.
• Prepare documents covering strategy, status, scope, timelines, planning, action items, risks, issues, dependencies, test planning and rollout, and manage complex changes.
• Define program success metrics by extracting insight from data.
• Find difficult problems and systemic gaps on your programs, including ones that are hard to see.
• Pull insights from several data sources and encourage others to do the same.
• Lead problem-solving on complex and ambiguous questions, challenge assumptions, and coach team members.
• Teach team members fact-finding, diagnostic tools and sound judgment for breaking down business problems.
• Build relationships with program stakeholders, and align them on roles, responsibilities, ways of working and cadences across program stages.
• Make sure dependent teams and stakeholders understand each other's views and the program's goals, timelines and deliverables.
• Keep stakeholders aligned through ambiguity, minor setbacks, blockers and obstacles.
• Engage program stakeholders on the agreed cadence and share regular updates.
• Run several business plans and projects by identifying customer and operational needs, setting priorities, removing barriers, providing resources, measuring progress, and building contingency plans.
• Supervise associates by selecting, training and mentoring them, assigning work, setting performance expectations, running regular reviews, recognising good work and coaching for improvement.
• Support company policies, values and ethics by training others on them and making sure they are followed.
• Check that business needs are met by reviewing current plans and initiatives, seeking input from partners and managers, and acting on suggestions that improve efficiency and cost.
• Show respect for everyone, build a high-performing and inclusive team, and attract and keep strong team members.
• Develop talent through feedback, coaching and growth opportunities, and recognise others' contributions.
• Build trusting relationships with team members and partners, listen closely, and motivate people to commit and act.
• Uphold high standards of integrity, ethics and compliance, follow the law and company code of conduct, and hold yourself and others accountable.
• Encourage people to raise concerns without fear of retaliation, and act on what they raise.
• Lead by example with humility, self-awareness, honesty and transparency.
• Put customers and members first, and focus on value and low prices in plans.
• Consider data, customer insights and the wider business when setting plans and team strategy.
• Raise the bar, seek feedback, learn from mistakes, take smart risks and recover from setbacks.
• Keep finding improvements and encourage the team to adopt new digital tools and ways of working.

Requirements

• Option 1: A bachelor's degree in computer science, information technology, engineering or a related field, plus 6 years of experience in engineering, engineering program management, technical program management, product management or a related area.
• Option 2: 8 years of experience in engineering, engineering program management, technical program management, product management or a related area.
• Working knowledge of program management techniques, tools and frameworks, benefits analysis, and communication processes.
• Working knowledge of design, architecture, testing, cloud infrastructure, pipelines, databases, networks, and system and platform design.
• Working knowledge of information security standards, SRE concepts, incident management, ITIL service management, and hardware and software lifecycles.
• Working knowledge of risk management, budgeting, change management, critical paths, negotiation and project tracking tools.
• Working knowledge of stakeholder management, communication channels, and data analysis and problem-solving methods.
• Preferred: Certification in Project Management.
• Preferred: A master's degree in business administration with a focus on strategy, supply chain, finance, information systems or a related area, plus 4 years of experience in product design.
• Preferred: Knowledge of accessibility best practices, including WCAG 2.2 AA, assistive technologies and building accessible digital experiences, in line with the company's accessibility standards.

Conditions

The annual salary range is $143,000.00 to $286,000.00.

The location is 1375 Crossman Ave, Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1114, United States of America.

The company is committed to a drug-free workplace with a zero-tolerance policy on illegal drugs and alcohol at work.

Eligibility for some benefits depends on job classification and length of employment, and benefits may be subject to plan or program terms.

Benefits

• Performance-based bonus awards, with annual or quarterly performance bonuses.
• Possible stock compensation for certain positions.
• Health coverage for medical, vision and dental.
• Financial benefits including a 401(k), stock purchase and company-paid life insurance.
• Paid time off including PTO with sick leave, parental leave, family care leave, bereavement, jury duty and voting.
• PTO and/or PPTO for vacation, sick leave, holidays or other purposes, set by job classification and length of employment, meeting or exceeding paid sick leave laws where applicable.
• Short-term and long-term disability, company discounts, Military Leave Pay, and adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement.
• Live Better U, a company-paid education program for full-time and part-time associates, covering high school completion through bachelor's degrees, English Language Learning and short-form certificates, with tuition, books and fees paid.