Program Manager, Competitive Programs

Description

Who we are

About Stripe

Stripe is a financial infrastructure platform for businesses. Millions of companies - from the world’s largest enterprises to the most ambitious startups - use Stripe to accept payments, grow their revenue, and accelerate new business opportunities. Our mission is to increase the GDP of the internet, and we have a staggering amount of work ahead. That means you have an unprecedented opportunity to put the global economy within everyone's reach while doing the most important work of your career.

The Competitive Programs team, which is part of the Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategic Programs team, is a new team dedicated to establishing and scaling Stripe’s Competitive Programs capability. Stripe operates in a dynamic and evolving competitive landscape. This role will help Stripe understand market developments and translate competitive insights into actionable guidance for teams and users.

The Competitive Programs team works alongside Market Intelligence to help Stripe identify meaningful threats and opportunities early, mobilize coordinated action across the company in priority situations, and turn market and deal signals into better Product, Marketing, and GTM decisions. We build the competitive operating system—program design, cross-functional coordination, deal-routing mechanisms, visibility, and accountability—while Product, Sales, PMM, Pricing, and other functions retain ownership for decisions and delivery in their domains.

This is a full-stack program manager role. While the initial assignment is Competitive Programs, we are looking for a versatile program manager who can apply the same skills to other high-priority GTM initiatives as the team’s mandate and Stripe’s needs evolve.

Responsibilities

• You will lead complex, C-suite level high-priority programs that require Stripe to move quickly and cohesively across functions. Initially, you will:
• Build the foundations and operating mechanisms to turn ad hoc competitive programs into a repeatable, scalable playbook
• Run one or more named competitive programs to protect strategic business, close recurring gaps, and pursue opportunities to take share
• Partner with Stripe’s leadership to execute on initiatives to drive a strategic shift in company culture
• You will be successful in this role if you can turn an ambiguous problem into a clear program with the right objectives, owners, decisions, operating cadence, and measures of success. You will be a trusted partner to executive leaders across Sales, Product, Product Operations, Marketing, Market Intelligence, Pricing, Finance & Strategy, and GTM Operations. You will not be expected to make Product roadmap, commercial-policy, or account-strategy decisions yourself; instead, you will ensure the right functional owners are engaged, accountable, and able to make decisions at the pace required. You will need (1) superior communication skills to work across senior stakeholders from different functions and (2) are someone who thrives when solving complex problems with limited oversight.
• Build repeatable Competitive Programs infrastructure that can scale beyond individual competitors—for example, playbooks for deal escalation, commercial guidance, incentives, user-base analysis, regional teardowns, and cross-functional feedback loops.
• Lead named P0 and P1 competitive programs end-to-end, including defining the program charter, objectives, workplan, milestones, decision forums, and success measures.
• Establish and run the cross-functional operating cadence for each program; this may include delivery of critical program workstreams including product and regional teardowns, seller enablement, product-gap reviews, GTM plays and executive engagement plans.
• Coordinate competitive deal-triage and swarm mechanisms for priority opportunities, ensuring each deal has a clear commercial owner, response plan, and access to the required Product, Pricing, Legal, Risk, or executive support.
• Partner with Market Intelligence to translate competitor, customer, and deal signals into concrete actions for Product, PMM, Sales, and GTM leadership.
• Create clear, decision-oriented reporting for executive leadership on program health, competitive pipeline, risks, progress against commitments, and recommendations to continue, adjust, elevate, or graduate a program.
• Own and operationalize company-wide competitive cultural initiatives to shift Stripe’s behavior to be focused on competing fiercely.
• Build strong, trusted working relationships across functions and levels, while maintaining clear accountability boundaries between central program coordination and functional ownership.
• Apply the same program-design and execution skills to other strategic GTM priorities over time, as business needs and the team’s mandate evolve.

Requirements

• We're looking for someone who meets the minimum requirements to be considered for the role. If you meet these requirements, you are encouraged to apply. The preferred qualifications are a bonus, not a requirement.
• You are a strategic, hands-on program leader who is comfortable working in ambiguity and accountable for creating clarity. You can move between executive-level strategy and operational detail, bring disparate groups to a decision, and build mechanisms that outlast the initial program. You are energized by the intersection of market dynamics, competitors, strategy, product, marketing, commercials and deals, and how they all bridge together in a competitive situation.
• Minimum requirements
• 7+ years of experience in program management, business operations, GTM strategy, management consulting, or a related discipline. Experience working in a Sales, Marketing, Product, GTM Operations, or other commercial organization.
• A strong record of leading complex and ambiguous cross-functional programs from problem definition through implementation, adoption, and operational handoff. Experience managing global programs across regions, segments, and product lines.
• Works well under pressure, with a high degree of adaptability and flexibility in a fast paced, rapidly changing environment.
• Experience navigating multiple senior stakeholders with differing incentives, priorities, and decision rights.
• Demonstrated ability to structure ambiguous problems, synthesize qualitative and quantitative inputs, make recommendations, and drive decisions.
• Strong executive communication skills, including the ability to produce well-structured written updates, facilitate senior working sessions, and communicate risks or trade-offs directly.
• Proven ability to build and maintain an operating cadence across multiple teams, including tracking milestones, dependencies, actions, and escalations.
• A high degree of ownership, sound judgment, adaptability, and comfort working in a fast-paced and changing environment.
• Strong analytical skills and comfort using data to diagnose issues, assess program health, and guide prioritization.
• An enthusiastic “roll up your sleeves mentality” paired with a collaborative working style that builds trust.
• Someone who demonstrates leadership qualities throughout their work – taking ownership of challenges, selflessly supporting their colleagues, and setting the standard for quality in their deliverables
• Preferred qualifications
• Experience leading competitive programs, strategic account programs, product-launch programs, commercial transformation, or other high-stakes GTM initiatives.
• Experience working at a B2B technology, enterprise software, fintech, payments, or platform company.
• Familiarity with competitive intelligence, win/loss analysis, sales enablement, pricing, commercial strategy, or product-feedback mechanisms.
• Experience building a new operating model, program-management function, or repeatable playbook from the ground up.
• Experience partnering closely with Product, Product Operations, PMM, Sales, Pricing, Finance & Strategy, and GTM Systems teams.
• Comfort with SQL, BI tools, or other methods of analyzing pipeline, adoption, revenue, and operational data.