Principal Technical Program Manager, Engineering

About the Role:

We’re reorganizing engineering into 16 to 18 small squads grouped under five technical domains. Each domain has a lead who stays hands-on in the code, and squad leads keep their engineering titles and spend at least half their time building. There’s no director layer between them and the VP of Engineering, which keeps decisions close to the work. The tradeoff is that nobody is currently coordinating across squads. You’ll be that person.

This is the first and only TPM inside engineering, reporting to the VP of Engineering. You’ll own whether cross-domain programs are visible and on track: which squad blocks which, what has to land before what, and where the technical dependencies sit. Then you’ll automate as much of that as you can, so coordination scales with the number of teams instead of growing with them.

You won’t have direct reports, and you won’t own product or technical decisions. Domain and squad leads own delivery, and product owns what gets built. Your leverage is clarity: the right information in front of the right people before something slips. If you need a team under you or a title to get things done, this role won’t be a good fit.

We already have a PMO that tracks programs at the portfolio level. You won’t duplicate it. You’ll work inside engineering, at the level of squads and technical dependencies, and the PMO will get better inputs because of it.

What You’ll Do

• Own tracking for every program that crosses squad or domain lines, from kickoff until it lands.
• Map dependencies between squads before work starts, keep the map current, and flag risk early enough for leads to act on it.
• Build the status and visibility system for engineering: what gets tracked, where, and how leadership sees it without asking.
• Automate the coordination work. Use Jira, dashboards, scripts, and AI agents so status, dependency alerts, and reporting happen without anyone chasing them.
• Run the cross-team communication squads depend on: planning syncs, sequencing reviews, and readable written updates.
• Chase things down. When a dependency stalls, find out why, get the right leads talking, and escalate to the VP when they can’t resolve it.
• Feed the PMO clean, accurate engineering inputs for portfolio-level reporting.
• Support managers running quarter-long champion initiatives outside their squads with lightweight tracking and goal reviews.
• Measure whether coordination is getting cheaper as the team count grows, and change the system when it isn’t.
• Write down how cross-team work runs here so new squads can plug in without a walkthrough.

Who You’ll Work With

You’re accountable for programs being visible and on track, not for the work landing.

• VP of Engineering: Owns escalations, org structure, and people decisions. You own the full cross-domain picture and surfacing what needs their call.
• Domain leads: Own sequencing of which squads build what and the interfaces between domains. You own the dependency map and early warning when sequencing breaks.
• Squad leads: Own specs, implementation, and delivery. You own status that updates itself, so they spend their time building.
• Architecture: Owns cross-domain design and standards. You own tracking cross-domain technical work to completion.
• Product managers: Own what gets built and why. You own turning those priorities into a sequenced, visible plan across squads.
• PMO: Owns portfolio-level tracking and reporting. You own the accuracy of the engineering inputs they receive.

Required Qualifications:

• 8+ years in program or project management in engineering or technology organizations
• 3+ years at a B2B SaaS company.
• Evidence you built the coordination system, not just ran one. Tell us about tools and processes you put in place that outlasted your tenure.
• Experience in fast-growing or changing organizations where structure was still being defined.
• Enough technical depth to understand dependencies, architecture tradeoffs, and the SDLC, and to be taken seriously by engineers. No CS degree or coding requirement.
• Expert in Jira and comfortable administering it, plus dashboards and reporting tools.
• Hands-on use of AI tools to automate tracking, summarize status, or surface risk, with clear opinions about what works and what doesn’t.
• A track record of influence without authority: moving senior engineers, managers, and product leads with no reporting line.
• Flexibility on methodology. You may have strong views, but you work with how each team operates rather than imposing a framework.
• Persistent follow-through with a light touch. You get people to act by building trust and clarity, not by pressure.
• Clear, direct writing. Your status updates get read, and people act on them.
• Comfort with ambiguity. You’ll help define the job as the org changes shape.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in cybersecurity, defense, or other security-focused products
• Programs that crossed hardware, software, and operations boundaries
• Prior director-level or business operations scope
• Experience adapting Scrum, Kanban, or other agile practices to how teams actually work
• Experience building agentic workflows or scripts for delivery reporting

Actual compensation for the position is based on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to affordability, skills, qualifications and experience, and may vary from the range. In addition to base salary, employees may also be eligible for annual performance-based incentive compensation awards and equity, among other company benefits.

• For candidates based in U.S. locations, the estimated total compensation range for this position is $180,000 - $240,000 USD (base salary plus bonus).
• For candidates based in Canada, the estimated total compensation range for this position is $200,000 - $280,000 CAD (base salary plus bonus).