Senior Technical Program Manager

Job Description

A leading organization is seeking a Senior Technical Program Manager to lead execution across complex engineering and platform initiatives. This position requires a strong technical foundation combined with proven program leadership experience to coordinate efforts across engineering, infrastructure, security, platform, architecture, and product functions.

The ideal candidate will have experience delivering large-scale technical programs involving cloud infrastructure, enterprise platforms, APIs, security initiatives, identity management, observability, and AI-related technologies. This individual will drive execution, manage dependencies, identify risks, and establish operational processes that improve delivery outcomes across multiple teams.

Responsibilities

Program Leadership

• Lead multiple concurrent technical initiatives across platform engineering, infrastructure, security, and enterprise technology domains.
• Drive planning, execution, milestone management, and delivery tracking for complex programs.
• Manage cross-functional dependencies and proactively address organizational and technical obstacles.
• Develop program governance, reporting mechanisms, and operational frameworks that support effective execution.
• Provide clear status updates and executive-level communications.

Platform and Infrastructure Initiatives

• Support initiatives related to AI platform enablement and foundational infrastructure.
• Coordinate efforts involving enterprise integrations, APIs, and platform connectivity.
• Partner with teams responsible for identity and access management, role-based access governance, and security improvements.
• Support platform observability, monitoring, operational health, and infrastructure modernization programs.
• Contribute to technical debt reduction and engineering process improvement initiatives.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with engineering leaders, architects, product teams, infrastructure teams, and security stakeholders.
• Facilitate alignment between business priorities and technical execution plans.
• Challenge assumptions, identify delivery risks, and validate technical approaches.
• Foster collaboration across teams operating in complex and rapidly evolving technical environments.

Operational Excellence

• Establish scalable processes that improve delivery effectiveness while minimizing unnecessary overhead.
• Create visibility into program risks, dependencies, and resource constraints.
• Help drive organizational maturity through effective planning, execution, and accountability practices.
• Ensure programs remain aligned with strategic objectives and engineering priorities.

Required Experience and Skills

Technical Background

• Professional experience in engineering, infrastructure, platform engineering, DevOps, technical architecture, or a related technical discipline.
• Strong understanding of cloud platforms, including AWS.
• Knowledge of enterprise integration architectures, APIs, and distributed systems.
• Experience with identity and access management concepts and governance practices.
• Understanding of role-based access control frameworks.
• Experience with observability, monitoring, and operational platform management.
• Familiarity with infrastructure modernization initiatives and security best practices.
• Exposure to AI platform infrastructure or AI enablement technologies.

Program Management Experience

• 8+ years of experience leading highly technical enterprise programs.
• Proven success managing multiple concurrent engineering workstreams.
• Strong dependency management and program coordination capabilities.
• Experience with executive stakeholder communication and reporting.
• Technical roadmap planning and delivery management experience.
• Experience with Agile program delivery methodologies.
• Ability to influence and lead cross-functional teams without direct authority.

Preferred Experience

• AI platform implementation and enablement initiatives.
• Large language model platform or infrastructure exposure.
• Familiarity with Model Context Protocol ecosystems.
• Kubernetes and containerized platform environments.
• Platform engineering organizations and internal developer platforms.
• Infrastructure-as-code practices and cloud security programs.
• Experience within healthcare technology or regulated environments.

Core Competencies

• Ability to create clarity in complex and ambiguous environments.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management abilities.
• Capability to identify and mitigate risks before they affect delivery.
• Strategic thinking combined with hands-on execution.
• Ability to build trust and credibility with highly technical teams.
• Independent decision-making and strong organizational leadership skills.

FAQ

1. What does a Senior Technical Program Manager do?

A Senior Technical Program Manager leads complex, cross-functional technology programs that involve multiple engineering, product, infrastructure, or business teams. The role establishes delivery plans, manages dependencies and risks, coordinates stakeholders, and ensures technical initiatives remain aligned with organizational priorities.

2. What types of programs does a Senior Technical Program Manager typically manage?

Programs may include cloud migrations, software platform development, data modernization, cybersecurity initiatives, AI implementations, infrastructure transformations, and enterprise system integrations. These programs often involve multiple projects that must be coordinated toward shared business outcomes.

3. How does this role differ from a traditional Project Manager?

A Senior Technical Program Manager typically operates across multiple related projects and has a stronger focus on technical dependencies, architecture decisions, engineering delivery, and long-term program outcomes. The role requires enough technical understanding to work effectively with engineering and architecture teams without necessarily being the primary technical implementer.

4. How are complex technical dependencies managed?

The program manager identifies dependencies across teams, systems, releases, vendors, and infrastructure components and tracks them through the program lifecycle. They coordinate resolution plans, communicate impacts, and escalate issues that could affect key milestones or deliverables.

5. What role does Agile delivery play in this position?

Agile practices help teams deliver work incrementally while adapting to changing technical and business requirements. Senior Technical Program Managers may coordinate sprint and release planning, manage cross-team roadmaps, facilitate program-level planning, and monitor delivery progress across Agile teams.

6. How does a Senior Technical Program Manager manage risks and escalations?

The role maintains structured risk and issue management processes to identify potential delivery problems early. They assess business and technical impact, coordinate mitigation actions, communicate status to leadership, and escalate critical issues when decisions or additional resources are required.

7. How does this role work with engineering and product leadership?

Senior Technical Program Managers partner with engineering managers, technical leads, product managers, architects, security teams, and executives. They translate strategic objectives into coordinated delivery plans and maintain alignment across teams with different priorities and technical responsibilities.

8. What skills are important for succeeding in this role?

Strong program planning, stakeholder management, technical communication, risk management, prioritization, organizational skills, and leadership are essential. Familiarity with software development, cloud infrastructure, data platforms, Agile methodologies, and enterprise technology environments is also highly valuable.