Contract Program Manager – Product & GTM Launch (AI / SaaS)

AppZen, Inc.•San Jose, CA

69d

About The Position

AppZen is seeking a high-ownership Program Manager to drive the end-to-end orchestration of new product and feature introductions. This role involves coordinating across Product, Engineering, Support, Customer Success, Marketing, and Sales to ensure successful launches. The Program Manager will be responsible for roadmap alignment, launch readiness, and post-launch metrics, ensuring teams are aligned, risks are surfaced early, timelines are realistic, and launches drive measurable business outcomes. This position reports to the Head of Product / Head of Operations and is a contract role initially for 3-6 months, with the potential for extension or conversion. AppZen values candidates who actively use AI tools to enhance productivity and solve problems efficiently.

Requirements

5–10+ years in Program Management, Technical Program Management, Product Operations, or Chief of Staff–style roles.
Experience launching B2B SaaS products.
Experience coordinating both technical and GTM stakeholders.
Strong understanding of software development lifecycle.
Comfortable working with engineers and reading technical documents.
Experience reporting directly to executives.
Experience in high-growth startup environments.
Extremely organized and structured.
Comfortable pushing senior leaders when needed.
Detail-oriented but able to zoom out strategically.
Strong written communicator.
Calm under ambiguity.
Fast-moving and action-oriented.
Think in first principles.
Prepare before meetings.
Communicate concisely.
Anticipate risks early.
Push back respectfully with data.
Bring solutions, not just problems.

Nice To Haves

AI experience strongly preferred.
Experience with AI/LLM or agentic systems launches.
Experience implementing launch frameworks (e.g., stage-gate, structured release readiness).
Familiarity with tools like Jira, Asana, Linear, Notion, Salesforce, HubSpot, BI dashboards.

Responsibilities

Build and maintain launch plans for new products and major features.
Define milestones across engineering, QA, documentation, enablement, marketing, and sales.
Identify dependencies, bottlenecks, and risks early.
Drive weekly cross-functional execution cadences.
Ensure launch readiness across all customer-facing functions.
Coordinate execution across Product, Engineering, Customer Success, Support, Marketing, and Sales.
Ensure all stakeholders know what is launching, when, and what success looks like.
Define launch success KPIs (adoption, usage, pipeline impact, revenue influence, customer satisfaction).
Track launch progress and readiness metrics.
Build concise executive dashboards and provide written updates to leadership.
Conduct post-launch reviews and improvement loops.
Create standardized launch frameworks and checklists.
Improve cross-functional processes to increase predictability.
Drive accountability without creating bureaucracy.
Influence roadmap sequencing, shape launch strategy, define success metrics, drive GTM readiness, and improve organizational execution maturity.