Principal Product Manager

T-Mobile•Bellevue, WA

8d•Onsite

About The Position

The Principal Product Manager operates at the portfolio and enterprise level, owning the most complex and ambiguous product problems in the organization. This is not a role that manages a product — it is a role that shapes the strategic direction of a portfolio, influences enterprise decision-making, and sets the standard for how product management is practiced across the team. The PPM is accountable for the learning agenda of the entire portfolio, for identifying new problem spaces before they have names or budgets, and for building the frameworks that allow the rest of the organization to make better decisions independently. Day-to-day activities include synthesizing competitive dynamics and customer signals into multi-year strategic direction; communicating portfolio strategy at Director/VP level; identifying new problem spaces before they appear on any roadmap; building the executive argument for enterprise-level investments; mentoring Sr PMs and PMs; applying AI tools at portfolio scale; and treating every quarter as a portfolio-level learning cycle.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree plus 7 years of related work experience, or an advanced degree with 5 years of related experience. (Required)
More than 10 years of relevant Product Management experience in an agile software product development environment. (Required)
Backlog Management
Business Acumen
Customer Experience Design
Data Analysis
Financial Modeling
Go-to-Market Strategies
Product Management
Product Roadmap
Stakeholder Management
Strategic Thinking
At least 18 years of age
Legally authorized to work in the United States

Nice To Haves

AI Fluency & Tooling
Business Analysis
Business Needs
Customer Centricity
Customer Engagement
Industry Trend Analysis
Product Analysis
Relationship Building

Responsibilities

Owns the learning agenda for the entire portfolio — not just their direct area. Tracks what was bet on each quarter, what the data confirmed or refuted, and what that means for where the portfolio goes next. Takes personal accountability for the OKRs associated to the portfolio. Treats every quarter as a learning cycle at portfolio scale. States hypotheses explicitly across multiple product areas, tracks their resolution, and updates multi-year strategy based on what the data reveals.
Defines what good PM practice looks like across the organization and sets the reference point others work from. Shapes how the team thinks about discovery, hypothesis formation, outcome ownership, and AI directive quality. The bar is set through presence, example, and the quality of the work.
Applies AI fluency at scale: directive writing, agent-assisted competitive research, portfolio-level analytics. Can show how their frameworks and standards changed how other PMs operate. Coaches others on AI output quality.
Anticipates market and technology shifts well before they surface as obvious priorities. Brings a forward view to the organization that informs multi-year strategic bets.
Identifies new problem space. Reads customer, market, and competitive signals to find gaps that don't yet appear on any roadmap. Builds the case from evidence and brings it forward as a net-new strategic opportunity.
Operates as an independent co-owner of customer research direction — not a reviewer of summaries. Participates in research and forms a synthesized view that connects customer signals to portfolio-level strategic implications.
Knows where T-Mobile leads, where it lags, and where the category is moving before it becomes an obvious priority. Uses this knowledge to guide and advise the broader organization.
Evangelizes the customer-first standard across the PM organization. Creates the conditions where teams throughout the portfolio operate from customer evidence, not product assumptions.
Shapes portfolio and multi-year product strategy. Synthesizes competitive dynamics, customer signals, and market timing across multiple product areas into a clear strategic direction. Makes deliberate choices about which bets to accelerate and which to stop.
Builds frameworks that help the rest of the organization think the same way. Does not just set direction — creates tools, narratives, and structures that allow other PMs to make better strategic decisions independently.
Owns the portfolio roadmap across multiple Agile teams, often with cross-team, cross-platform, and external dependencies. Ensures alignment on prioritization at enterprise scale.
Connects portfolio strategy to business outcomes — not just feature delivery. Defends direction with evidence, updates it when the data says to, and communicates the reasoning transparently.
Leads discussions with external third parties on partnerships, licensing, and market positioning. Represents T-Mobile's product strategy externally at the industry level.
Builds cross-org relationships that give the product portfolio strategic leverage. Cultivates deep relationships with stakeholders that enable products to move forward despite organizational friction.
Influences direction not through authority but through sustained credibility. Engages at VP level and below.
Brings a clear, evidence-backed strategic narrative to every executive conversation and earns the trust that allows that narrative to move decisions.
Partners with Architecture, Engineering, and Platform teams to ensure portfolio-level technical strategy is coherent. Does not allow individual product decisions to undermine enterprise platform health.
Identifies systemic organizational issues that impede portfolio success. Drives resolution at the level required with a recommended solution in hand.
Communicates product vision and portfolio strategy at Director and VP level. Frames the strategic narrative in terms that connect product direction to business outcomes.
Adapts communication for the audience without losing the clarity of the underlying argument. Makes the portfolio legible to the executive team — not as a list of roadmap items, but as a coherent strategic argument for where T-Mobile should go and why it matters.
Drives specific ad hoc analysis and presents strategic recommendations to VP level. Does not present data — presents a position, defends it, and owns the outcome.
Communicates technical challenges and tradeoffs at portfolio level. Anticipates and surfaces issues before they escalate, with a clear recommended path forward.
Accountable for product quality and team response across the portfolio in the event of critical defects or high-impact issues — including executive-level communications.
Translates portfolio-level data into a clear business narrative defining what to measure, why it matters, and what it means for the direction of the portfolio.
Identifies which opportunities the data supports pursuing at enterprise scale and builds the VP argument for committing to them. Owns what happens when the bet is placed.
Owns the portfolio KPI framework. Defines which metrics matter across product areas, how they compound into business outcomes, and what the data is saying about the health of the overall portfolio.
Conducts and directs ROI, NPV, and cost-benefit analysis to support major multi-product investment decisions.
Builds financial models that inform enterprise-level build-vs-buy-vs-partner decisions.
Uses data to tell a clear, honest story about portfolio performance — including what isn't working, and what T-Mobile should stop investing in.
Owns outcomes across the most complex, ambiguous, and cross-platform product challenges in the organization. Accountable for the full arc of the portfolio without requiring executive direction to act.
Ensures complex, ambiguous problems are solved on time and showcase customer value. Ensures that customer value is always being met.
Translates portfolio strategy into detailed capabilities and features consumable by engineering across multiple Agile teams, with dependencies spanning internal and external platforms. Prototyping is a standard strategic tool.
Mentors Sr PMs and PMs across the organization. Gives direct, honest feedback. Raises the standard for problem framing, outcome ownership, and strategic thinking across the entire PM team.
Collaborates with cross-functional partners to develop portfolio-wide adoption tools, training materials, and go-to-market programs.