Principal Program Manager, Engineering Operations

Vantor • Westminster, CO

29d • $135,000 - $198,000

About The Position

Vantor is building a common operating system for how Engineering plans, designs, delivers, and demonstrates evidence of completion. As the Principal Program Manager for Engineering Operations, you will define and evolve the operating model for how Engineering works across the organization. This role owns the standards, lifecycle model, governance, systems-of-record expectations, and traceability required to make engineering execution consistent, visible, and scalable. You will determine where common standards create leverage, where teams need local flexibility, and where process should be simplified or removed entirely.

Requirements

• Deep experience in engineering leadership, systems engineering, technical program leadership, engineering operations, or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated ability to design and improve engineering processes across large, complex organizations.
• Strong understanding of engineering lifecycle models, technical governance, reviews, risk management, and traceability.
• Ability to distinguish where standardization creates leverage from where local autonomy is more effective.
• Strong technical credibility across software, systems, infrastructure, or multidisciplinary engineering environments.
• Experience influencing senior engineering leaders without relying on direct authority.
• Strong systems thinking, judgment, and ability to simplify complex operating models.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Must be a U.S. Person, defined as a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, Asylee, or Refugee.

Responsibilities

• Define the Engineering Operating Model
• Own the common engineering lifecycle model across planning, design, delivery, and evidence.
• Define the minimum set of standards, reviews, artifacts, and decision points required across Engineering.
• Establish clear boundaries between enterprise-wide standards and domain-specific tailoring.
• Simplify existing processes before standardizing or automating them.
• Ensure the operating model provides appropriate rigor for mission-critical engineering without creating unnecessary ceremony.
• Establish Governance and Engineering Standards
• Define lifecycle reviews, decision authorities, escalation paths, and governance expectations.
• Partner with domain architects and engineering leaders to align technical and operational standards.
• Clarify ownership and accountability for engineering artifacts, decisions, risks, and evidence.
• Create practical playbooks, templates, and guardrails that make the model easy to adopt.
• Define Systems of Record and Traceability
• Establish what information must live in authoritative engineering systems of record.
• Define required metadata, artifact relationships, and traceability expectations.
• Improve the consistency and quality of engineering execution data.
• Ensure the operating model produces reliable context for both human decision-making and agentic workflows.
• Partner with Developer Enablement and other platform teams on implementation of tooling and integrations.
• Drive Adoption and Continuous Improvement
• Work with Engineering leaders to roll out common standards and operating practices.
• Identify friction, inconsistency, and unnecessary process across teams.
• Measure adoption and effectiveness of the operating model.
• Evolve standards based on execution data, feedback, and lessons learned.
• Challenge any process that adds effort without improving quality, predictability, safety, or decision-making.

Benefits

• Robust 401(k) with company match
• Mental health resources
• Student loan repayment assistance
• Adoption reimbursement
• Pet insurance
• Incentive eligible with a target based on contribution, company performance, and/or individual results achieved

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal
• Education Level: No Education Listed