Principal, Technical Program Manager

Walmart•Sunnyvale, CA

16h•Onsite

About The Position

This role is responsible for program planning and development, utilizing program management techniques, tools, and frameworks to define goals, stage gates, critical delivery paths, and key deliverables for large-scale programs. The position involves managing cross-functional dependencies, resolving conflicting strategies, and driving clarity on strategy and technology solutions. Technical expertise is required in areas such as software design, cloud infrastructure, and system/platform design concepts. The role also involves participating in end-to-end system solution design, ensuring robust dependencies, directing defect resolution, and translating product requirements into technical designs. Domain knowledge is essential to demonstrate awareness of business domains, industry trends, and market segments. The role drives program results by managing risks, budgets, and issues, and mentors team members on best practices. Influential communication is key for alignment with stakeholders, and analytical problem-solving skills are needed to define success metrics and lead problem-solving efforts. Stakeholder management involves engaging with stakeholders, building relationships, and ensuring alignment. The role also involves driving business plans and projects, providing supervision and development opportunities for associates, and promoting company policies and values. Respect for the individual, acting with integrity, serving customers and members, and striving for excellence are core tenets of the role.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, engineering, or related area and 6 years’ experience in engineering, engineering program management, technical program management, product management, or related area.
OR 8 years’ experience in engineering, engineering program management, technical program management, product management, or related area.
Knowledge of program management techniques, tools, and frameworks.
Knowledge of benefits analysis.
Knowledge of program planning tools and techniques.
Knowledge of communication tools and processes.
Knowledge of techniques to translate requirements for software (e.g., design, architecture, testing), hardware (e.g., system design, hardware selection), assets, or platform capabilities.
Knowledge of cloud infrastructure, pipeline orchestration, database, network.
Knowledge of system/platform design concepts, components, and architecture.
Knowledge of emerging tools and technologies.
Knowledge of Product/Feature Technical Design Services, APIs, and technologies within assigned teams/areas.
Knowledge of software platforms and/or information security standards and guidelines.
Knowledge of infrastructure components (e.g., network, storage, compute, cloud, data, and development platforms).
Knowledge of hardware/software lifecycles, EOL upgrades, migrations.
Knowledge of Site Reliability Engineering concepts (observability, monitoring, pre-production checklists, incident management).
Knowledge of Cloud computing technologies.
Knowledge of Service management concepts, ITIL framework.
Knowledge of essential aspects of a specific business domain area.
Knowledge of industry trends, market segments, and competitor activities.
Knowledge of domain-related terms and success metrics relevant to program context.
Knowledge of risk management methodologies.
Knowledge of project management tools, techniques, and methodologies.
Knowledge of project tracking tools, dashboards, and reports.
Knowledge of financial management tools and processes.
Knowledge of budgeting and internal and external programs.
Knowledge of change management.
Knowledge of critical paths.
Knowledge of negotiation methodologies.
Knowledge of application and allocation of business communication styles/techniques.
Knowledge of communication channels/mediums.
Knowledge of program management documents.
Knowledge of qualitative and quantitative data management (e.g., feedback, facts, analysis).
Knowledge of data analysis and research.
Knowledge of problem-solving techniques and frameworks.
Knowledge of data-driven and fact-based decision-making techniques/methodologies.
Knowledge of impact analysis and course correction techniques/methodologies.
Knowledge of precedence and use cases for business problems.
Knowledge of barriers to effective problem-solving (e.g., confirmation bias, mental set, functional fixedness, groupthink, paradigm blindness).
Knowledge of stakeholder identification and engagement.
Knowledge of processes and ways of working across various groups.
Knowledge of relationship management techniques.
Knowledge of techniques to manage conflicting stakeholder priorities and ambiguity.
Knowledge of stakeholder management strategy.

Nice To Haves

Certification in Project Management.
Master’s degree in Business Administration, with specialization in strategy, supply chain, finance, information systems, or related area and 4 years’ experience in product design.
Experience in creating inclusive digital experiences, demonstrating knowledge in implementing Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standards, assistive technologies, and integrating digital accessibility seamlessly.
Knowledge of accessibility best practices.
Experience following Walmart’s accessibility standards and guidelines for supporting an inclusive culture.

Responsibilities

Define goals, stage gates, critical delivery paths, and key deliverables for large-scale programs with dependencies across multiple areas of work, timelines, and resource constraints.
Secure commitments for program scopes, delivery dates, and resources, and manage cross-functional dependencies.
Resolve ambiguous situations with conflicting business and product strategies and drive clarity on strategy and end-to-end technology solutions.
Identify synergies, overlaps, and waste for program tracks across multiple areas of work and mentor team members.
Drive initiatives to improve ways of working.
Participate in end-to-end discussions for high-level system solution design of simple-medium complexity systems.
Ensure dependencies between system contracts are robust and avoid upstream and downstream OE/production issues.
Direct the identification, investigation, reporting, and resolution of defects/bugs.
Clarify requirements with engineering teams and translate product feature requirements into technical designs.
Understand dependencies between capabilities, software systems, and services.
Identify similar capabilities during planning and execution cycles for possible software reuse.
Ensure effective rollforward and rollback plans are in place for every release.
Ensure monitoring and alerting are set up and effective operational excellence frameworks are implemented.
Establish end-to-end delivery plans based on impacts and interdependencies between applications.
Identify patterns and explore possible solutions to leverage existing capabilities and technology strategies.
Translate end outcomes into system/platform/security-level elements across multiple engineering components/teams.
Propose frameworks, tools, and methodologies to drive automation.
Establish methods for effective launch and post-launch by assessing engineering practices.
Assist in the creation of simple, modular, extensible, and functional design for a product/solution.
Demonstrate an awareness of various principles, processes, relevant technology, ways of working, and terminologies across a domain.
Extend program plans to incorporate elements of communications, marketing, and field service management.
Lead discussions and conduct impact analysis/due diligence to guide build versus buy decisions.
Identify areas for the implementation of new processes, automation techniques, and updated ways of working.
Proactively research new processes and automation techniques used across domains and industries.
Drive monitoring for multiple programs and decompose performance metrics.
Identify key risks, determine severity, create mitigation plans, and manage issues to unblock a program.
Assess and manage the likelihood and impacts on multiple areas of work and escalate issues to relevant stakeholders.
Ensure the effective use of program budgets by ensuring teams work together on the highest value efforts.
Ensure systems underutilized are released (e.g., staging and testing environments scaled down after production release).
Identify existing work that no longer brings enough added value.
Own and drive complex, large-scale programs, execute lifecycles, and mentor team members.
Dynamically reassess and refine roadmaps, navigating through changes to arrive at paths to green for programs at risk.
Proactively implement processes and tactics to accelerate timelines.
Define, implement, and improve standard, scalable, measurable, and repeatable workflows and processes for cross-functional teams.
Define goals and objectives for a vague program and break it down into subprojects and subprocesses.
Simplify concurrent deliverables and seamlessly manage queuing for engineering teams.
Define and establish prioritization frameworks for the dynamic resequencing of a portfolio of initiatives.
Proactively communicate progress and risks, engage with core teams to resolve issues, and update broader teams and stakeholders.
Understand communication styles and needs of stakeholders and core program team members and use varying communication styles as needed.
Prepare clear, concise, logically structured, and meaningful reports/materials using relevant data.
Seek and provide constructive feedback, anticipate needs/questions, and respond with actionable feedback.
Communicate complex information to large audiences verbally and through written materials.
Coordinate and produce documents that communicate project strategy, status, scope, timelines, task planning, action items, risks, issues, dependencies, test planning, or rollout planning.
Define program success metrics through the extraction of insights.
Identify difficult problems and systemic gaps that may seem invisible/avoidable on assigned programs.
Extract insights and promote the value of insight extraction from multiple data sources.
Lead problem-solving efforts for complex and ambiguous problems, question assumptions, and coach team members.
Mentor team members on fact-finding techniques, diagnostic tools, and judgment to identify and break down business problems.
Independently engage with identified program stakeholders based on a defined cadence to align and share regular updates.
Build relationships with program stakeholders and align them on roles, responsibilities, ways of working, and cadences.
Ensure all dependent teams and stakeholders have an accurate and thorough understanding of different stakeholder perspectives and overall project goals, timelines, and deliverables.
Coordinate with stakeholders in ambiguous scenarios and ensure stakeholder alignment during and after setbacks.
Drive the execution of multiple business plans and projects by identifying customer and operational needs, developing and communicating business plans and priorities, removing barriers, providing resources, identifying performance standards, measuring progress, adjusting performance, and developing contingency plans.
Provide supervision and development opportunities for associates by selecting and training, mentoring, assigning duties, building a team-based work environment, establishing performance expectations, conducting regular performance evaluations, providing recognition and rewards, coaching for success and improvement, and promoting a belonging mindset.
Promote and support company policies, procedures, mission, values, and standards of ethics and integrity.
Ensure business needs are being met by evaluating the ongoing effectiveness of current plans, programs, and initiatives.
Consult with business partners, managers, coworkers, or other key stakeholders, soliciting, evaluating, and applying suggestions for improving efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
Participate in and support community outreach events.
Demonstrate and encourage respect for all, build a high-performing team, seek and embrace differences, and create a workplace where all associates feel seen, supported, and connected.
Create a discipline and focus around developing talent through feedback, coaching, mentoring, and developmental opportunities.
Promote an environment allowing everyone to bring their best selves to work and empower associates and partners to act in the best interest of the customer/member and company.
Regularly recognize others' contributions and accomplishments.
Build strong and trusting relationships with team members and business partners, work collaboratively and cross-functionally to achieve objectives, and communicate and listen attentively with energy and positivity.
Maintain and promote the highest standards of integrity, ethics, and compliance, and model the Walmart values.
Foster our culture, support Walmarts goal of becoming a regenerative company by making a positive impact for associates, customers, and the world.
Follow the law, our code of conduct, and company policies, and set expectations for others to do the same.
Promote an environment where associates feel comfortable sharing concerns and reinforce our culture of non-retaliation.
Listen to concerns raised by associates, take action, and encourage others to do the same.
Hold self and others accountable for achieving results in a way that is consistent with our values.
Act as an altruistic servant leader and be consistently humble, self-aware, honest, and transparent.
Deliver expected business results while putting the customer/member first and consistently applying an omni-merchant mindset and acting with an Every Day Low Cost mindset.
Adopt a holistic perspective that considers data analytics, customer/member insights, and different parts of the business when making plans and shaping the team's strategy.
Consistently raise the bar and seek to improve, demonstrate curiosity and a growth mindset, seek feedback, ask thoughtful questions, and foster an environment that supports learning, innovation, and learning from mistakes and intelligent risk-taking.
Exhibit resilience in the face of setbacks.
Seek and implement continuous improvements and encourage the team to leverage new digital tools and ways of working.

Benefits

Medical coverage
Vision coverage
Dental coverage
401(k)
Stock purchase
Company-paid life insurance
PTO (including sick leave)
Parental leave
Family care leave
Bereavement
Jury duty
Voting
Short-term disability
Long-term disability
Company discounts
Military Leave Pay
Adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement
Performance-based bonus awards
Live Better U (Walmart-paid education benefit program for full-time and part-time associates)