Sr. Principal Technical Program Manager

Axon • Seattle, WA

2d • $207,000 - $331,200

About The Position

Axon is hiring a Senior Principal Technical Program Manager for its Real-Time Operations team, which builds, deploys, and maintains emergency-response products around the Axon Fusus platform. The role leads Axon's most complex, ambiguous, high-risk programs across R&D and the broader company, owning organization- and company-level outcomes from early problem definition and strategy through execution, launch, and post-production. Programs may span multiple R&D pillars, business functions, and TPMs, and may involve novel technical areas where the solution is not yet known and failure could significantly affect customers.

The TPM serves as a strategic advisor to senior product and engineering leaders, including the RTO SVP, CTO, and their direct reports. The role defines strategy and executable plans, secures alignment on people, resources, and commitments, identifies risks and dependencies, and guides technical direction and trade-offs. It also establishes organization-wide TPM practices and operating mechanisms, mentors senior technical and program leaders, and raises the effectiveness of program management across Axon. The position is based in Seattle and reports to the Sr. Director of Technical Program Management. It has no direct reports.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Science, or a related field; a master's degree or PhD is optional.
• 12 to 15+ years of experience managing complex software or hardware/software delivery.
• 2 to 3 years of experience as a technical individual contributor, engineer, or equivalent hands-on technical role, or comparable technical depth developed through a career.
• Proven record leading highly complex, high-risk programs across multiple organizations with significant executive visibility.
• Experience leading programs with multiple TPMs, engineering organizations, and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Experience driving organization- or company-level alignment and accountability without direct reporting authority.
• Deep technical judgment and credibility with Principal and Distinguished Engineers, engineering VPs, and executive leadership.
• Ability to evaluate end-to-end architecture, identify the long-term cost of poor technical decisions, and distinguish meaningful technical risk from inflated or incomplete information.
• Mastery of program management practice and ability to select, adapt, and teach delivery methodologies based on organizational needs.
• Demonstrated record of creating mechanisms that improve execution across teams or organizations.
• Experience advising senior executives and shaping strategy with SVP- and CTO-level stakeholders.
• Experience writing strategy documents that influence technical or organizational direction.
• Ability to define problems and establish direction where requirements, ownership, or solutions do not yet exist.
• Experience leading novel initiatives with uncertain technical paths and significant consequences of failure.
• Strong executive communication skills, including the ability to challenge senior leaders respectfully and directly.
• Strong influencing, mentoring, and coaching skills.
• Experience scaling processes across multiple organizations and time zones.
• Connection to Axon's values and its mission to tackle public safety's biggest challenges.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with enterprise SaaS or other mission-critical software.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex cross-organization technical programs spanning multiple R&D pillars and business functions.
• Own organization- or company-level outcomes from strategy and problem definition through execution, launch, and post-production.
• Lead programs involving multiple TPMs and establish ownership, operating mechanisms, and accountability.
• Identify high-impact problems before requirements exist and turn them into strategy, technical direction, and executable plans.
• Align engineering, product, business, legal, information security, policy, and other organizations.
• Own program plans, schedules, resourcing strategies, and change management across organizations.
• Drive accountability for commitments, dependencies, and critical milestones.
• Anticipate systemic risks and organizational dependencies and establish mechanisms to prevent execution failures.
• Define success metrics for large initiatives and ensure leaders use them for roadmap and investment decisions.
• Own or guide end-to-end technical requirements across complex systems and engineering organizations.
• Bring senior engineering leaders together to address architecture, system boundaries, and technical trade-offs.
• Challenge technical assumptions and guide decisions about data stores, caching, architecture, technology stacks, and business logic with long-term consequences in mind.
• Lead technical discussions on scalability, reliability, availability, and operational resilience.
• Advise Directors, VPs, SVPs, and executives on portfolio strategy, execution risk, prioritization, and TPM capacity.
• Write and present strategy documents that shape short- and long-term direction.
• Present strategy, execution health, and technical trade-offs to the RTO SVP, company CTO, and their directs.
• Lead novel, high-risk initiatives with uncertain solutions and potentially significant customer impact, including initiatives extending beyond R&D.
• Define and standardize TPM artifacts, tools, operating mechanisms, and role expectations.
• Create mechanisms that improve decision-making, accountability, and execution beyond the programs the TPM directly leads.
• Advance Axon's use of AI to accelerate execution, program management, and organizational effectiveness.
• Mentor Principal TPMs and other senior technical leaders.
• Interview and calibrate candidates through Principal TPM, Staff Engineer, and Director levels.
• Educate R&D leaders and teams on program management, technical execution, and organizational mechanisms.
• Work effectively across teams, organizations, and time zones.

Benefits

• Axon describes its compensation as including base pay, bonus, and stock awards.
• Benefits include options intended to support employees physically, financially, and emotionally; specific benefit details are available on Axon's careers site.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior