Sr Manager, Technical Programs

PayPal•San Jose, CA

5d•$176,500 - $262,350•Hybrid

About The Position

This job is responsible for overseeing the development, implementation, and evaluation of complex engineering operational programs. This role involves providing technical oversight and ensuring program success through effective management of engineering, technical, and procurement activities. The project & program responsibilities are focused on the delivery of a product or computer-based system from design to release for customers. We are looking for a Senior Technical Program Manager (IC8) to lead a multi-year AWS cloud transformation program focused on building disaster recovery (DR) resiliency — evolving our environments from single-region operation to full multi-region, active/active or active/passive high-availability architectures. This role owns the program end-to-end: technical strategy alignment, cross-team execution, DR testing cadence, and the audit and regulatory evidence required to demonstrate compliance to internal risk teams, external auditors, and the Board. This is a senior IC role for someone who can operate as a program manager with credible technical experience to pressure-test architecture decisions, sequence dependencies correctly, and know when a plan is at risk, without escalations from engineering as well as technical thought partner to engineering leadership, and a credible voice in front of C-suite and audit stakeholders.

Requirements

8+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree OR Any equivalent combination of education and experience.
Experience with program management methodologies and tools within an engineering environment.
10+ years of technical program/project management experience, including at least 5 years leading large-scale cloud infrastructure or platform-resiliency programs.
Demonstrated experience running an AWS-based (or equivalent hyperscaler) disaster recovery program, including hands-on exposure to multi-region architecture concepts, failover testing, and RTO/RPO planning.
Proven ability to manage multi-year, multi-workstream programs with competing priorities and dependencies across several engineering teams.
Strong executive communication skills; experience presenting to SVP/C-suite audiences and steering committees, with a preference for concise, BLUF-style reporting.

Nice To Haves

Credible technical experience to pressure-test architecture decisions, sequence dependencies correctly, and know when a plan is at risk, without escalations from engineering.
Technical thought partner to engineering leadership.
Credible voice in front of C-suite and audit stakeholders.
Experience presenting to SVP/C-suite audiences and steering committees, with a preference for concise, BLUF-style reporting.

Responsibilities

Plan and manage a portfolio of engineering operational programs.
Provide technical guidance and support to program teams.
Establish and maintain program management processes and standards.
Monitor program progress and performance against objectives.
Communicate program status and issues to senior leadership.
Manage program budgets and resources.
Foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.
Own the multi-year roadmap for the cloud transformation and DR program, translating a board-level commitment (e.g., multi-region HA by a target date) into phased milestones, dependencies, and staffing plans.
Build and maintain the master program plan across infrastructure, application, data, and network workstreams, identifying critical path and cross-team dependencies.
Drive a regular program governance cadence (steering committee, working groups, status reporting) with clear RAG status, risk registers, and decision logs.
Manage vendor/professional-services engagements tied to the transformation.
Partner with engineering and cloud architecture teams to define the target-state multi-region topology, including data replication strategy, failover/failback mechanisms, and RTO/RPO targets per service tier.
Coordinate migration and re-architecture waves across service teams, sequencing work to minimize risk to production availability.
Track technical debt and single points of failure that block multi-region readiness, and drive remediation plans with accountable owners.
Maintain a working understanding of AWS services relevant to DR (e.g., cross-region replication, Route 53 failover, multi-region data stores) sufficient to evaluate trade-offs with architects.
Own the DR testing program: tabletop exercises, partial failover tests, and full regional failover/failback tests, on a defined recurring cadence.
Define and track DR test success criteria, capture findings, and drive closure of gaps identified during each test cycle.
Serve as the primary point of contact for internal audit, risk, and compliance teams on DR readiness, producing evidence packages that satisfy audit and regulatory review (e.g., SOC 2, PCI, or equivalent framework requirements).
Maintain DR runbooks, escalation procedures, and compliance documentation in a state that is always audit-ready, not just ahead of a scheduled review.
Prepare and deliver concise, BLUF-style executive updates to SVP/C-suite stakeholders and steering committees, distinguishing sourced fact from analysis and clearly flagging risk.
Act as the connective tissue between engineering execution teams, architecture, security, legal/compliance, and finance/procurement.
Represent the program in cross-functional planning cycles (e.g., annual/3-year planning, budget submissions) and translate technical scope into business-case language.
Identify, log, and actively manage program risks, including single points of failure in staffing (e.g., key-person dependencies) as well as technical risk.
Manage relationships with AWS and any third-party implementation partners, including contract deliverables, SOWs, and milestone-based credits or commitments.
Support hiring and onboarding for program roles as needed, and manage resourcing plans against the multi-year roadmap.