Sr. Principal Technical Program Manager

Axon•Seattle, WA

About The Position

Axon is hiring a Senior Principal Technical Program Manager for its Real-Time Operations (RTO) team, which builds, deploys, and maintains emergency responder products around the Axon Fusus platform. The role leads Axon’s most complex, ambiguous, high-risk technical programs across R&D and the broader company, with responsibility for organization-level and company-level outcomes from early problem definition and strategy through execution, launch, and post-production. The role requires aligning multiple R&D pillars, business functions, executive stakeholders, and, in some cases, multiple TPMs. Production outages, functional regressions, or performance degradations in this product area can affect customers within minutes. The successful candidate serves as a strategic advisor to senior product and engineering leadership, including the RTO SVP, CTO, and their direct reports. They will surface risks early, shape technical and portfolio direction, create executable plans, and drive accountability without relying on direct authority. They will also establish scalable TPM mechanisms and standards, mentor senior technical leaders, and raise the effectiveness of program management across Axon. The position is located in Seattle, has no direct reports, and reports to the Sr. Director of Technical Program Management.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Science, or a related field.
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 involving multiple TPMs, engineering organizations, and cross-functional stakeholders.
Experience driving alignment and accountability at the organization or company level 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 incomplete or inflated information.
Mastery of program management practice and ability to select, adapt, and teach delivery methodologies to suit 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 and 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

Master’s degree or PhD.
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-level or company-level outcomes from strategy and problem definition through execution, launch, and post-production.
Lead programs involving multiple TPMs and establish clear ownership, operating mechanisms, and accountability.
Identify high-impact problems before requirements exist and translate them into strategy, technical direction, and executable plans.
Drive alignment across 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-scale initiatives and ensure leaders use them in roadmap and investment decisions.
Own or guide end-to-end technical requirements across complex systems and engineering organizations.
Bring senior engineering leaders together on architecture, system boundaries, and technical trade-offs.
Challenge technical assumptions and ensure decisions about data stores, caching, architecture, technology stacks, and business logic consider long-term consequences.
Lead strategic technical discussions about scalability, reliability, availability, and operational resilience.
Advise Directors, VPs, SVPs, and executive leaders on portfolio strategy, execution risk, prioritization, and TPM capacity.
Write and present strategy documents that shape the short- and long-term direction of the organization.
Present strategy, execution health, and technical trade-offs to the RTO SVP, company CTO, and their direct reports.
Lead novel initiatives with unknown solutions, high risk, and potentially significant customer impact, including initiatives 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 they directly lead.
Improve how Axon applies 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 leaders and R&D teams on program management, technical execution, and organizational mechanisms.
Work effectively across multiple teams, organizations, and time zones.