Technical Program Manager

F5•San Jose, CA

8d•$124,800 - $187,200•Hybrid

About The Position

The Technical Program Manager (TPM) leads complex, cross-functional, and often cross-organizational engineering programs from conception through delivery. This role partners closely with engineering, product management, QA, security, operations/SRE, and executive stakeholders to define program strategy, drive alignment, manage execution, and ensure measurable outcomes. This is a role for TPMs who operate with high autonomy, influence without authority, and bring strong technical judgment, execution rigor, and executive-ready communication. TPMs are expected to proactively identify risks and systemic issues, drive decision-making, and continuously improve processes that scale program delivery.

Requirements

Strong understanding of software engineering fundamentals and system design (APIs, distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, reliability, and security concepts).
Ability to engage deeply with technical teams: drive requirements clarity, evaluate solution options, and identify technical risks and non-obvious dependencies.
Proficiency with program tooling and documentation practices (Jira/Confluence, Smartsheet/Excel, dashboards, decision logs, RAID management).
Data fluency: ability to define metrics, interpret trends, and use quantitative and qualitative signals to drive program decisions.
Demonstrated ability to lead multi-team programs through the full lifecycle: discovery, planning, execution, launch, and post-launch learning.
Expertise in building integrated plans (milestones, dependencies, resourcing), managing critical paths, and driving tradeoffs to achieve outcomes.
Strong risk management and escalation leadership; able to frame decisions, propose options, and drive closure.
Experience establishing program mechanisms and improving processes across teams (operating rhythms, readiness criteria, retrospectives, governance).
Executive-ready communication: can translate complex technical and program realities into clear narratives, decisions, and asks.
Influence without authority across engineering and product leaders; strong facilitation and conflict-resolution skills.
High ownership and judgment in ambiguous environments; proactive in identifying gaps and driving clarity.
Mentorship mindset and ability to raise execution standards across teams.

Nice To Haves

Experience leading platform, infrastructure, security, or large-scale product programs with multiple engineering teams and multi-quarter roadmaps.
Experience driving launches with operational readiness, incident response preparation, and post-launch operational excellence mechanisms.
Background in cloud, networking, DevOps, reliability engineering, or cybersecurity.
Comfort partnering with architecture/technical leadership on requirements and roadmap strategy.
Certifications (optional): PMP, PgMP, SAFe, Scrum (CSM/PSM), AWS/Azure/GCP fundamentals, or security certifications (e.g., Security+).

Responsibilities

Own end-to-end delivery for complex technical programs, defining scope, milestones, success metrics, and execution approach across multiple teams.
Drive cross-team planning (roadmaps, release plans, cutovers), dependency management, and tradeoff decisions to meet quality, timeline, and business objectives.
Establish operating rhythm and governance (cadence, decision logs, escalation paths) to keep stakeholders aligned and unblocked.
Anticipate and resolve ambiguity by driving clear technical and program decisions, including prioritization, resourcing, and sequencing.
Coach and mentor junior TPMs and project coordinators; raise the bar on planning artifacts, reporting, and execution discipline.
Partner with engineering, product, QA, security, SRE/operations, support, and go-to-market stakeholders to align on requirements, constraints, and launch readiness.
Lead stakeholder alignment forums, ensuring decisions are made at the right level with clear owners, timelines, and follow-through.
Represent program health to leadership with crisp narratives on progress, tradeoffs, risks, and asks.
Define and instrument program metrics and mechanisms (OKRs/KPIs, quality and reliability signals, delivery predictability) to measure outcomes and drive accountability.
Develop and deliver executive-ready status reporting (dashboards, QBR/SteerCo updates) that highlights risks, decisions needed, and customer/business impact.
Use data to identify trends, unblock teams, and recommend corrective actions to improve delivery and operational excellence.
Own RAID management for assigned programs, ensuring risks, issues, assumptions, and dependencies are actively mitigated with measurable actions and accountable owners.
Proactively surface delivery, quality, and security risks early; drive cross-team mitigation plans and contingency options.
Manage escalations end-to-end, including framing the decision, presenting options and tradeoffs, and driving closure with stakeholders.
Design and implement program mechanisms that scale execution (intake and prioritization, planning templates, release readiness, change management, post-launch reviews).
Lead continuous improvement initiatives based on retrospective insights, operational data, and stakeholder feedback.
Standardize and improve documentation and tooling (Jira/Smartsheet/Confluence) to increase visibility, reduce churn, and improve predictability.