Program Manager

What You Will Do
PDLC Adoption and Change Enablement

Operate as an embedded PDLC practitioner, modeling the framework and helping cross-functional partners understand why it exists and how to use it
Coach engineering and product management team members on PDLC practices by meeting them where they are, not where the playbook says they should be
Build trust through consistency, follow-through, and genuine partnership, not process authority
Communicate the value of the PDLC to engineering clearly and often: reduced context-switching, clearer scope handoffs, fewer rebuilds, better predictability

PDLC Framework Contribution and Development

Partner with the VP of PgM to build, document, and refine processes, templates, stage gate criteria, and governance standards
Develop and maintain playbooks and documentation that make the PDLC accessible across Product Management and Engineering
Translate on-the-ground experience into framework improvements

End-to-End Program Management

Own the full lifecycle of assigned programs from Discovery through Grow: scope, timelines, milestones, dependencies, and deliverables at every stage
Build program plans that give Product Management, Engineering, Design, QA, and Go-to-Market a shared view of what is happening, what is next, and who owns what
Stay ahead of risks and blockers; bring well-reasoned options to the VP before problems compound
Facilitate kick-offs, stage gate reviews, cross-functional syncs, and retrospectives to drive clear outcomes and documented next steps every time

Cross-Functional Alignment and Communication

Serve as the day-to-day coordination point between Product Management, Engineering, Design, QA, and Go-to-Market for programs in your portfolio
Surface and resolve cross-team misalignments and dependency conflicts before they impact delivery

Reporting and Documentation

Maintain accurate, up-to-date program documentation throughout the full lifecycle
Treat documentation as a core part of program quality in order to make programs reproducible, learnable, and increasingly agent-ready

Requirements
5-8 years of program management experience in software, at the program level across multiple teams
Cross-functional programs through multiple phases of a product or software development lifecycle
Embedded directly within engineering and/or product management teams, not a centralized PMO
Participated in or drove a process or operating model change
Fluency with Atlassian (Jira/Confluence), Notion, and/or Adobe Workfront
B2B SaaS or enterprise software experience strongly preferred

Preferred Experience

Dual-track agile, Shape Up, OKR-based planning, or similar lean frameworks
Product management discovery concepts: opportunity mapping, user story mapping, hypothesis-driven development
Supported both product management and engineering within the same organization
High-growth or PE-backed software environment

Skills and Attributes

Drives alignment through credibility and partnership, not role authority
Understands why a process step exists and can explain it plainly to skeptical teams
Decomposes complex initiatives into legible phases without over-engineering
Genuinely curious about AI and already using it
Treats friction as information, not failure
Cares about the outcome more than the credit

Education

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required
PMP, CSM, PMI-ACP, or equivalent a plus