Director, Technical Program Management

Snap Snap · Consumer · Palo Alto, CA +3

Director of Technical Program Management at Snap, leading a TPM organization and critical cross-functional programs spanning software and hardware engineering, data analytics, and organizational execution. Focuses on strategy, roadmap shaping, architectural decisions, and operational rhythm in a consumer technology environment. Requires strong leadership, technical insight, and execution precision.

What you'd actually do

  1. Build, lead, and scale a lean, high-impact TPM organization while personally owning the most critical cross-functional programs that span multiple engineering organizations and require deep technical understanding, rigorous execution, and strategic influence.
  2. Manage ambiguity, cross-org dependencies, and alignment in a resource-constrained environment.
  3. Partner with engineering leads on strategy and full lifecycle of key programs - from ideation through execution to operational excellence.
  4. Partner at the executive level with engineering and product leadership to shape multi-year roadmaps, influence architectural trade-offs, and drive accountability across the company.
  5. Leverage data-driven insights to inform decisions, uncover systemic opportunities, and communicate clearly with senior stakeholders.

Skills

Required

  • Bachelor's in a technical field (computer science, mathematics, statistics or equivalent years of experience)
  • 10+ years of experience spanning Engineering / Technical Program Management
  • leading cross-functional efforts in consumer hardware, software, or the broader tech industry in a data-driven environment
  • 5+ years managing a team in a corporate environment
  • Proven track record of leading large-scale, ambiguous programs across distributed teams
  • Experience in fast-paced, cross-functional environments, especially in consumer technology
  • Experience with data visualization tools (e.g. Grafana, Looker, Tableau) building dashboards
  • Experience with source control (e.g. GitHub)
  • Experience with ticket management (e.g. JIRA)
  • Ability to operate with high visibility and accountability
  • Demonstrated ability to quickly learn new domains, systems, and technologies
  • Excellent communication, organizational, and leadership skills

Nice to have

  • Experience working directly with engineers and contributing to technical design, architectural trade-offs, and roadmap planning
  • Background in software and/or hardware engineering
  • Experience managing production systems, reliability initiatives, or cost optimization programs
  • Exposure to high-scale consumer technology or social platforms with strong privacy, performance, or safety requirements
  • Strong storytelling and presentation skills—especially with senior engineering or executive audiences
  • Masters or PhD in a highly analytical field

What the JD emphasized

  • lean, high-impact TPM organization
  • most critical cross-functional programs
  • deep technical understanding
  • rigorous execution
  • strategic influence
  • Manage ambiguity
  • resource-constrained environment
  • full lifecycle of key programs
  • executive level
  • shape multi-year roadmaps
  • architectural trade-offs
  • drive accountability
  • data-driven insights
  • senior stakeholders
  • automation, internal tooling, and platform improvements
  • engineering velocity and reliability
  • development programs (with complex interdependencies)
  • platform excellence programs (focused on reliability, efficiency, performance, and cost optimization)
  • operating rhythm of the business
  • scale effectively
  • cost-conscious and performant
  • Recruit, mentor, develop, and grow TPMs and engineers
  • organizational capability
  • multiply impact with limited headcount
  • 10+ years of experience spanning Engineering / Technical Program Management
  • leading cross-functional efforts
  • consumer hardware, software, or the broader tech industry
  • data-driven environment
  • 5+ years managing a team
  • proven track record of leading large-scale, ambiguous programs
  • distributed teams
  • fast-paced, cross-functional environments
  • consumer technology
  • Experience with data visualization tools
  • building dashboards
  • Comfort operating with high visibility and accountability
  • thrive on ownership and impact
  • Demonstrated ability to quickly learn new domains, systems, and technologies
  • Excellent communication, organizational, and leadership skills
  • Experience working directly with engineers
  • contributing to technical design
  • architectural trade-offs
  • roadmap planning
  • background in software and/or hardware engineering
  • managing production systems
  • reliability initiatives
  • cost optimization programs
  • high-scale consumer technology or social platforms
  • strong privacy, performance, or safety requirements
  • Strong storytelling and presentation skills
  • senior engineering or executive audiences
  • Masters or PhD in a highly analytical field