Principal Technical Program Manager - Alexa

Description

We are looking for a Principal Technical Program Manager to organize, drive, and deliver Amazon-wide programs spanning multiple departments with visibility at the VP+ level. You should be passionate about Alexa+ – Amazon's most ambitious AI assistant – and energized by driving cross-department, cross-functional programs across distributed systems, LLMs, and critical infrastructure. This role requires perseverance, strong technical acumen, and exceptional collaboration skills to lead complex initiatives at scale across thousands of engineers.

Key job responsibilities
You will be responsible for setting up, driving, championing, and successfully delivering large initiatives spanning Alexa, AWS, and AGI – across both device and cloud domains. You will:

- Work directly with VP and key Alexa executives
- Drive the program strategy for large-scale, cross-organizational initiatives spanning Alexa, AWS, and AGI
- Own end-to-end delivery of programs that directly impact Alexa+'s core experience across distributed systems, LLMs, and critical infrastructure
- Establish program frameworks, governance models, and operating mechanisms that scale across thousands of engineers in multiple organizations
- Identify and resolve systemic cross-organizational dependencies, driving alignment across VP-level leadership when priorities conflict
- Define success metrics and accountability mechanisms focused on availability, latency, accuracy, cost-effectiveness, and operational excellence
- Influence technical architecture decisions to ensure programs are set up for long-term scalability and maintainability
- Communicate program status, risks, and strategic trade-offs to VP+ leadership; shape narratives for L10+ reviews
- Build and maintain program roadmaps that connect tactical execution to long-term organizational strategy
- Partner with engineering, science, and QA leadership to ensure technical solutions meet quality and performance bars at scale

A day in the life
You operate at the intersection of strategy and execution, spending your day navigating across organizational boundaries to drive Alexa+'s most critical programs forward. You bring the technical curiosity and learning agility to ramp up on any domain – LLMs, distributed systems, device firmware, cloud infrastructure – deeply enough to arbitrate technical disagreements and unblock teams when they can't resolve it themselves.

Strategic Leadership & VP Partnership

- Start the day syncing with your VP on program priorities, escalations, and strategic trade-offs – you are their trusted partner in navigating cross-org complexity
- Shape the agenda for L10+ leadership reviews, framing technical programs in terms of customer impact and business outcomes
- Make judgment calls on where to invest your time: which escalations to own personally, which to delegate, and which to let teams resolve independently
Cross-Organizational Influence

- Drive alignment across Directors and VPs in Alexa, AWS, and AGI when organizations have competing priorities or conflicting technical approaches
- Facilitate high-stakes technical and strategic discussions – not just driving consensus, but making recommendations and influencing decisions
- Operate as the connective tissue between device, cloud, and AI/ML organizations – translating constraints and priorities across domains
Technical Depth & Execution

- Learn technical domains quickly and deeply enough to arbitrate disagreements between engineering teams and unblock stalled decisions
- Deep-dive into technical designs, architecture reviews, and engineering plans – understanding trade-offs well enough to broker the right path forward
- Identify systemic risks and dependencies that no single team can see, then drive mitigation strategies across organizations
- Review program metrics (availability, latency, quality) and take action when trajectories diverge from targets
Driving Outcomes at Scale

- Unblock programs that are stuck – whether the issue is technical, organizational, or political
- Hold teams accountable to commitments while maintaining the relationships that make cross-org collaboration work
- Continuously refine operating mechanisms – knowing when a process is helping and when it's become overhead

Basic Qualifications

- 10+ years of engineering experience
- 7+ years of technical product or program management experience
- 5+ years of software development experience
- Experience managing programs across cross functional teams, building processes and coordinating release schedules
- Experience managing programs spanning engineering department with complex cross-dependencies, concurrent workstreams, and VP/Director-level stakeholder management
- Experience actively participating in and driving architecture and design decisions (design patterns, reliability, scaling) — with the technical depth and engagement to challenge, contribute, and unblock rather than simply reviewing from the sidelines
- Demonstrated ability to decompose ambiguous, large-scale platform initiatives into executable program plans with clear milestones and dependency chains
- Knowledge about Cloud operations and Architecture at scale
- Strong understanding of AI/ML, LLMs, and agentic systems — with a track record of applying these technologies to improve team productivity at the program, process, or development level
- Strong written communication skills with experience authoring narratives, program strategies, and technical documents for senior leadership audiences
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, a related technical field or equivalent

Preferred Qualifications

- Experience with device-side technologies: operating systems, device operations, OTA updates, firmware delivery pipelines
- Knowledge of capacity planning, forecasting, and infrastructure scaling
- Experience with language-side server architectures (NLU, ASR, TTS, or LLM inference serving)

Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.

Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations for more information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.

The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.