Director – Technical Program Management

Position summary:

You will be joining the Engineering team at Sojern as our Director, Technical Program Management. In this critical role, you’ll establish and lead the TPM function, ensuring the timely execution of our development efforts, especially broader strategic efforts that require the coordination and collaboration across multiple teams and, often, across the Sojern organization.

As the first TPM hire, you will not only manage and drive execution across all programs but also define the frameworks, processes, and standards that shape the discipline at Sojern. You will play a pivotal role in creating and refining the processes and operating rhythms that will allow Sojern to maintain its exceptional pace of delivery across the Engineering organization. Over time, you will build and scale a high-performing team of TPMs to support our growing development needs.  Prior to that, you will need to jump in, get your hands dirty, and drive the TPM function forward with the support of Product Managers, Technical Leads, and the Leadership team.

This role is highly cross-functional, requiring you to work across teams, facilitate communication, mitigate blockers, and suggest process improvements that drive measurable impact. You’ll be a trusted leader across not only Product and Engineering, but across all of Sojern, keeping the big picture in focus while also diving deep into technical program details. You will lead the development execution and delivery narrative at the leadership level, synthesizing cross-domain delivery insights, risks, and tradeoff recommendations, and creating visibility for the Engineering team’s impact.

What you will do:

• Define and establish the TPM function at Sojern, including best practices, processes, and frameworks, driving their adoption throughout the organization.
• Over time, build, mentor, and lead a high-performing team of TPMs, coaching senior ICs and creating clear growth paths that strengthen the TPM craft across the organization.
• Champion a culture of continuous improvement within the team, driving ongoing enhancements to program management processes and evolving the operating model as the organization grows.
• Lead and supervise all initiatives across product and technology, strengthening execution excellence and maximizing business impact.
• Communicate development and execution schedules, priorities, risks, and status to leadership and all stakeholders on a regular basis.
• Facilitate end-to-end product lifecycle from discovery to launch in partnership with Product, Engineering, and Operations.
• Lead annual and quarterly planning processes for the Product and Engineering organizations, driving strategic alignment and resource investment across priorities.
• Expose roadblocks, articulate trade-offs, and suggest resolutions, balancing technical, product, and business constraints.
• Exercise strong technical judgment while working with cross-functional teams, guiding and communicating architectural discussions and engineering tradeoffs.
• Contribute to continuous improvement/evolution of development tooling (e.g., Jira, Confluence or equivalents), processes, and organizational best practices, establishing consistent frameworks for status reporting, risk management, roadmap planning, and execution health.

What you bring to the table:

You are a proven technical leader with  deep experience managing complex programs across engineering and product. You have a track record of scaling TPM functions and are able to identify and balance both business and engineering priorities. You’ll need to balance strategic planning with tactical execution, inspire and develop talent, and bring clarity and structure to ambiguous situations. You possess excellent communication and executive presence, with the ability to define clear paths forward and drive execution in ambiguous and complex situations.

• 10+ years of TPM experience, with 6+ years in a senior leadership or people management role.
• Deep, practical experience in handling complex, multi-faceted project portfolios, including execution planning, prioritization, resource optimization, and delivery in a complex, global product environment.
• Experience building and/or scaling a TPM team.
• Exceptional program and stakeholder management, organization, and communication skills across all levels of the organization, from engineers to executives.
• Deep technical understanding of software platforms and ability to partner closely with engineers, translating business requirements into engineering tasks.
• Strong grasp of lean and agile methodologies (scrum, kanban, sprints), with a proven track record of implementing and leading agile practices in software development environments.
• Experience in both startup and enterprise environments, preferably in AdTech or MarTech, with a proven ability to effectively handle multiple competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Proven ability to design new programs/processes and lead change management, creating durable operational systems.
• BS or MS in STEM or equivalent experience.

What we have for you:

We take a whole-person approach to create a Sojernista Experience that allows our people to thrive, not just as employees, but as humans. As an employee of Sojern, you would benefit from this in the following ways:

• Rewards & Recognition: Competitive compensation packages, stock options offered to every employee, Bonusly program to reward and recognize team wins and performance, plus employees can take up to 40 hours of paid time per year to volunteer and give back to the community 
• Flexibility: Flexi-Friday benefit, hybrid or remote work options for most roles, time-zone friendly work hours with async collaboration
• Connection: Team offsites planned annually, six employee resources groups, regular virtual and in office team building events, monthly company All Hands & leadership Q&As
• Wellbeing: PTO allowance to recharge, comprehensive healthcare options, paid parental leave (16 weeks for birthing parents; 12 weeks for non-birthing parents), retirement contributions and investment options (for applicable locations), travel benefits (hotel stay benefit & IATA membership), plus mental health, wellness & financial health resources
• Growth: Learning & development stipend, mentorship program, career development programs, leadership training
• Productivity: Home office tech set up (laptop, monitor, keyboard, mouse), monthly internet and phone allowance, modern tools to communicate and collaborate (Slack, Google Suite)

Our Sojernista First workplace philosophy is designed to take a flexible approach, recognizing that the needs of our employees may differ depending on their role, team, or location. What does not differ is our focus on building genuine connections, increasing global collaboration, and providing programs, tools and resources centered around the needs and wellbeing of our employees, regardless if you are working in an office, hybrid, or fully remote.

About Sojern:

At Sojern, we believe in the power of travel as a way to bring the world together. It is that passion that drives Sojern to build smart digital solutions that help travel marketers reach travelers efficiently, and increase long-term growth, customer loyalty and profitability.

Our customers include hotels, attractions and tourism boards, and they use the power of machine learning, data science and real-time traveler data in Sojern’s products to build direct relationships with travelers across social, mobile and the web. Now, more than ever, our thousands of customers rely on Sojern to drive visits, bookings, and ticket sales by engaging with travelers as they plan their travel.

As a globally distributed company, we are headquartered in San Francisco with employees based in 14 countries and counting. Our team is passionate about travel and the core values that define our culture: Win as a Team, Embrace Inclusion, Be Genuine, Deliver Wow, and Center Around the Customer. Check out our Glassdoor reviews!