Principal Technical Program Manager

Elastic, the Search AI Company, enables everyone to find the answers they need in real time, using all their data, at scale — unleashing the potential of businesses and people. The Elastic Search AI Platform, used by more than 50% of the Fortune 500, brings together the precision of search and the intelligence of AI to enable everyone to accelerate the results that matter. By taking advantage of all structured and unstructured data — securing and protecting private information more effectively — Elastic’s complete, cloud-based solutions for search, security, and observability help organizations deliver on the promise of AI.

As a Principal Technical Program Manager in Elastic Engineering, you’ll shape this emerging function, collaborating with Platform engineering leadership to deliver key outcomes. This role involves engaging with stakeholders and providing clear, high-visibility communication across engineering and platform teams.

Our diverse, globally distributed team collaborates daily through GitHub, Zoom, Google Docs, Jira, and Slack.

What You Will Be Working On:

• Strategic Program Leadership: Take ownership of scoping and delivering complex, high-impact software development programs from inception to successful launch. Lead multi-product initiatives with a focus on engineering excellence, ensuring optimal quality and timely market delivery. Make high-stakes trade-offs between scope, resources, and timelines while clearly communicating goals, responsibilities, and outcomes to cross-functional and remote teams
• Cross-Functional Influence: Collaborate with Product Management to integrate product objectives and roadmaps into a comprehensive engineering strategy. Partner with product and engineering leadership to drive consensus and make informed decisions on key technical outcomes, leveraging deep technical expertise to navigate trade-offs and technical nuances.
• Cultural Leadership: Foster a culture of mutual respect, collaboration, and data-driven decision-making within the engineering department. As a Principal TPM, set a high standard for the role, influence the evolution of TPM practices, and pave the way for future investments in software development excellence.
• Program Reporting and Communication: Develop and implement reporting frameworks to provide clear, actionable updates to the leadership team on program status, risks, issues, and successes. Act as a catalyst for advancing our product and technology strategy, driving change and influencing organizational direction with a focus on software development.
• Global Coordination: Lead cross-functional teams of product managers, designers, and software engineers to deliver high-quality software products. Identify and manage cross-team dependencies, ensuring cohesive integration and execution across different time zones and regions.
• Accountability and Follow-Through: Implement and enforce rigorous processes for tracking program progress and ensuring follow-up on action items. Develop mechanisms to monitor and drive task completion, ensuring that all team members adhere to agreed timelines and deliverables. Demonstrate a strong commitment to fulfilling obligations and resolving issues promptly to maintain program momentum.

 

What You Will Bring Along:

• Experience: 10+ years of technical program management experience in enterprise software development, with a proven track record of managing and delivering large-scale, complex software programs. Demonstrated success in engineering-focused environments, as opposed to non-engineering fields.
• Leadership: Proven ability to influence and align senior stakeholders and peers across various cross-functional teams in software engineering. Strong expertise in leading software development initiatives and delivering impactful results.
• Technical Acumen: Extensive expertise in enterprise software with the ability to understand and navigate complex technical landscapes. Strong understanding of software development methodologies, design patterns, and system design, enabling effective communication and collaboration with development teams.
• Communication Skills: Exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to tailor messaging to diverse audiences, including technical, business, and executive stakeholders.
• Global Team Management: Significant experience managing globally distributed software engineering teams in remote environments, ensuring effective collaboration and cohesive execution across distributed time zones.
• Problem-Solving: Strong problem-solving skills with a focus on proactively addressing and overcoming obstacles to achieve succes