Director, Technical Program Management
Director, Technical Program Management
Mission
Architect TPM strategy as principal technical program expert
Tour of Duty
Shape TPM practices that improve delivery
About This Job Family
People in this job family drive complex initiatives across teams and timelines. They coordinate dependencies, manage risks, and ensure that multi-team efforts actually deliver. When programs succeed, it's because someone kept all the pieces moving together.
What You'll Do
Technical Program Managers coordinate complex technical initiatives across engineering teams. They understand the technical architecture, manage dependencies, drive delivery, and ensure alignment between product requirements and engineering execution. Success means technical programs delivered on time with high quality.
- • Architect TPM strategy and practices for engineering
- • Shape technical program priorities with leadership
- • Define TPM standards across the organization
- • Build program frameworks that improve delivery organization-wide
- • Deliver TPM presentations to executive leadership
- • Mentor and coach TPM talent across engineering
Every responsibility is an accomplishment waiting to happen. The question is: will you own the outcome, or just do the task?
Manage a Team?
Great managers are practitioners first. The IC responsibilities above are your foundation—the craft you model for your team. Your management responsibilities are additive:
- • Hire PgMs who influence without authority—programs span org boundaries
- • Coach stakeholder management—alignment is the job
- • Run 1:1s that develop both operational rigor and political savvy
- • Give feedback on program outcomes—not just status report quality
- • Remove blockers—fight for resources, decisions, and cross-team commitments
Your team's accomplishments are your accomplishments. Help them craft S.M.A.R.T wins—specific, measurable, and ready to stand on their own.
AI as an Accelerator
AI isn't a skill we call out. It's invisible in the accomplishment but easily visible in the velocity and scale of your outcomes. Here's how people in this role are accelerating their work with AI:
- → Analyzing program patterns
- → Generating executive materials
- → Building TPM frameworks
Your Career Record
**Your Career Record. Your Portable Proof.**
Log accomplishments as you go — not skills you claim, but work you've shipped. When you're ready for your next chapter, TailorCV turns your track record into a promotion case or tailored resume.
Your career story. Your control.
The Competencies That Matter
Skills fill your toolbox. Competencies are how you wield them. Three matter most at this level:
1. PROGRAM MANAGEMENT (4) Strong Program Management skills required at this level.
2. IT OPERATIONS (3) Strong IT Operations skills required at this level.
3. SOFTWARE ENGINEERING (3) You don't just write code—you design systems. Your technical decisions shape what the team builds.
The radar shows the full picture. These three are where you need to be undeniable.
Your Journey From Here
Going up? Your next Tour of Duty:
→ Senior Director, Technical Program Management - Technical TPM (L7) "Lead TPM through a major platform initiative"
The L6 → L7 gap is about SCALE and INFLUENCE: • From owning a project → shaping how projects get built • From leading work → leading people who lead work • From shipping features → building systems that outlast you
These are your stretch accomplishments. Start doing L7 work now. When you can prove it with accomplishments, you're ready.
Going sideways? That's valid too.
Up isn't the only direction. It's your career. You own it.
Competency Requirements
Competency Shape
- Program Management
- Proficiency: 4
- Software Engineering
- Proficiency: 3
- IT Operations
- Proficiency: 3
- Strategy
- Proficiency: 2
- Quality Engineering
- Proficiency: 1
- Operational Excellence
- Proficiency: 1
See Your Match
Create your free account to see how your accomplishments compare to this role's competency requirements.
Get Started — It's FreeAbout Reference DRS
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Effective Date
July 2025
Related Variants
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