Senior Technical Program Manager

If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:
Grade: Technical 410

Pay Range: $143,700.00 - $222,700.00

Job Description

The Senior Program Manager - Technical leads very complex, multi-team technology programs from concept through delivery, ensuring alignment across engineering, architecture, product, security, and business stakeholders. This role drives and delivers on program strategy, manages technical dependencies at scale, and ensures delivery of high quality, secure, resilient solutions that meet business objectives.

This role blends profound technical understanding with program leadership, Agile methodology expertise, and strong cross functional communication. They anticipate risks, tactfully remove impediments, guide teams through ambiguity, and connect long term program roadmaps to organizational goals. This is a role that operates with complete autonomy and influence, serving as a bridge between large, stratified technical teams and business leaders to ensure technology investments deliver measurable value at scale.

Duties:

- Lead the   end-to-end   planning and delivery of complex, multiteam technology programs, ensuring clear scope,   objectives , and success criteria.

- Partner   and collaborate   with engineering, architecture, product, and business teams to define program requirements, technical direction, and integrated delivery plans.

- Coordinate   cross team   workstreams, manage dependencies, and drive alignment on technical milestones,   sequencing, and key decisions.

- Facilitate Agile and   SAFe   program activities, including PI planning, backlog refinement, dependency management, and program   level retrospectives.

- Identify   and mitigate risks, blockers, and technical challenges early; escalate issues   early,   appropriately ,   and drive resolution.

- Deliver clear, consistent communication of program status, risks, decisions, and impacts to stakeholders and   high-level   leadership.

- Responsible for ensuring   solutions   comply with   enterprise security standards, technical design patterns, and operational readiness requirements.

- Lead and coordinate   change management activities, including training, readiness planning, and   adoption   support for impacted teams.

- Maintain   accurate   program documentation, including roadmaps, decision logs, requirements, risks, and performance metrics.

- Conduct post - implementation validation   with all parties   and help measure program outcomes against expected business value.

- Performs other   job-related   duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities:

- Strong understanding of software development lifecycle, systems architecture, integrations, cloud concepts, and technical design patterns.

- Great   at engaging   with engineering teams,   understand   technical trade offs, and   translate   complex concepts for diverse audiences.

- A bility to manage multi team technical programs using Agile/ SAFe   frameworks.

- Profoundly   skilled   in planning, dependency management, risk management, and   cross   team   coordination.

- Proficient with Jira, Confluence, and other delivery lifecycle and visualization tools.

- Strong   presence,   collaboration ,   and facilitation skills with the ability to lead through influence rather than authority.

- Effective at navigating ambiguity, driving alignment, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

- Excellent verbal and written communication, including the ability to create clear executive summaries.

- Advanced   analytical and   problem-solving   abilities, with a data   informed approach to decision   making.

Qualifications

Education

- Bachelors   Degree in Business , Management Information Systems, Computer Science, or a related field

- Equivalent relevant experience performing the essential functions of this job may substitute for education degree requirements.   Generally, equivalent   relevant experience is defined as 1 year of experience for 1 year of education and is the discretion of the hiring manager.

Experience

- 8 +   years of progressive project management experience

- Proven   experience leading technical projects or programs in an Agile environment.

- Proven ability to   work closely with engineering teams and understand technical architecture concepts.

- Strong experience with Jira, Confluence, or other Agile lifecycle tools.

- Strong experience   influencing without authority in   highly   matrixed organizations.

- Experience managing large-scale, multi-team technical programs   and   initiatives.

Preferred Qualifications

- SAFe , PMP, ACP, CSM, or equivalent Agile/PM certifications.

- E xperience with cloud technologies (Azure, AWS, GCP), APIs, microservices, or enterprise integrations.

Equivalent relevant experience performing the essential functions of this job may substitute for education degree requirements. Generally, equivalent relevant experience is defined as 1 year of experience for 1 year of education and is the discretion of the hiring manager.

This position requires occasional travel of up to 20%, including required attendance at designated company summits (typically one to two per year).   Additional   travel may include conferences, visits to company locations, and other business-related events as needed.    Additional   travel may be assigned as needed to support business requirements.

Position & Application Details

Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It’s not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at [email protected].

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.