Technical Program Manager

Program Manager - Technical

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.

Job Description

The Program Manager - Technical leads complex, multi-team technology programs from concept through delivery, ensuring alignment across engineering, architecture, product, security, and business stakeholders. This role drives program strategy manages technical dependencies at scale, and ensures delivery of high quality, secure, resilient solutions that meet business objectives. This role blends deep technical understanding with program leadership, Agile methodology expertise, and strong cross functional communication. They anticipate risks, remove impediments, guide teams through ambiguity, and connect long term program roadmaps to organizational goals. This is a role that operates with broad autonomy and influence, serving as a bridge between technical teams and business leaders to ensure technology investments deliver measurable value.

Duties:

• Lead the end-to-end planning and delivery of complex, multiteam technology programs, ensuring clear scope, objectives, and success criteria.
• Partner 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 appropriately and drive resolution.
• Deliver clear, consistent communication of program status, risks, decisions, and impacts to stakeholders and leadership.
• Ensure solutions comply with enterprise security standards, technical design patterns, and operational readiness requirements.
• Support 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 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.
• Ability to engage with engineering teams, understand technical trade-offs, and translate complex concepts for diverse audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multi team technical programs using Agile/ SAFe frameworks.
• Skilled in planning, dependency management, risk management, and cross team coordination.
• Proficient with Jira, Confluence, and other delivery lifecycle and visualization tools.
• Strong 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.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, with a data informed approach to decision making.

AI & Innovation Expectations:

• Hands-on experience using AI tools such as Claude, Kiro, ChatGPT, or similar in a professional context.
• Demonstrated ability to apply AI to: improve workflows, automate repetitive tasks, enhance decision-making.
• Strong curiosity and adaptability in adopting emerging AI technologies.
• Ability to guide teams in integrating AI into daily practices responsibly and effectively.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor's 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

• 6+ years of progressive project management experience.
• Demonstrated experience leading technical projects or programs in an Agile environment.
• Experience working closely with engineering teams and understanding technical architecture concepts.
• Strong experience with Jira, Confluence, or other Agile lifecycle tools.
• Experience influencing without authority in matrixed organizations.
• Experience managing large-scale, multi-team technical programs or initiatives.

Preferred Qualifications

• SAFe, PMP, ACP, CSM, or equivalent Agile/PM certifications.
• Experience 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 View email address on click.appcast.io.

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