Principal Technical Program Manager - REMOTE

Principal Technical Program Manager 

This is a 100% fully remote role. Work virtually from anywhere in the U.S 

Varis is a well-funded and fast-growing technology startup. Our incredible team includes top industry leaders with decades of experience. We are innovation driven, customer centric, and ready to transform eProcurement. Our culture is focused on bold vision, launching the simplest (yet still valuable) initial solution to learn, then either failing or scaling fast. We seek teammates who drive value creation, are great problem solvers, have strong interpersonal savvy, and can successfully learn on the fly!  Joining us now is a ground-floor opportunity to shape our limitless future. On our team you will: see and feel the direct impact of your work; be surrounded by passionate people; learn how to be an entrepreneur; and be at the center of a highly dynamic business model with tremendous individual and collective potential.

As a Principal Technical Program Manager (TPM), you will be responsible for leading programs that span multiple organizations within Varis, the successful delivery of technology solutions that achieve program objectives and delight our customers.  This role requires strong product, technical, analytical, program management, communication, and interpersonal skills. You will be working with a cross-functional team of product managers, UX designers, and engineering teams and frequently communicate with key stakeholders and Varis leadership. To be successful in this role, you will need to define program objectives and roadmaps, breakdown programs into projects, work with product managers and UX designers to define the requirements and customer experience, partner with engineering leads to create system designs that meet functional and non-functional requirements, and break up programs into Workstreams, Epics and stories across multiple teams following Agile practices. During project execution, you will be responsible for resolving issues, managing risks, and providing regular updates on overall status.  

Primary Responsibilities: 

• Management of a program space, including defining program goals and objectives, breaking down the program into executable projects, and building a multi-year program roadmap. 

• Defines and builds the end-to-end technology solution; leads cross functional teams on requirements, system designs, user experience designs, implementation, testing, and feature launches following an Agile development process.  
• Ensures projects run efficiently by proactively, identifying and mitigating risks, managing and resolving issues, and removing barriers slowing teams down.  
• Manages and communicates status to stakeholders, including Varis's executive leadership. 
• Partners with leadership to define and execute multi-year roadmaps. 
• Collaborates with Varis leadership and other program leads to align on priorities and sequencing of efforts across projects for efficiency and customer impact.  

• Contributes to improving the TPM practice at Varis by sharing experiences, defining best practices, and mentoring others.  

Education & Experience 

• Level of Formal Education: Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience 
• Area of Study: Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science or related technical field, or the equivalent in work experience. 
• Years of Experience: Minimum 10 years of experience in related field 

Type of Experience: 

• A minimum of 10 years of experience leading cross functional projects.  
• A minimum of 7 years of experience in the following areas: 
• Software development lifecycle and system design 
• Translating functional and non-functional requirements to system requirements 
• Agile methodology 

Technical Competencies: 

• Program Management 
• Project Management 
• System Design 
• Technical Design 
• Analytical thinking 
• Risk & issue management 
• Roadmap planning 

Skills and Ability: 

• Analytical Skills: demands superior analytical skills; must be able to break down complex and ambiguous problems, collect and analyze data, apply critical thinking, come up with options, refine solutions, and make decisions.  
• Communication Skills: this position regularly makes presentations to stakeholders and leadership and requires excellent verbal and written communication skills. Must be able to summarize, articulate, present, and defend information to the stakeholders in a way they can relate to and easily understand. 
• Program Management: ability to define and manage program objectives, break down large, complex programs into clearly defined projects, and sequence projects into a multi-year roadmap that achieves program objectives.  
• Project Management: ability to perform high level estimation, break down projects into Epics and User Stories across multiple engineering teams, work with teams to deliver incrementally following Agile practices, manage dependencies, identify and mitigate risks and issues, and provide updates on status. 

• Technical Skills: ability to do technical software design across multiple developments teams and organizations. Must be able to negotiate and solve technical issues spanning multiple engineering teams and disciplines.  
• Interpersonal/People Skills: the ability to build trust with cross-functional team members, facilitate collaboration, and build relationships are necessary to be successful in this role. You should not be troubled by disagreements and be able to apply different strategies to work through them.  
• Leadership Qualities: Ability to continuously drive results, display a high level of confidence not just in self but in other people as well, inspire and motivate team performance.  Demonstrate an ability to navigate complex situations and tasks with calmness and composure, setting an example for others. Ability to identify, attract, and develop team talent. 

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by associates assigned to this classification and are not intended to be a complete list of all required responsibilities and skills. Other duties and special projects may be assigned per business needs. Job descriptions are subject to change at any time with or without notice. Varis is wholly owned by The ODP Corporation, which is the legal employer of Varis associates. ODP is an Equal Opportunity Employer.