Senior Manager, Product & Design Talent Programs

Toast; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 153,000 - 245,000; Full time

Job summary

Toast in Boston seeks a Senior Program Manager, R&D Talent Programs, to own the internship and early‑career talent initiatives end‑to‑end. You will partner with Early Careers and Recruitment to structure cohorts, align on headcount and timelines, and build an enduring talent pipeline for Product and Design leadership.

The role sits in R&D Operations and offers scope to expand programs across functions, with a focus on strategy, execution, and leveraging AI to accelerate discovery and hiring.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience across talent programs, early career or university recruiting, program management, or R&D/Product Operations.
• You have built and scaled a talent program.
• MBA or university/early-career recruiting experience strongly preferred.
• Exceptional program management with multiple parallel workstreams and strict deadlines.
• Ability to influence executives and stakeholders without authority.
• Strong written and verbal communication; ability to translate complexity for diverse audiences.

Responsibilities

• Own the Product and Design internship/early-career programs: design, structure, timeline, deliverables, and intern experience.
• Size and secure intern headcount each cycle; partner with Early Careers/Recruitment on hiring plans and evaluation criteria.
• Build world-class programming: onboarding, executive speaker series, intern showcase, capstone presentations, and cohort culture.
• Design the conversion process: evaluation frameworks and compensation packages.
• Keep stakeholders aligned on program direction, budget, and placement.
• Represent Product at university engagements; source market intelligence with Recruitment.
• Run end-of-cycle retrospectives and plan next year’s scalable, multi-function leadership pipeline.
• Design and build new talent programs over time to address R&D gaps.
• Embrace and advocate AI tools to accelerate product discovery and improve processes.

Skills

Program management

Stakeholder alignment

Communication

Influence without authority

Talent programs

Early careers/recruiting

Education

MBA

Job description

Toast in Boston seeks a Senior Program Manager, R&D Talent Programs, to own the internship and early‑career talent initiatives end‑to‑end. You will partner with Early Careers and Recruitment to structure cohorts, align on headcount and timelines, and build an enduring talent pipeline for Product and Design leadership.

The role sits in R&D Operations and offers scope to expand programs across functions, with a focus on strategy, execution, and leveraging AI to accelerate discovery and hiring.