Senior Program Manager, Partner Programs

Stellar Development Foundation; United States; Hybrid; USD 145,000 - 195,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

Parental leave

Gym reimbursement

401K with match

HSA contributions

Commuter benefits

Wellbeing benefits

Company retreats

Lunch & snacks

Job summary

Stellar Development Foundation seeks a Senior Program Manager, Partner Programs to coordinate across Engineering, BD, Marketing, Product, and Account Management. You will own partner integration roadmaps and drive multi-partner success within the Stellar ecosystem.

You will lead meetings, manage dependencies, and document milestones while aligning with company OKRs. Travel to the Americas/Europe and a startup-friendly, ambiguous environment are expected.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience managing software development programs in the financial services industry, possibly in a blockchain startup or small-company environment.
• Comfort engaging in technical discussions — APIs, integration flows, system dependencies — to coordinate with engineering and translate between technical and business stakeholders.
• Familiarity with blockchain/crypto concepts or ability to ramp quickly on a complex technical domain.
• A habit of using AI tools to draft and summarize documentation, accelerate research, and automate workflows.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Excellent leadership and organizational skills, with ability to manage multiple partners and workflows.
• Experience with Jira, Airtable, Asana, Confluence, and Google Suite.

Responsibilities

• Manage, plan, and direct software and product development activities from launch to completion, ensuring on-time delivery and high quality.
• Own long-term partner integration roadmaps and the success of multiple partners within the Stellar ecosystem.
• Host and drive partner meetings with technical and business stakeholders.
• Identify and manage technical dependencies and blockers across partner and internal teams.
• Maintain partner-related documentation including milestone plans, dependencies, schedules, risks, and meeting notes.
• Measure program performance and OKRs; define processes and templates for adoption across the org.
• Advocate for partners while supporting the company's mission and flexibility in a startup setting.

Skills

Program management

Technical coordination

Stakeholder management

Leadership

Communication

AI tools

Travel readiness

Tools

Jira

Airtable

Asana

Confluence

Google Suite

Job description

Interested in working on cutting-edge blockchain technology and creating equitable access to the global financial system? Since 2014, the mission-driven team at the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has helped fuel the tremendous growth of the Stellar blockchain network, an open-source platform that operates at high-scale today. Developers and companies around the world build on it, and the SDF team is expanding to support the rapidly growing and changing Stellar ecosystem.

The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is looking for a talented and experienced Senior Program Manager, Partner Programs to help key partners integrate with the Stellar Network. In this role, you will coordinate across our partners and internal stakeholders (Engineering, BD, Marketing, Product, Account Management) to build innovative blockchain solutions. SDF's partners span the globe and include some of the most innovative software and financial companies in the world.

In this role, you will:

• Manage, plan, and direct software and product development activities from launch to completion, with overall responsibility for delivering on time and at high quality.

• Own long-term partner integration roadmaps and the success of multiple partners in the Stellar ecosystem.

• Host and drive partner meetings with technical and business stakeholders.

• Identify and manage technical dependencies and blockers across partner and internal engineering teams.

• Maintain partner-related documentation, including milestone plans, dependencies, schedules, risks, and meeting notes.

• Measure program performance, analyzing the successful completion of short- and long-term goals against company and team OKRs.

• Define process frameworks, program plan templates, tools, and best practices that can be adopted throughout the organization.

You have:

• 7+ years of experience managing software development programs in the financial services industry, some of which took place in a blockchain startup or small-company environment.

• Comfort engaging in technical discussions — APIs, integration flows, system dependencies — enough to coordinate credibly with engineering, track technical risks and blockers, and translate fluidly between technical and business stakeholders. You don't need to write the code, but you need to understand what's being built well enough to drive it.

• Familiarity with blockchain/crypto concepts, or a demonstrated ability to ramp quickly on a complex, unfamiliar technical domain.

• A habit of using AI tools to work smarter — you look for ways to apply AI to your day-to-day, whether that's drafting and summarizing documentation, accelerating research, streamlining reporting, or automating repetitive workflows, and you're eager to help the team do the same.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Excellent leadership skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with partners from various backgrounds and positions.

• Great organizational skills, including attention to detail, multitasking, and creating and instituting processes to streamline workflows.

• Experience with program and project management tools like Jira, Airtable, Asana, Confluence, and Google Suite.

• An independent nature and results-driven attitude — you're good at identifying priorities and working in an environment with dynamic objectives.

• A knack for problem-solving — you have an eye for untold problems in the program life cycle and create solutions to minimize or mitigate them.

• An aptitude for advocating for partners while supporting the company's mission.

• Willingness to travel as needed (mostly to the Americas/Europe).

• Enthusiasm for working in a startup environment with some level of ambiguity and wearing multiple hats.

Bonus Points if (optional):

• You have a deeper curiosity about new blockchain technologies (for example, DeFi, Earn, contract tokens) and cryptocurrencies.

• You have worked directly with external partners in the capacity of program manager, project manager, delivery manager, technical program manager or consultant.

We offer competitive pay with a base salary range for this position of $145,000 - $195,000 depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and location. In addition, we offer lumen-denominated grants along with the following perks and benefits:

USA Benefits/Perks:

• Competitive health, dental & vision coverage with most plans covered at 100% for the employee + any dependents

• Flexible time off + 15 company holidays including a company-wide holiday break

• Generous paid parental leave for all parents, plus paid pregnancy disability leave for birthing parents

• Gym reimbursement ($80 per month)

• Life & ADD (up to $50K)

• Short & Long term disability

• 401K with 4% match

• Health & Dependent Care FSA Accounts

• Commuter benefits with $250/month employer contribution

• Health Savings Account (HSA) with monthly employer contribution

• Family building benefits through Kindbody

• Wellbeing benefits (One Medical, Rightway, Headspace)

• L&D budget of $1,500/year

• Daily lunch and snacks in the office

• Company retreats

#LI-Hybrid

About Stellar

Stellar is more than a blockchain. Powered by a decentralized, fast, scalable, and uniquely sustainable network made for financial products and services and a thriving and passionate ecosystem that includes a non-profit organization driven by a mission, Stellar is paving the path to unlock the world’s economic potential through blockchain technology. Built with speed and low costs in mind, the Stellar network provides builders and financial institutions worldwide a platform to issue assets, and to send and convert currencies in real time creating real world utility. Founded in 2014, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) supports the continued development and growth of the Stellar network and also serves the ecosystem of NGOs, corporations, universities, small businesses, governments, and solo entrepreneurs building on the Stellar network through tooling, funding and strategic collaborations. Together, Stellar is where blockchain meets the real world.

About the Stellar Development Foundation

The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is a non-profit organization focused on working with and supporting change-makers to create equitable access to the global financial system through blockchain technology. SDF provides grants, investments, funding, and other awards to builders and organizations. SDF also develops resources and tooling on the Stellar network to help unlock real world utility. As a nonprofit foundation, SDF puts the health of the Stellar network and the Stellar ecosystem and its mission above all else.

We look forward to hearing from you!

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