Senior Technical Program Manager

Tenarai; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Tenarai is expanding its strategic engineering partnership with a US-based client, embedding engineers in product teams across the US, LATAM, and India. The Technical Program Manager will act as the operational backbone of the engagement and primary interface for client leadership, supporting roughly 70 engineers in seven pods.

You will own staffing operations, engagement health, escalation management, and operational reporting, while client engineering leaders direct day-to-day technical work.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience in software delivery or technology program management.
• Experience leading programs with 30+ engineers, large delivery teams, or vendor engagements.
• Strong staff-augmentation or professional-services operating model experience.
• Staffing pipelines, onboarding, offboarding, and SOW operations expertise.
• Proven success managing senior engineering stakeholders and client relationships.
• Technical knowledge of modern SDLC, AWS, CI/CD, and engineering operations.
• Understanding of agentic AI concepts and translating initiatives into hiring needs.
• Experience coordinating across US, LATAM, and India.
• Based in the San Diego area and available onsite.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end staffing operations for the US engineering team, including demand intake, approvals, onboarding, transitions, and offboarding.
• Serve as the primary day-to-day interface for the client’s engineering leaders.
• Build trusted relationships with client stakeholders and align on staffing, priorities, risks, and expectations.
• Track utilization, onboarding progress, team health, and delivery risks across seven engineering pods.
• Lead monthly account health reviews and provide data-driven updates to leadership.
• Own operational and delivery escalations from identification through resolution.
• Ensure significant escalations receive written follow-through within 24 hours.
• Proactively identify risks before they are raised by the client.
• Collaborate with architects to identify skills and ensure strong team composition.
• Coordinate with LATAM and India managers for cross-geography coverage.
• Maintain scorecards, dashboards, Jira reports, staffing trackers, and engagement metrics.
• Prepare and co-present quarterly business reviews to client and Tenarai leadership.
• Identify opportunities to expand the engagement and support account growth.
• Translate client initiatives, including agentic AI programs, into hiring needs.

Skills

Staff augmentation

Program management

Engineering operations

Staffing pipelines

Escalation management

Executive reporting

SDLC knowledge

AWS cloud

CI/CD

Jira

AI agent concepts

Cross-geography coordination

Stakeholder management

Tools

Jira

Job description

Technical Program Manager – Strategic Engineering Engagement

Work Arrangement: 3 days work from office

Experience: 12+ years

Key Requirements — Please Review Before Applying

Candidates should meet the following core requirements

• 12+ years of experience in software delivery or technology program management
• At least 5 years of experience managing programs with 30+ engineers, large delivery teams, or vendor/GSI engagements
• .Strong experience with the staff-augmentation or professional-services delivery model
• Hands-on understanding of staffing pipelines, resource allocation, utilization, onboarding, offboarding, and SOW operations
• .Experience managing senior client stakeholders, including engineering leaders, directors, and VPs
• Ability to independently manage engagement health, escalations, operational risks, and account reporting
• Working technical knowledge of modern SDLC, AWS cloud platforms, CI/CD, Jira, dashboards, and engineering operations
• .Understanding of agentic AI concepts and the ability to translate client initiatives into engineering skill requirements
• Experience managing globally distributed teams across the US, Latin America, and India
• Must be based in the San Diego area and available for regular onsite presence at the client’s office.

About the Role

Tenarai is rapidly expanding its strategic engineering partnership with a leading US-based client, building a high-performing, globally distributed team across the US, Latin America, and India.

Operating in a staff-augmentation model, Tenarai engineers embed directly within the client’s product teams and contribute to critical technology, platform, and transformation initiatives.

As the Technical Program Manager, you will serve as the operational backbone of the US engagement and the primary point of contact for the client’s engineering leadership. You will support an organization of approximately 70 engineers structured across seven delivery pods.

You will own staffing operations, engagement health, stakeholder alignment, escalation management, and operational reporting, while the client’s engineering leaders continue to direct the teams’ day-to-day technical work.

This role reports to the Account Delivery Lead

Key Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end staffing operations for the US engineering team, including demand intake, position approvals, resource allocation, onboarding, transitions, and offboarding.
• Serve as the primary day-to-day interface for the client’s engineering leaders.
• Build trusted relationships with client stakeholders and maintain alignment on staffing, delivery priorities, risks, and engagement expectations.
• Track utilization, staffing status, onboarding progress, team health, and delivery risks across seven engineering pods.
• Lead monthly account health reviews and provide clear, data-driven updates to internal and client leadership.
• Own operational and delivery escalations from identification through resolution.
• Ensure every significant escalation receives clear written follow-through within 24 hours.
• Proactively identify risks and concerns before they are raised by the client.
• Partner with the horizontal Architect to identify the right technical skills, maintain engineering quality, and support effective team composition.
• Collaborate with the Latin America Project Manager and India Engineering Manager to ensure effective cross-geography coordination and coverage.
• Maintain scorecards, dashboards, Jira reports, staffing trackers, utilization data, and engagement metrics.
• Prepare and co-present quarterly business reviews to client and Tenarai leadership.
• Identify opportunities to expand the engagement and support account growth.
• Translate client technology initiatives, including agentic AI programs, into hiring and capability requirement

Required Skills & Experience

• 12+ years of experience in software delivery, technology program management, engineering operations, or related leadership roles.
• At least 5 years of experience managing programs involving 30 or more engineers, large delivery organizations, or vendor/GSI engagements.
• Strong understanding of the staff-augmentation and professional-services operating model.
• Proven experience managing staffing pipelines, demand intake, resource allocation, utilization, onboarding, offboarding, and SOW-related operations.
• Demonstrated success managing senior engineering stakeholders and maintaining strong client relationships.
• Strong escalation-management skills with the ability to identify, communicate, and resolve operational risks.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including executive-level reporting and presentations.
• Working technical knowledge of modern software development practices, SDLC, AWS cloud platforms, CI/CD, and engineering operations.
• Ability to hold credible conversations with engineering leaders, architects, and technical teams.
• Understanding of agentic AI, AI agents, LLM-based workflows, or AI-enabled engineering initiatives.
• Experience translating business and technology roadmaps into staffing and capability requirements.
• Strong analytical and operational skills, with experience managing scorecards, dashboards, Jira reporting, and engagement metrics.
• Strong ownership mindset with the ability to operate independently and proactively.
• Experience collaborating across teams, geographies, and time zones.
• Based in the San Diego area and available for regular onsite presence at the client’s office

Nice to Have

• PMP, PgMP, or SAFe certification.
• Previous experience working for a technology services company, consulting firm, vendor, or global systems integrator.
• Fintech or financial-services domain experience.
• Experience supporting large-scale cloud, platform, data, or AI engineering programs.
• Experience managing distributed teams across the US, Latin America, and India.

Previous responsibility for account growth, quarterly business reviews, or executive stakeholder management.

What Success Looks Like

• Staffing requests are managed quickly, accurately, and transparently.
• New team members are onboarded smoothly and become productive quickly.
• Utilization, engagement health, and staffing risks are clearly tracked.
• Client stakeholders receive timely and accurate communication.
• Operational issues are identified and addressed before becoming major escalations.
• Cross-geography teams remain aligned and effectively supported.

Leadership has clear visibility into engagement performance, risks, and growth opportunities.

The engagement continues to scale while maintaining a high standard of delivery and client satisfaction.

Why Join Tena r ai

• Lead the operating engine of a strategic, multimillion-dollar engineering engagement.
• Support a large and growing global engineering organization.
• Work directly with senior engineering leaders and executives from both the client and Tenarai.
• Gain exposure to enterprise cloud, platform modernization, and agentic AI initiatives.
• Influence staffing strategy, delivery operations, engagement health, and account growth.
• Build a natural career path toward Delivery Director or Account Delivery Leader positions.

Play a visible role in shaping one of Tenarai’s most important strategic client partnerships.