Senior Technical Program Manager – Confluent

IBM; Atlanta (GA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

IBM Software is seeking a Technical Program Manager to coordinate Kafka initiatives across multiple teams and geographies. You will plan, manage dependencies, and shield development teams from chaos to ensure on-schedule delivery of long-range programs.

Ideal candidates bring 4+ years in TPM, strong cloud fundamentals, and proven ability to lead cross-functional projects with stakeholders from Product, Security, and Engineering. A data-driven mindset and excellent communication are essential.

Qualifications

• Prior Technical Program Management experience, a minimum of 4 years, in driving end-to-end lifecycle of complex projects across organizations.
• Experience with JIRA, BigQuery, Google App Scripts.
• Strong technical skills especially knowledge of cloud networking fundamentals.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to use data to drive engineering decisions.
• Experience driving cloud platform engineering cross-functional projects is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Work with stakeholders to drive cross-cutting and critical initiatives for the company.
• Ensure we can deliver projects on time, regularly communicating progress and status to key stakeholders.
• Proactively identify and resolve roadblocks affecting projects.
• Make technical decisions to keep projects running smoothly.
• Work with Engineering, Product, and Security leadership to drive projects on a predictable schedule.
• Run cross-functional meetings and drive decision-making around schedule adjustments, bug triage, and internal and external delivery.
• Engage with engineering and product stakeholders to drive end-to-end execution and align priorities.
• Help Kafka team understand priorities of dependent teams to unblock roadmaps.

Skills

Technical Program Management

Cloud fundamentals

Data-driven decision making

Communication and leadership

JIRA

BigQuery

Google Apps Script

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

JIRA

BigQuery

Google Apps Script

Job description

Introduction

At IBM Software, we transform client challenges into solutions. Building the world’s leading AI-powered, cloud-native products that shape the future of business and society. Our legacy of innovation creates endless opportunities for IBMers to learn, grow, and make an impact on a global scale. Working in Software means joining a team fueled by curiosity and collaboration. You’ll work with diverse technologies, partners, and industries to design, develop, and deliver solutions that power digital transformation. With a culture that values innovation, growth, and continuous learning, IBM Software places you at the heart of IBM’s product and technology landscape. Here, you’ll have the tools and opportunities to advance your career while creating software that changes the world. With Confluent, data doesn’t sit still. We put information in motion, streaming in near real time so organizations can react faster, build smarter, and deliver experiences as dynamic as the world around them

Your role and responsibilities

As a Technical Program Manager (TPM), your day-to-day functions involve juggling multiple Kafka initiatives across numerous teams, stakeholder functions (Product, Security, etc.), and geographies. While closely monitoring dependencies with other orgs, you will also help with planning, prioritization, risk management, stakeholder reporting, operations and tradeoffs. A cross-org view is particularly strategic for managing these projects within the lens of horizontal, multi-quarter projects for cost margin improvements and security-related programs.

Driving these initiatives requires prior experience managing cloud projects, having an operational focus, experience with cross-group dependency management, the ability to deep-dive into technical issues and organizational problem-solving. A big focus for the TPM here would be to shield the development teams from chaos and streamline processes for smooth and successful on‑schedule delivery of long-ranging programs. Programs you own may span complex technical projects involving improving performance and

scalability, multi region DR etc. Hence strong knowledge of cloud fundamentals is necessary to deep‑dive into technical areas to support these programs successfully.

Who you are:

• You are smart, humble, and empathetic.

• You have a strong sense of teamwork and put the team’s and company’s interests first.

• You are driven and excited about the challenges of a fast‑paced, innovative software startup environment with a mindset of getting stuff done!

Responsibilities:

• Work with stakeholders to drive cross‑cutting and critical initiatives for the company.

• Ensure we can deliver projects on time, regularly communicating progress and status to key stakeholders.

• Proactively identify and resolve roadblocks/challenges affecting projects.

• Make technical decisions to keep projects running smoothly.

• Work with Engineering, Product, and Security leadership to streamline and drive projects on a predictable schedule.

• Run cross‑functional meetings and drive decision‑making around schedule adjustments, bug triage, and internal and external partner/customer delivery.

• Take ownership of engaging with various engineering and product stakeholders to drive E2E execution, including understanding potential risks and alignment models for competing priorities.

• Help the Kafka team understand the priorities of other dependent teams, both upstream and downstream, to unblock their roadmap needs.

Required technical and professional expertise

• Prior Technical Program Management experience, a minimum of 4 years, in driving end‑to‑end lifecycle of complex and massive projects across organizations.

• Experience with JIRA, BigQuery, Google App Scripts

• Strong technical skills especially knowledge of cloud networking fundamentals.

• Strong analytical skills. Ability to use data to glean insights and trends and help engineering make better decisions.

• Experience driving cloud platform engineering cross‑functional projects is a big plus.

• Experience driving operations across teams, creating dashboards is also a big plus.

• Strong communication, interpersonal and leadership skills to work with engineering and non‑technical stakeholders.

• Experience in highly agile environments applying JIRA reporting and sprint planning is a big plus.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred technical and professional experience

• Familiarity with Confluent Platform or Apache Kafka.

• Experience building dashboards and reports using JQL, SQL, BigQuery, or Data Studio.

• Background working with or within an SRE, platform engineering, or infrastructure organization.

IBM is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal‑opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, caste, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, veteran status, or other characteristics. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.