Senior Technical Program Manager, Operational Excellence - USDS

TikTok USDS Joint Venture; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 132,000 - 314,000; Full time

Job summary

TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is seeking a Senior Technical Program Manager, Operational Excellence to partner with senior leadership and drive end-to-end programs across Security and IT, with a focus on OKRs, KPIs, governance, and efficient operation.

You will develop tools and dashboards, surface risks, and lead cross-functional initiatives to improve execution quality and cost structures while aligning with US compliance mandates.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 5+ years of experience in technical program management, program management, or project management in security, infrastructure, enterprise technology, or similarly complex technical environments.
• Experience building programs from kick-off to close, planning and leading large cross-functional initiatives with multiple stakeholders, dependencies, and executive visibility.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the S&P senior leadership team to drive change management efforts by identifying areas for strategic change, leading large-scale transformation and efficiency programs, defining the overall transformation journey in collaboration with leadership, setting milestones, and determining success metrics.
• Build cohesive tooling and maintain dashboards unifying success/failure metrics for all of S&P.
• Collaborate with Chief Security Officer and S&P leadership to provide data-backed insights that drive strategic decisions and prioritization.
• Own the Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs), executive program reviews, and related narratives from content formation through delivery to senior leadership.
• Analyze and anticipate needs from compliance and operational standpoints, internal capabilities, and opportunities to provide data-backed insights that influence S&P strategic direction.
• Identify organizational and operational inefficiencies, redesign processes, optimize systems, and lead cross-functional initiatives to drive improvements in operational excellence.
• Develop and maintain KPIs and OKRs, and regularly report progress to leadership using data-driven insights.

Skills

Data analysis

Cross-functional collaboration

Executive communication

Change management

Process improvement

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Dashboards

Job description

Responsibilities

About the Team

The Security and Information Technology team is missioned to run and operate security infrastructures, platforms and technologies, as well as to support cross-functional teams to protect our users, products and infrastructures. In this team you'll have a unique opportunity to have first-hand exposure to the strategy of the company in key security initiatives, especially in deploying and maintaining scalable and secure‑by‑design systems and solutions. Our challenges are not your regular day‑to‑day technical problems; you'll be part of a team that's developing new solutions to new challenges of a kind not previously addressed by big tech. It's working fast, at scale, and we're making a difference.

About the Role

The Senior Technical Program Manager, Operational Excellence will report to the Head of Security and Information Technology in USDS and will be a core member of the team that connects cross‑functional business initiatives and creates the operating mechanisms, governance, and processes required for productivity, progress tracking, and efficiency. The team's primary goals are to actualize the Security and Privacy's strategic vision by executing business strategy with low security and privacy (S&P) risks, efficient cost structures, and within the parameters of U.S. compliance mandates.

The Senior Technical Program Manager, Operational Excellence will focus on meeting business and service expectations through continuous improvement of S&P operating rhythms, OKR and KPI development and tracking, and end-to-end program leadership. This leader will work with technical teams to develop tools and dashboards to track progress, surface risk, identify organizational weak spots, and drive remediation that improves efficiency, and execution quality. The Program Manager will develop a deep understanding of the entire S&P organization, independently lead essential cross‑functional programs, and partner with senior leadership to translate strategy into measurable outcomes. The ideal candidate brings strong judgment, executive presence, entrepreneurial problem solving, and the ability to think both strategically and tactically to break down complex problems into scalable solutions.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the S&P senior leadership team to drive change management efforts by identifying areas for strategic change, leading large‑scale transformation and efficiency programs, defining the overall transformation journey in collaboration with leadership, setting milestones, and determining success metrics.
• Build cohesive tooling and maintain dashboards unifying success/failure metrics for all of S&P.
• Collaborate with Chief Security Officer, Head of Security and Information Technology, and S&P leadership to provide data‑backed insights and recommendations that drive strategic decisions and prioritization.
• Own the Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs), executive program reviews, and related narratives from content formation through delivery to senior leadership and peers.
• Analyze and anticipate needs from compliance and operational standpoints, internal capabilities, and potential opportunities to provide data‑backed insights that influence S&P strategic direction.
• Identify organizational and operational inefficiencies, uncover root causes and weak spots, and develop targeted remediation plans. This includes redesigning processes, optimizing systems, and leading cross‑functional initiatives to drive measurable improvements in operational excellence.
• Develop and maintain key performance metrics, including KPIs and OKRs, to track the success of strategic and operational efforts. Regularly report progress to the Security Officer and other senior leaders, using data‑driven insights to inform decisions, drive accountability, and help eliminate unnecessary or low‑impact work.
• Primary Responsibilities
• Project Management: Lead end‑to‑end execution of critical priorities. Examples:
• Replacement of Security and IT commercial tools with internal alternatives
• Drive cross‑functional realignment of the operating model
• Driving towards meeting our Money Transmission Licensing (MTL) compliance requirements for both Security and IT.
• Business Operations & Reporting:
• Help translate organizational and company priorities into specific OKRs, key metrics, and execution plans.
• Organize S&P Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs).
• Track, manage, and report on OKRs and quarterly performance metrics across the organization.
• Help prepare Board materials and internal presentations for leadership reviews and decision‑making.
• Efficiency:
• S&P PMO will work with functional leads and XFN stakeholders to identify efficiency opportunities, translate to action plans and drive the delivery to unlock financial/personnel/time savings. Identify resourcing needs (FTE, TPA, BPO) for strategic initiatives while assessing impact to S&P financials

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and 5+ years of experience in technical program management, program management, or project management in security, infrastructure, enterprise technology, or similarly complex technical environments.
• Experience building programs from kick-off to close, specifically planning and leading large, cross‑functional initiatives with multiple stakeholders, dependencies, and executive visibility.
• Demonstrated ability to operate independently, earn the trust of senior leaders, and influence organizations without direct authority along with demonstrated ability and comfort with data analysis for the purpose of storytelling, consensus‑building, and executive decision support.
• Strong problem‑solving skills along with excellent writing and editing skills, with experience writing for different audiences, including senior leadership.
• Extremely versatile, dedicated to efficiency, optimization, and streamlining process and work while working in a fast‑paced environment with little room for error; highly organized, detail‑oriented, able to work with limited oversight, and proactive in identifying issues and opportunities.
• Ability to communicate complex concepts to broader stakeholders without shared subject matter expertise.
• Comfortable presenting and communicating across all levels of leadership.

About USDS

TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC is dedicated to the safety and security of millions of Americans who create, discover, and connect with what they love on the apps we operate. The Joint Venture has been established in compliance with the Executive Order signed by President Trump on September 25, 2025. Our foundation is a comprehensive data privacy and cybersecurity program we operate under defined safeguards to protect national security and secure U.S. user data, apps and the algorithm. We safeguard the U.S. content ecosystem, holding decision‑making authority for trust and safety policies and moderation. USDS Joint Venture helps ensure Americans can continue to express their creativity, discover new hobbies and interests, and build thriving communities and businesses on a global scale.

On‑site presence across teams allows the company to operate with greater speed, alignment, and agility — especially in areas like real‑time decision‑making, team development, and integrated execution. As such, the company is shifting from a hybrid work model to a fully in‑person schedule up to 5 days a week.

Why Join Us

Inspiring creativity is at the core of TikTok's mission. Our innovative product is built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and bring joy - a mission we work towards every day.

We strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and innovate as one team. We're resilient and embrace challenges as they come. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.

Diversity & Inclusion

TikTok is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.

USDS Reasonable Accommodation

USDS is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at https://tinyurl.com/USDS-RA

Job Information

【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $132000 - $313600 annually.

Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work, and this role may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives, and restricted stock units.

Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Employees have day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, among others. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year and 17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).

The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.

For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates:

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:

1. Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;

2. Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems;

3. Exercising sound judgment.