Technical Program Manager, Platform Services

Motive; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 200,000 - 245,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision benefits

401(k) contribution

Job summary

Motive aims to empower operations with platform-level technology to drive safety, productivity, and profitability. The Technical Program Manager will orchestrate cross-functional programs spanning Motive’s engineering teams, driving platform foundations and adoption while reporting to the VP of Platform Services.

You will shape roadmaps, work across product and engineering, and influence stakeholders to move strategic initiatives forward, ensuring clear outcomes and measurable impact.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in technical program management within software or platform organizations.
• Proven track record leading large, multi-team programs with cross-functional dependencies.
• Strong technical fluency to engage with engineering leaders on architecture, trade-offs, risks, and execution plans.
• Structured program leadership and problem-solving in fast-paced, evolving environments.
• Experience aligning senior stakeholders and improving governance across interdependent teams.
• Executive communication: synthesize technical complexities into clear summaries.

Responsibilities

• Partner with VP and Engineering Managers to translate priorities into executable roadmaps with measurable outcomes.
• Lead end-to-end execution of complex, cross-functional programs across Platform Services Engineering.
• Manage goals, milestones, dependencies, decisions, and risks with clear operating rhythms.
• Build scalable program mechanisms: roadmap reviews, status reporting, escalation paths, success metrics.
• Mentor teams in program management practices and elevate execution standards across the organization.
• Drive regular executive reviews and cross-organizational communications to align leadership.

Skills

Technical program management

Architecture & delivery planning

Executive communication

Data-driven governance

Cross-functional leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/CS

Tools

MetricSense

Datadog

Job description

Who we are:

Motive empowers the people who run physical operations with tools to make their work safer, more productive, and more profitable. For the first time ever, safety, operations and finance teams can manage their drivers, vehicles, equipment, and fleet related spend in a single system. Combined with industry leading AI, the Motive platform gives you complete visibility and control, and significantly reduces manual workloads by automating and simplifying tasks. Motive serves nearly 100,000 customers – from Fortune 500 enterprises to small businesses – across a wide range of industries, including transportation and logistics, construction, energy, field service, manufacturing, agriculture, food and beverage, retail, and the public sector. Visit gomotive.com to learn more.

About the Role:

Motive builds technology to improve the safety, productivity, and profitability of the physical economy. The Platform Services Organization serves as the backbone of Motive’s engineering operations, delivering foundational infrastructure, developer ecosystem tooling, cloud operations, SRE reliability, data pipelines, and core services capabilities. As Motive scales, our platform architecture requires unified, company-wide execution across horizontal initiatives. We are looking for a Technical Program Manager to join as a strategic operational leader. Reporting directly to the VP of Platform Services , this role will drive high-impact, cross-cutting technical programs that span across Motive’s entire product and engineering organization. Position Overview As a Technical Program Manager at Motive, you will lead complex, high-impact programs that strengthen our platform foundations and improve how engineering teams deliver at scale. This role is ideal for someone who brings strong technical judgment, structured program leadership, and the ability to create clarity across ambiguity, dependencies, and competing priorities. You will report into VP, Platform Services Engineering. You will work across multiple engineering teams and partner functions to drive planning, execution, risk management, and operations.. You will help align teams around clear outcomes, improve execution across interdependent roadmaps, and raise the bar for how Motive delivers cross-functional platform initiatives. You will not be managing day-to-day sprint boards or acting as an administrative taskmaster. Instead, you will act as a cross-functional orchestrator - driving platform adoption, unblocking architectural shifts, and aligning multi-team investments across all of Motive.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner directly with the VP of Platform Services and Engineering Managers to translate organizational priorities into clear, executable program roadmaps with measurable business outcomes.


• Lead end-to-end execution of complex, cross-functional technical programs across Platform Services Engineering, from definition and planning through delivery and adoption.


• Drive alignment across engineering and partner teams by managing goals, milestones, dependencies, decisions, and execution risks with clear operating rhythms.


• Build scalable program mechanisms, including roadmap reviews, status reporting, escalation paths, and success metrics that improve visibility and accountability.


• Identify systemic issues and execution gaps early, and lead teams toward practical, durable solutions that support departmental and functional objectives.


• Influence technical and business stakeholders at multiple levels to make informed tradeoff decisions and keep strategic initiatives moving forward.


• Mentor others through strong program management practices and help elevate execution standards across the broader engineering organization.


• Drive Monthly/Quarterly Business Reviews, executive reporting, and cross-organizational communications to align executive leadership, product partners, and engineering leads.


• Collaborate with Product leadership on mapping the product roadmap into programs that interface with multiple product engineering teams.


• Implement dynamic program tracking frameworks (e.g., Gantt / single-source-of-truth models) that flag delivery risks weeks in advance.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• 7+ years of experience in technical program management, engineering program management, or a related role within software, infrastructure, or platform organizations.


• Proven track record leading large, ambiguous, multi-team programs with significant cross-functional dependencies and measurable business or platform impact.


• Strong technical fluency and the ability to engage credibly with engineering leaders and teams on architecture, trade offs, delivery risks, and execution plans.


• Demonstrated strength in structuring programs, driving decision-making, and solving complex problems in fast-paced, evolving environments.


• Experience building alignment across senior stakeholders and improving communication, governance, and execution across interdependent teams.


• Outcome-Oriented Focus: Demonstrated bias for action and root-cause problem solving over administrative tracking; experience moving beyond Jira hygiene to actively unblocking delivery.


• Executive Communication: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with proven ability to synthesize technical complexities into clear executive summaries and trade-off matrices.


• Data-Driven Approach: Expertise in establishing objective metrics (MetricSense, Datadog dashboards, SLO attainment, cost trends) to govern program success.


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

Preferred Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in the technology industry.


• Background as a Software Engineer, Systems/Delivery Architect, or Technical Product Manager prior to transitioning into TPM leadership.


• Experience driving AI-assisted developer workflow tooling or agentic automation in developer environments.

Pay Transparency

Your compensation may be based on several factors, including education, work experience, and certifications. For certain roles, total compensation may include restricted stock units.

• Motive offers benefits including health, pharmacy, optical and dental care benefits, paid time off, sick time off, short term and long term disability coverage, life insurance as well as 401k contribution (all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements).


• Learn more about our benefits by visiting Motive Perks & Benefits.


• The compensation range for this position will depend on where you reside. For this role, the compensation range is: United States $200,000 — $245,000 USD.

Creating a diverse and inclusive workplace is one of Motive's core values. We are an equal opportunity employer and welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities and perspectives.

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The applicant must be authorized to receive and access those commodities and technologies controlled under U.S. Export Administration Regulations.

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All job postings are for existing vacancies. Please note; some interviews or new-hire training sessions may be held in person at one of our global offices.