[Confluent] Staff Technical Program Manager

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 Staff Technical Program Manager (TPM), you will be a key force multiplier within Confluent's engineering organization. Your primary responsibility is leading the execution of high-priority, "cannot-fail" programs across our engineering organization. This role requires driving crucial cross-functional alignment across Engineering, Product, Finance, and Security teams to ensure predictable delivery of foundational platform programs.

What You Will Do

• Drive Complex Initiatives: Lead end-to-end delivery of large-scale technical programs such as FedRAMP, compliance readiness, and platform-wide architecture shifts that directly impact Confluent's scalability and operational excellence.
• Technical Liaison: Translate high-level business goals into detailed technical requirements and communicate complex architectural trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders, including VP and C-suite audiences.
• Operational Excellence: Establish rigorous program management standards, clear milestones, KPIs, risk mitigation strategies, and regular status reporting to ensure predictable, on-time delivery.
• Strategic Alignment: Partner with Engineering and Product leadership to prioritize roadmaps, resolve cross-team dependencies, and manage resource allocation for business-critical programs.
• Stakeholder Management: Facilitate decision-making across global, distributed teams and manage relationships with key internal and external partners.

Master's Degree

Required Technical And Professional Expertise

• Experience: 7+ years of experience in a Technical Program Management role, preferably within cloud-native or large-scale software environments.
• Technical Depth: Strong understanding of distributed systems, cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), and SaaS platform engineering.
• Leadership Style: Alignment with Confluent’s values of being Smart, Humble, and Empathetic, with the ability to thrive in fast-paced environments and embody a "Get Stuff Done" mindset.
• Proactive Problem Solving: Results-driven with the ability to navigate ambiguity, identify risks early, and drive resolution across complex dependencies.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Proven ability to work across Engineering, Product, Finance, and Security teams to align priorities and deliver outcomes at scale.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.

• Familiarity with the 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.