- *We're looking for a**
- *Principal Program Manager**
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- *This role is** **Office Based, Hyderabad Office****Principal Program Manager**
Cornerstone OnDemand is looking for a Principal Program Manager who will drive the planning, execution, and delivery of complex, cross\-functional technical programs. You will work at the intersection of engineering, product, and business teams to ensure large\-scale initiatives are delivered with clarity, predictability, and impact. This role requires a strong technical foundation combined with exceptional program management skills to orchestrate multiple workstreams and stakeholders toward shared outcomes.
- *In this role, you will…**
- *Program Planning \& Execution:**
- Own end\-to\-end program management for large\-scale, cross\-functional technical initiatives spanning multiple engineering teams, products, and business units.
- Define program scope, milestones, deliverables, success criteria, and resource requirements in collaboration with engineering and product leadership.
- Build and maintain detailed program plans, roadmaps, and schedules with clear dependencies, critical paths, and risk mitigation strategies.
- Drive program execution through structured governance — standups, status reviews, steering committee meetings, and escalation workflows.
- Track and report program health, progress, risks, and blockers to senior leadership and stakeholders through dashboards and executive summaries.
- Manage program\-level trade\-offs across scope, timeline, quality, and resources — making recommendations grounded in data and technical context.
- Conduct retrospectives and post\-mortems to capture lessons learned and drive continuous improvement in delivery processes.
- Identify process bottlenecks and inefficiencies across teams and implement improvements to accelerate delivery cycles.
- *Technical Leadership \& Cross\-Functional Alignment**
- Partner with engineering leaders and architects to understand system designs, technical dependencies, and integration points across programs.
- Facilitate architecture and design reviews to ensure alignment across teams and identify cross\-cutting concerns early.
- Coordinate platform migrations, infrastructure upgrades, API versioning, and other technical initiatives that span multiple teams.
- Partner with DevOps and SRE teams to ensure release readiness, deployment coordination, and operational handoffs for program deliverables.
- Define and drive Agile\-at\-scale practices (SAFe, Scrum of Scrums, or similar) across engineering teams to improve delivery predictability and velocity.
- Facilitate alignment between product roadmaps, engineering capacity, and business priorities to ensure realistic commitments.
- *Stakeholder Communication \& Risk Management**
- Serve as the central point of communication for program status, decisions, and escalations across engineering, product, design, QA, and business teams.
- Translate complex technical concepts and program details into clear, concise updates for executive leadership and non\-technical stakeholders.
- Manage stakeholder expectations proactively — surfacing trade\-offs, timeline impacts, and scope changes early with data\-backed recommendations.
- Build and maintain a risk management framework — proactively identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks before they become blockers.
- Manage cross\-team dependency tracking, capacity planning, and sprint/release coordination.
- Build strong relationships across the organization to enable effective collaboration and influence without authority.
- *You've Got What It Takes If You Have…**
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- 10\+ years of experience in technical program management, engineering project management, or a related role within software product organizations.
- 5\+ years of hands\-on software engineering or technical lead experience (prior to or alongside program management).
- Proven track record of successfully delivering large\-scale, cross\-functional technical programs on time and within scope.
- Strong understanding of software development lifecycle, system architecture, distributed systems, and cloud platforms (Azure preferred).
- Familiarity with microservices architecture, API design, CI/CD pipelines, and modern DevOps practices.
- Ability to read and understand code, technical design documents, and architecture diagrams at a level sufficient to assess risks and dependencies.
- Experience with Agile/Scrum methodologies and scaling frameworks.
- Proficiency with program management and collaboration tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps, Confluence, Smartsheet, or MS Project.
- *Communication \& Leadership**
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to tailor messaging for technical and executive audiences.
- Strong facilitation skills — able to lead productive meetings, drive decisions, and resolve conflicts constructively.
- Exceptional organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple complex programs simultaneously.
- Proven ability to build trust and influence across engineering, product, and business functions.
- Proactive and self\-driven with a strong sense of ownership over program outcomes.
- Experience in SaaS/enterprise product development environments.
- Exposure to AI/ML programs and their unique delivery challenges.
- Familiarity with talent management, HR tech, or learning management domains.
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