Sr. Portfolio Program Manager - R&D

Overview

Senior Portfolio Program Manager to provide standing, exception-based orchestration across an assigned Research & Development (R&D) pillar, partnering with Product and Engineering Pillar Leaders to maintain a connected view of portfolio commitments, dependencies, risks, capacity, readiness, and key decisions.

What you'll do

• Partner with Product and Engineering Pillar Leaders to establish and maintain portfolio baselines, including commitments, milestones, dependencies, ownership, readiness expectations, capacity assumptions, and success measures.
• Maintain visibility into portfolio commitments and execution progress, surfacing material variances and coordinating appropriate change-management actions when scope, timeline, resource, or delivery commitments materially change.
• Establish and continuously improve portfolio metrics, dashboards, reporting practices, automation, and AI-enabled workflows that strengthen portfolio visibility, decision-making, execution transparency, and operational efficiency.
• Identify, evaluate, and introduce AI, automation, and emerging technologies that improve Program Management effectiveness, scalability, decision-making, and operational efficiency across the R&D pillar.
• Partner with R&D Operating System teams to improve data quality, portfolio tooling, process standards, reporting, and adoption of portfolio management practices.
• Establish and maintain visibility into cross-team and cross-pillar dependencies, ensuring ownership, impacts, required dates, and status are understood and tracked.
• Coordinate dependency management across teams and pillars, facilitate alignment and resolution discussions, and escalate unresolved risks, impacts, and decisions through established governance forums.
• Lead portfolio reviews focused on material changes, risks, dependencies, readiness gaps, capacity conflicts, and decisions requiring leadership attention.
• Facilitate scaled planning, portfolio governance, and synchronization forums that improve alignment, transparency, and execution across the pillar.
• Support quarterly planning cycles by validating commitments, dependencies, capacity assumptions, risks, and decision readiness across the pillar.
• Synthesize portfolio information into decision-ready executive insights, including risks, dependencies, trade-offs, and recommendations, and ensure resulting decisions, escalations, and accountable follow-through are tracked through closure.
• Coach Product and Engineering teams on Agile practices, planning discipline, delivery predictability, flow efficiency, and continuous improvement to strengthen execution effectiveness and delivery outcomes.
• Identify work that may warrant dedicated Strategic Initiative Program Management support and provide evidence to support coverage decisions.
• Coordinate with Strategic Initiative Program Managers to incorporate initiative health, dependencies, change impacts, and readiness into the pillar portfolio view.

What you'll need

• 8+ years of experience in Portfolio Management, Program Management, Technical Program Management, Product Operations, or related roles within a SaaS or technology environment.
• Experience leading Product and Engineering portfolios spanning multiple teams, product areas, or organizational units.
• Experience establishing and leading portfolio governance frameworks, operating rhythms, quarterly planning processes, executive review forums, and reporting mechanisms that improve visibility, alignment, decision-making, and execution predictability.
• Demonstrated success managing portfolio risk, dependencies, capacity constraints, competing priorities, and roadmap execution at scale.
• Experience facilitating executive, leadership, and cross-functional governance forums that drive alignment, accountability, and decision-making.
• Demonstrated success improving team effectiveness, delivery predictability, planning maturity, flow efficiency, and execution outcomes through Agile coaching, facilitation, and continuous improvement practices.
• Demonstrated ability to influence without formal authority, navigate ambiguity, clarify accountability, and drive alignment, decision-making, and follow-through across multiple stakeholders.
• Experience identifying, evaluating, and implementing automation, AI-enabled workflows, and emerging technologies that improve portfolio visibility, operational efficiency, scalability, and decision-making effectiveness.
• Strong analytical, facilitation, communication, and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information into executive-ready insights and recommendations.
• Working knowledge of Productboard, Jira, Confluence, dashboarding, and business intelligence platforms.
• Agile coaching or Agile delivery certifications such as ICP-ACC, CSP, CSM, PSM, SAFe SPC, SAFe Agilist, or equivalent practical experience.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.

Details

• Full-time employee role based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
• Individual contributor role reporting to the Head of Program Management.