Program Manager (Technical) at Tailscale

Key Responsibilities

You will work as part of the TPM team to:

• Own the processes for bug tracking, incidents, reliability, and escalations, and continuously improve them to drive efficiency and progress toward EPD’s operational health goals.
• Spot trends across operational health data and translate them into clear insights on how EPD is doing and where improvement is needed.
• Build dashboards and reports in tools like Jira and Snowflake that give EPD and the broader company visibility into operational health and progress.
• Turn data into a clear story: what it’s telling us, why it matters, and what needs to change, then design and implement the process changes to act on it.
• Identify process gaps with EPD and proactively develop just the right amount of process to fill the gap: not too much, not too little.
• Support planning activities and project tracking processes, helping keep them running smoothly and consistently across EPD.
• Help run project status reviews, leadership roadmap reviews, and priority reviews, making sure the right information is ready and the right people are in the room.
• Connect the dots across systems, processes, and teams, spotting where disconnected efforts overlap, conflict, or could be simplified, and acting on it.
• Jump in on whatever initiative pops up in EPD that needs support, structure, or someone to help carry it forward, whether or not it fits inside a defined program.
• Handle project retrospectives involving participants and stakeholders to understand what went well and what should be adjusted in future project work.
• Seek opportunities to bring about ongoing improvement and simplification in business operating procedures and practices, leading to improved efficiency and effectiveness.

What We Are Looking For

• Experience as a Program Manager or Technical Program Manager (TPM), coordinating with stakeholders and cross-functional teams, particularly experience working closely within Engineering and with Product.
• Experience as a Program/Technical Program Manager in a remote startup environment.
• A deep, working understanding of the technical engineering space, including how engineering teams operate day to day, common workflows and tooling, and where technical and process friction tend to show up.
• Experience owning operational health processes, such as bug tracking, incidents, reliability, or escalations, and using them to drive measurable efficiency gains.
• Strong data skills, including building dashboards and reports in tools like Jira and Snowflake, and a solid understanding of how to read and interpret data.
• Ability to spot trends in data and translate them into a clear story: what’s happening, why it matters, and what should change, paired with the ability to design and implement the process changes needed to act on it.
• Experience supporting planning cycles, project tracking, and recurring reviews, such as project status reviews or leadership roadmap and priority reviews.
• A comfort level with ambiguity and undefined deliverables. You’re motivated by taming chaos and improving how things run, not just shipping a fixed checklist.
• A tactical, execution-first orientation: you’re energized by hands-on implementation and getting things done, more than by high-level strategy or planning alone.
• Experience working with Engineering, Product, and Design leadership, understanding their motivations and priorities, and using that to help move initiatives forward and communicate goals across the company.
• Ability to give and process constructive feedback, as well as work independently.
• Ability to communicate openly, supporting and championing innovation and inclusivity, in both written and verbal communication.
• Familiarity with Agile methodologies and project management tools, such as Jira, Notion, and GitHub.
• Familiarity with technical solutions, engineering practices, and the security and engineering lifecycle.