Director, Technical Program Management
Quick Summary
Samba is a media intelligence company. We know what the world is watching, reading, and thinking about — in real time, at scale, across every screen.
We are looking for a Director of Technical Program Management to lead and grow our TPM function at a critical inflection point in the company's expansion. This is not a pure execution role — it is a strategic leadership position. You will be a peer to VPs and Sr. Directors across Engineering, Product, Data Science, and Executive Leadership, owning how we plan, execute, and govern complex programs that span the full ad tech stack: data collection, identity, audience platforms, measurement solutions, and third-party integrations.
You will own, build and develop a small but high-impact team of TPMs, establish the frameworks and operating model that scale with the organization, and personally drive the most complex, cross-functional programs. The right candidate brings deep engineering discipline, ad tech domain knowledge a plus, proven people leadership, and the organizational instincts to operate credibly at the senior leadership level.
Organizational Leadership
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Lead, mentor, and grow a team of 2–4 TPMs, setting a high bar for program ownership, communication, and technical credibility.
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Define the TPM team's operating model — how programs are staffed, governed, escalated, and reported — and evolve it as the organization scales.
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Act as the senior-most TPM voice in leadership forums, representing program health, risk posture, and execution capacity to the CTO, SVP of Engineering and cross-functional peers.
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Drive hiring decisions, performance development, and career growth for the TPM team.
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Own the end-to-end program execution strategy for the technology organization's most complex, cross-functional initiatives — from annual planning through delivery.
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Define and enforce program governance frameworks: scope, milestones, dependency management, risk registers, and earned value tracking.
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Partner with Engineering, Product, and Data Science leadership to align program roadmaps with business priorities, capacity constraints, and strategic objectives.
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Drive the shift from bespoke, one-off execution to scalable, repeatable program infrastructure — ensuring teams build for hundreds of integrations, not one at a time.
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Personally lead the highest-stakes programs when complexity, risk, or organizational span demands senior TPM ownership.
Program Strategy & Execution
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Operate as a credible peer to VPs and Sr. Directors — not just a coordinator, but a strategic partner with a clear point of view on tradeoffs, priorities, and risk.
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Communicate program status, risks, and strategic dependencies to the CTO,SVP of Engineering and executive leadership with clarity, precision, and appropriate urgency.
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Build and maintain alignment across Engineering, Product, Legal, Data, and Operations on programs that cut across organizational boundaries.
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Surface and resolve cross-functional blockers that cannot be handled at the team level — escalating with a recommended resolution, not just a flag.
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Use of AI tools and skills for acceleration of automations from the perspective of TPM artifacts. Claude / Gemini / Cursor / Codex preferred
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Establish and continuously improve the standard TPM toolkit: program templates, RAID frameworks, status reporting cadences, and planning rituals.
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Champion Agile and scaled Agile (SAFe) practices across engineering teams, partnering with Engineering Managers to ensure methodology serves delivery — not the other way around.
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Ensure programs reflect regulatory and compliance requirements (GDPR, CCPA, privacy-by-design) as first-class planning inputs, not afterthoughts.
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Stay current on industry trends in ad tech, programmatic advertising, and digital measurement — bringing external perspective into internal planning.
Process, Tooling & Governance
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10+ years of experience in technical program management, with at least 5+ years in a senior or lead TPM role.
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Demonstrated experience managing and developing a team of TPMs — hiring, coaching, setting standards, and building a high-performance culture.
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Deep domain expertise in ad tech — including programmatic advertising, audience data platforms, measurement and attribution solutions, identity, and/or data product delivery. This is a hard requirement; candidates without ad tech context will not be considered.
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Proven track record operating as a peer to VPs and Sr. Directors — influencing strategic decisions, representing program risk at the executive level, and driving alignment across senior leadership.
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Expertise in Agile, Scrum, and SAFe methodologies with hands-on experience driving adoption across engineering organizations.
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Strong command of program governance: earned value metrics, dependency management, risk mitigation, and structured escalation frameworks.
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Exceptional written and verbal communication — able to adapt from engineering deep-dives to executive briefings without losing precision or credibility.
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Experience managing programs that span regulatory or compliance constraints (GDPR, CCPA, or similar privacy frameworks).
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Background in software engineering, computer science, or a related technical field — prior hands-on engineering experience gives strong credibility with technical teams.
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Experience with cloud-based data platforms, big data technologies, and/or real-time data pipeline infrastructure.
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Familiarity with ACR (Automatic Content Recognition), connected TV data, or OEM-level data collection.
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Experience managing TPM functions during periods of rapid organizational growth, M&A integration, or geographic expansion.
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MBA or advanced technical degree — valued but not required where equivalent experience is clear.
Location & Eligibility
Listing Details
- Posted
- July 10, 2026
- First seen
- July 21, 2026
- Last seen
- July 22, 2026
Posting Health
- Days active
- 0
- Repost count
- 0
- Trust Level
- 56%
- Scored at
- July 21, 2026
Signal breakdown
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