Senior Project Manager; SaaS

Position: Senior Project Manager (SaaS)
About the Role

We are looking for a hands-on, battle-tested  Senior Project Manager  to bring structure, predictability, and execution velocity to our core engineering team.
In this role, you will not just manage timelines—you will build the operational engine of our startup. You will act as the critical bridge between strategic product vision and daily engineering execution. If you thrive in high-autonomy environments, know how to turn ambiguity into structured plans, and can shield an engineering team from chaos while remaining commercially agile, this role is for you.

Core Responsibilities
Requirement Engineering & Backlog Planning

Write Functional Specifications:  Translate high-level business ideas and user needs into clear, unambiguous product requirement specifications, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
Own the Delivery Backlog:  Audit, groom, and ruthlessly prioritize the engineering backlog to ensure developers are always working on well-defined, high-value tasks.
Sprint Architecture:  Lead all Agile ceremonies (daily stand-ups, sprint planning, backlog grooming, and retrospectives) for a high-performing squad of 5–7 developers.
Predictable Cadence:  Establish and track sprint velocity metrics to ensure consistent, high-quality feature delivery on a steady, repeatable release cycle.
Strategic Roadmap Execution
Annual Roadmap Alignment:  Translate high-level strategic inputs and business priorities from leadership into an executable annual engineering roadmap.
Capacity Planning:  Balance resource allocation across long-term core feature development, infrastructure scaling, and necessary technical debt reduction.
Executive Reporting & Risk Management
Senior Stakeholder Updates:  Package complex technical progress into concise, high-impact status updates and dashboards for senior management and founders.
Proactive Risk Mitigation:  Identify technical, resource, or timeline bottlenecks early. Present clear risk impact analyses along with actionable mitigation plans to leadership before issues derail deadlines.

Scope Creep & Crisis Management

Commercial Gatekeeping:  Manage and evaluate sudden, ad-hoc client feature requests aimed at closing critical sales deals. Protect the core product roadmap while accommodating genuine commercial emergencies through structured trade-off decisions.
Triage Production Bug Bottlenecks:  Act as the calm center of the storm when high-priority production bugs or showstoppers hit. Swiftly re-route developer capacity to resolve incidents without completely derailing ongoing sprint goals.

Team Leadership & Process Ownership

Optimize a Small Squad:  Maximize the output, morale, and focus of a lean team of 5–7 cross-functional developers.
Build Processes from Zero:  Establish lightweight, effective workflows, clear  Definitions of Done,  and documentation standards that eliminate communication friction.

Requirements & Qualifications

Experience:

8–12 years of total experience, with at least 3+ years managing software delivery in a  SaaS, product-based startup, or fast-paced internet company .
Jira Power User:  Deep, hands-on administrative knowledge of  Atlassian Jira and Confluence . You must be comfortable configuring workflows, setting up custom fields, building dashboards, and tracking advanced sprint metrics.
Technical Writing:  Exceptional ability to write clear technical and functional requirement documentation that developers can execute without constant back-and-forth alignment.
Startup DNA:  Proven ability to navigate extreme ambiguity, wear multiple hats, and deliver results with minimal corporate infrastructure.
Communication:  Exceptional negotiation and presentation skills—you must be equally comfortable pushing back constructively on founders and presenting crisp, high-level project health updates to senior leadership.