Technical Program Manager - PDLC

Hi there! Thanks for stopping by

We're looking for a Staff Technical Program Manager to join our Product & Technology Operations team and own how we build the Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC) into a shared execution model across Product, Engineering, and Design.

You will own how work flows from idea to impact across the organization - one language for how work moves, one set of metrics leaders can trust, and one standard for what "good" looks like at every stage of PDLC.

This is a founding role for the function
. You'll define the model, align stakeholders around it, and prove out its value as you build.

What you’ll be doing:

Define the execution model

• Design a PDLC framework that works across Product, Engineering, and Design and across all Lightspeed products.

• Define what good looks like at each stage of PDLC, including the artifacts, checkpoints, and exit criteria teams should use.

Build the measurement system

• Establish metrics that give leaders a trustworthy, holistic view of how work is flowing and where it's getting stuck.

• Design the framework so it measures the system and surfaces bottlenecks, not individual performance.

• Build in exception tracking so blocked or off-track work is visible early.

Drive adoption

• Partner with Product, Engineering, and Design leaders across every vertical to align on the model and earn genuine buy-in and adoption.

• Navigate real differences across verticals and business units without forcing false consistency where it doesn't make sense.

• Bring structure to ambiguity - resolve open questions as they surface rather than waiting for a perfect spec.

Build an AI-first PDLC

• Define what humans own versus what AI agents own at each stage of PDLC, keeping judgment, accountability, and anything irreversible or customer-facing with humans.

• Partner with Engineering to identify where AI agents can accelerate delivery, build pilots, and measure their ROI and impact on speed.

• Ensure human checkpoints are genuine decisions, not rubber stamps, as adoption scales.

Evolve the model

• Treat the framework as a living system - review it periodically and adjust based on what's actually working.

• Report on program health and progress to senior leadership.

What you need to bring:

• Experience designing or significantly evolving a delivery framework, execution model, or program management system - not just operating one someone else built.

• Experience leading cross-functional organizations through operational change, including turning skepticism into genuine adoption.

• A track record of building measurement systems from ambiguous or inconsistent data, and knowing which problems to solve first versus defer.

• Experience partnering with Engineering on applied AI or automation, including how to evaluate and measure whether it's actually accelerating delivery, not just novel.

• Strong executive communication skills - able to represent program health, risk, and trade-offs credibly to senior leadership.

• Demonstrated ability to influence and align senior stakeholders across Product, Engineering, and Design without formal authority over them.

• Comfort operating with significant ambiguity and independently structuring a path forward rather than waiting for direction.

• As a global company with employees and clients outside of Quebec, fluency in English as a working language is required for this position.

• Enjoy building something from a blank page rather than optimizing an existing system.

• Can hold a strong point of view on "what good looks like" while staying open to what the data and teams tell you.

• Get energized aligning stakeholders with different views, perspectives, and backgrounds.

• Think in systems and flow, not individual tickets or teams.

Be a change maker

You’ll enjoy:

• A flexible work environment that empowers you to do your best work

• A culture that celebrates performance

• The chance to make an impact in a team that’s big enough for career growth, but lean enough to make your voice heard

• Career-defining opportunities

Plus benefits designed to keep you happy, healthy and fulfilled.

• Flexible paid time off and remote work policies

• Equity options, because this is your company too

• Contributions to your…