Principal Program Manager

Location: Seattle, WA — Hybrid, with two days per week in the office

Job Type: Full-time

Team: Sinclair Digital — Program Management

Reports to: Director, Program Management

Sinclair Digital is seeking a highly experienced Principal Program Manager to lead complex, high-impact initiatives across digital product, technology, and business teams. Programs may include new product or business launches, platform initiatives, operational changes, and complex or first-of-kind station transitions that require an experienced, accountable program owner. This role combines two closely connected mandates: leading ambiguous, enterprise-scale programs and strengthening the program-management practices and AI-enabled tools that help those programs succeed.

An early priority will be improving planning, governance, visibility, decision tracking, and follow-through. As that foundation matures, the role will continue to lead major program delivery while applying lessons from real programs to improve how teams plan and execute work across Sinclair Digital. This is not a status-reporting role. The right person creates clarity where the path is still forming, brings strong business-analysis and systems-thinking skills, and introduces practical structure that improves outcomes without slowing teams down.

They will create leverage beyond their own programs through reusable approaches, coaching, and scalable improvements to how work is planned and delivered.

• Independently lead ambiguous, high-impact initiatives across Product, Engineering, Data, Support, station teams, and other business stakeholders.
• Translate strategic goals into clear outcomes, decision points, milestones, owners, dependencies, success measures, and integrated delivery plans.
• Frame choices, surface tradeoffs, and bring leaders clear recommendations so decisions are made at the right time.
• Identify and manage program risks and cross-team dependencies early, with practical mitigation and escalation plans.
• Drive programs through launch readiness, adoption, and operational handoff with clear ownership and follow-through.
• Provide decision-ready visibility for working teams and senior leaders without creating unnecessary reporting overhead.

• Shape a more connected, AI-enabled approach to program planning and visibility by bringing roadmaps, milestones, risks, decisions, and follow-up into clearer workflows while reducing duplicated reporting.
• Turn lessons from complex programs into reusable practices that improve execution across multiple teams.
• Partner with the Director of Program Management and leaders across Product, Engineering, and the business to turn agreed improvements into working practices, workflows, tools, and automation.
• Evaluate and improve the program-management tool ecosystem by connecting and extending existing platforms and introducing new capabilities where they add clear value.
• Define, prototype, or implement AI-assisted workflows that synthesize updates, identify missing information, surface risks and dependencies, monitor follow-ups, and prepare decision-ready communications.

• Build trusted partnerships across a matrixed organization and align teams with competing priorities without relying on formal authority.
• Lead focused program reviews that help teams resolve issues, make decisions, and maintain accountability for shared commitments.
• Mentor Program Managers and Software Development Managers who provide program coverage within their teams.
• Raise the quality of planning, decision-making, and delivery beyond a single assigned program through practical coaching and scalable…