What does a senior technical program manager do?

A senior technical program manager is responsible for handling the overall development of technical project processes from the initial conceptualization to the completion. Senior technical program managers lead the development team, implementing strategic procedures to maintain the efficiency and accuracy of the output, as well as developing quality control techniques to spot inconsistencies and system failures. They also monitor the current technology trends, identify cost-reduction resources, and research on technical opportunities that would bring more revenues and increase the company's profitability.
Senior technical program manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior technical program manager resumes:
- Lead application development and architecture in a large scale environment that manage company's mortgage financial data.
- Conduct daily scrum meetings with agile teams to manage scope, schedules, and budgets.
- Manage deployment of DynMRO SaaS solution to every program which include the overall release and versioning control.
- Plan, manage, and contribute to full SDLC of transaction processing tools (e-Commerce and POS).
- Manage test execution across all stages of testing (QA, integration, performance, UAT and for operational readiness).
- Manage integration of bank acquisition ATM infrastructure into corporate core.
- SAP has been implement as the ERP system in these locations.
- Develop SQL reports to identify SCOM alerts that are missing key information.
- Utilize Java API running over a mysql database storing Google / Microsoft maps data
- Develop a sample RBDCK site using HTML, CSS and JavaScript according to requirements.
- Lead daily scrum and triage meetings with geographically distribute engineering teams in Asia and Europe.
- Full responsibility of multiple agile teams with heavy use of JIRA and other Atlassian products.
- Install and configure Microsoft SQL, write SQL scripts to fix database issues and extract information.
- Design and launch the system for proactive prevention of fraudulent use of cloud resources and alerting customers.
- Coordinate the activities of multiple technical teams at multiple project sites during weekend and off-hour maintenance windows.
Senior technical program manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 10% of Senior Technical Program Managers are proficient in Technical Program, Program Management, and Project Management. They’re also known for soft skills such as Business skills, Analytical skills, and Organizational skills.
We break down the percentage of Senior Technical Program Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Technical Program, 10%
Executed Technical Program Management for large-scale, business critical projects.
- Program Management, 9%
Increased program administration by developing a comprehensive resource manual detailing standardized program management governance, compliance practices, and processes.
- Project Management, 8%
Generated managerial performance curves from the data used to support project management decisions for schedule/cost and performance issues.
- Cloud, 7%
Directed cloud transformation of the engineering mission critical Application & infrastructure, which hosted important business applications.
- Software Development, 6%
Bolstered software design by identifying inconsistencies, comparing requirements to implementation, and making recommendations to software development team.
- Infrastructure, 5%
Managed diverse project and development teams to provide central coordination for all business and infrastructure requirements for AOL Business Technology initiatives.
Common skills that a senior technical program manager uses to do their job include "technical program," "program management," and "project management." You can find details on the most important senior technical program manager responsibilities below.
Business skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a senior technical program manager to have is business skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "it managers must develop and implement strategic plans to reach the goals of their organizations." Senior technical program managers often use business skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "coordinated technology and emerging opportunity activities with business development and program management. "
Analytical skills. Another essential skill to perform senior technical program manager duties is analytical skills. Senior technical program managers responsibilities require that "it managers must analyze problems and consider and select the best ways to solve them." Senior technical program managers also use analytical skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "provided technical and program management services for the ubs wealth management data center migration. "
Organizational skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of senior technical program managers is organizational skills. This skill is critical to many everyday senior technical program manager duties, as "some it managers must coordinate the work of several different it departments to make the organization run efficiently." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "directed enterprise wide organizational technical program delivering ceo sponsored industry initiatives ensuring bcbsnc was recognized as an industry leader. "
Leadership skills. A big part of what senior technical program managers do relies on "leadership skills." You can see how essential it is to senior technical program manager responsibilities because "it managers must lead and motivate it teams or departments so that workers are efficient and effective." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical senior technical program manager tasks: "provided diverse product development and services leadership: * resolved long standing google maps api problems for store locators. "
Communication skills. A commonly-found skill in senior technical program manager job descriptions, "communication skills" is essential to what senior technical program managers do. Senior technical program manager responsibilities rely on this skill because "it managers must explain their work to top executives and give clear instructions to their subordinates." You can also see how senior technical program manager duties rely on communication skills in this resume example: "led and participated in due diligence, business case preparation, program management, communications, and ongoing status updates. "
The three companies that hire the most senior technical program managers are:
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Senior technical program manager vs. Manager applications development
An applications development manager is responsible for keeping businesses running smoothly and effectively through planning, coordinating, and overseeing all activities related to software applications. You will oversee the maintenance, upgrade, and support of existing applications and systems required for the smooth day-to-day operations of the business. Other tasks that you will likely perform include providing estimates for project timeline and cost, overseeing feasibility research on software applications, and diagnosing and troubleshooting program errors. As an applications development manager, you are also responsible for recommending software products and services that will benefit the company.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a senior technical program manager are more likely to require skills like "technical program," "technical program management," "program management," and "cloud." On the other hand, a job as a manager applications development requires skills like "ongoing maintenance," "c++," "c #," and "javascript." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Managers applications development earn the highest salaries when working in the finance industry, with an average yearly salary of $130,492. On the other hand, senior technical program managers are paid more in the real estate industry with an average salary of $144,795.The education levels that managers applications development earn slightly differ from senior technical program managers. In particular, managers applications development are 9.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a senior technical program manager. Additionally, they're 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior technical program manager vs. Project manager/scrum master
Project Managers or scrum masters are experienced employees who lead an agile team. They are in charge of managing a specific project in terms of the agile model. They lead the team throughout the planning session, the designing of the project parameters, the development of the processes, the implementation of the project, and the evaluation. They represent the team in meetings with stakeholders. They ensure that the working relationship among all the departments involved is harmonious. They also guide their team members throughout the project.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, senior technical program manager responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "technical program," "technical program management," "program management," and "project management." Meanwhile, a project manager/scrum master has duties that require skills in areas such as "sprint planning," "scrum meetings," "agile scrum," and "user stories." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Project managers/scrum master may earn a lower salary than senior technical program managers, but project managers/scrum master earn the most pay in the media industry with an average salary of $99,469. On the other hand, senior technical program managers receive higher pay in the real estate industry, where they earn an average salary of $144,795.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Project managers/scrum master tend to reach similar levels of education than senior technical program managers. In fact, they're 2.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior technical program manager vs. Vice president, technology
A vice president of technology is in charge of overseeing all technological operations in a company while managing the workforce involved, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. Typically, it is their responsibility to establish goals and objectives, devising strategies to enforce them. They also spearhead the development of new systems and tools that boost workforce productivity, coordinate with analysts and specialists, and resolve any issues and concerns. Furthermore, as a vice president, it is essential to implement the company's policies and regulations, creating new ones as needed.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, senior technical program managers are more likely to have skills like "technical program," "technical program management," "program management," and "infrastructure." But a vice president, technology is more likely to have skills like "portfolio," "san," "c #," and "technology strategy."
Vice presidents, technology make a very good living in the technology industry with an average annual salary of $156,843. On the other hand, senior technical program managers are paid the highest salary in the real estate industry, with average annual pay of $144,795.vice presidents, technology typically earn lower educational levels compared to senior technical program managers. Specifically, they're 6.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.6% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior technical program manager vs. Project manager/team lead
Project Managers are responsible for managing and overseeing the operations of a project from inception to completion. Their duties include defining project scope, developing a project plan, creating work breakdown structures to distribute resources, and communicating responsibilities to all project team members and vendors. They organizie work schedules, set milestones, track project progress, resolve technical issues, articulate roadblocks to project sponsors, propose risk mitigation strategies, and maintain project documentation. Project Managers also handle file submission for project closure, conduct post-project evaluations, supervise project communications, act as chairman in project status meetings, develop project governance structures and liaise with system security managers to coordinate system security activities.
Types of senior technical program manager
Updated January 8, 2025











