R&D PMO: Technical Program Management

TPM Role Overview

More information on the R&D PMO can be found on our team page.

Key Competencies

Technical Program Managers at GitLab work across a variety of different focus areas and business objectives. Their day-to-day responsibilities may vary, but there is an underlying set of core competencies that we expect all TPMs to meet. Beyond that, each TPM will have relevant domain expertise which can be technical, security, product, or marketing related. As TPMs move up the TPM job ladder, so should their ability to independently navigate these areas.

Program Management Fundamentals

TPMs should first be experts in Program Management, with their relevant focus area as a secondary area of expertise. This includes knowledge and skill sets in:

• Planning and execution excellence / accuracy
• Resource allocation and optimization
• Timeline and dependency management
• Risk identification and mitigation

Domain Acumen

• Working knowledge of relevant domain systems (software development methodologies, infrastructure systems, security frameworks, or product development and launch processes)
• Ability to assess domain feasibility and identify domain-specific risks
• Understanding of domain trade-offs and their business impact
• Familiarity with industry best practices and standards within their focus area

Leadership

TPMs need to bring a level of leadership to their programs in order to inspire confidence from stakeholders. This includes being able to navigate:

• Stakeholder management and alignment
• Influencing without authority
• Coaching and mentorship
• Conflict resolution
• Change management
• Building consensus across diverse technical teams
• Creating psychological safety for teams to surface issues early

Communication

We expect TPMs to set a high standard for managing async and sync communications on complex projects. In this area we want to see:

• Clear and concise communication that bridges technical and business contexts
• Effective meeting facilitation
• Effective presentations at an appropriate level for stakeholder audience
• Thorough and accurate program documentation

Problem Solving

TPMs are often asked to resolve ambiguity and solve complex problems. Depending on the focus area of a given TPM, this could vary in terms of scope and scale. Regardless, we want all of our TPMs to understand:

• Data-driven decision making
• Systems thinking
• Process optimization
• Root cause analysis
• Escalation judgment (knowing when and how to escalate appropriately)

TPM Level Matrix

Independence → Complexity ↓	Guided Independence	Strategic Independence	Scaled Independence	Transformative Independence
Low Complexity	Level 6 TPM	Level 6 TPM	Level 7 Senior TPM Note: Level 7 is unlikely to work on low complexity efforts	Level 8 Staff TPM Note: Level 8 is unlikely to work on low complexity efforts
Med Complexity	Level 6 TPM	Level 7 Senior TPM	Level 8 Staff TPM	Level 9 Principle TPM
High Complexity	Level 7 Senior TPM	Level 8 Staff TPM	Level 9 Principle TPM	Level 9 Principle TPM

Levels of Independence

Each level requires progressively greater judgment, accountability, and ability to operate effectively with less direct guidance while managing increasing levels of ambiguity and risk.

Guided Independence

• Owns complete workstreams or projects, with periodic oversight
• Manages day-to-day and tactical decisions autonomously, within defined parameters
• Establishes own processes and approaches
• Identifies and mitigates most risks independently, but receives coaching on complex situations

Strategic Independence

• Makes significant decisions with minimal consultation from direct-line manager
• Could define program scope and direction, depending on focus area
• Accountable for overall program outcomes
• Manages complex stakeholder relationships

Scaled Independence

• Oversees multiple programs or portfolios; makes decisions on these programs with a company-wide impact
• Sets organizational standards and frameworks
• Influences cross-functional leadership and strategic priorities / investments

Transformational Independence

• Drives organizational change initiatives and creates new operational models
• Establishes vision beyond current capabilities
• Influences executive decision-making
• Pioneers approaches without precedent
• Doesn’t ask what problems need to be solved, proactively finds large-scale problems and advocates for solving them

Not included in the above table: Basic Supervision

• Least independent, suitable for internships of level 5 or below
• Requires regular check-ins and guidance
• Works within well-defined processes and boundaries
• Focuses on execution of established plans, decisions reviewed before implementation

Levels of Complexity

Complexity can come from multiple factors, many of which are noted below. Program complexity is determined by the combination and intensity of various factors present in a project. Projects are classified as low, medium, or high complexity based on the number and severity of these complexity factors.

Complexity Type	Examples
Structural Complexity	Internal dependencies / system interconnectedness, External dependencies
Technical Complexity	System architecture, Technical debt, Modularity vs monolithic structure, Data: volume, sensitivity, migration requirements, privacy considerations, Integration: Third-party systems, API dependencies, legacy system interactions
Program Constraints	Timeline constraints, Resource constraints, Scope ambiguity and fluidity, Quality requirements and standards, Contractual constraints
Stakeholder Complexity	Number of stakeholders, Diversity of stakeholder needs, Decision-making authority
Team Complexity	Team size and distribution, Cross-functional coordination, Expertise availability, stability, and turnover, Maturity of contributing teams
Regulatory / Compliance Complexity	SOC2, GDPR, industry-specific regulations
Environmental complexity	Market volatility, Competitive landscape, Diversity of investor / board needs
Risk complexity	Uncertainty levels, Magnitude of potential impact, Novel vs familiar risks

Career Growth and Development

TPMs can advance through the job ladder by:

• Taking on programs of increasing scope, complexity, and strategic importance
• Growing skills sets that lead to greater independence in their work
• Developing deeper technical expertise in key engineering or business domains
• Building stronger cross-functional partnerships and influence
• Creating scalable program management frameworks and processes
• Mentoring and developing other TPMs

Growth could also include lateral moves into related technical leadership roles such as engineering management, technical product management, or technical strategy.

Responsibilities and Requirements

Responsibilities

• Drive complex, cross-functional programs driven by the Product, Security and Engineering orgs, that lead to GitLab reaching its primary business objectives.
• Follow Program Management best practices to deliver outstanding program outcomes. Manage programs with an emphasis on communication, planning, dependencies, and risk management.
• Collaborate on key initiatives with stakeholders across the company and at all levels; build trust and successful partnerships with stakeholders.
• Utilize technical, domain, and business acumen in working with large, cross-functional distributed teams.
• Facilitate cross-functional communication and collaboration between stakeholders, technical teams, and management using various asynchronous and synchronous techniques.
• Participate in the refining and optimization of division-wide processes, working to improve the overall efficiency and execution of the Product and Engineering orgs.
• Additional responsibilities are laid out by level and speciality.

Requirements

• Experience managing execution of complex programs that span multiple teams / departments. Able to collaborate with technical and non-technical stakeholders alike to deliver business outcomes.
• Experience managing technical programs and customer-facing features.
• Experience driving cross-functional initiatives according to planned timelines, while navigating complex risks and dependencies.
• Proven track record of successful collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, at all levels of the business.
• Prioritize effectively and multitask across programs efficiently.
• Strong communication, presentation, and documentation skills.
• Experience in Agile development methodologies.
• Additional requirements are laid out by level and specialty.

Performance Indicators

The overall indicator of a TPM’s success is the completion of assigned programs that meet our overall business objectives. There are three metrics we can use to measure this:

• Program Predictability & Risk Transparency: Measured by the percentage of project changes, cancellations, or major pivots that were communicated to stakeholders with adequate advance notice, ensuring no surprises even when programs don’t reach completion.
• Stakeholder-Reported Effectiveness: Measured through stakeholder feedback and interviews that evaluate the program manager’s operational effectiveness in key areas including communication facilitation, planning execution, dependency management, and risk mitigation implementation. There is not a score to reach, rather this is a way to gauge whether a Program Manager is effectively partnering with key stakeholders to drive outcomes.
• Process Efficiency Improvement: Measured by quantifiable improvements to development velocity, deployment frequency, or cycle time reduction that result from TPM-led process optimizations and standardizations.

TPM IC Roles

Technical Program Manager

This position reports to Technical Program Management Leadership.

Technical Program Manager Job Grade

The role is a grade 6.

Technical Program Manager Responsibilities

• All responsibilities listed above (applicable to all roles) plus:
• Develop and maintain program plans, status reports, and other project-level documentation.
• Identify and manage program risks, issues, and dependencies.
• Provide regular updates on program status to stakeholders and senior management.

Technical Program Manager Requirements

• All requirements listed above (applicable to all roles).
• 2+ years of experience in technical program/project management or equivalent.
• Technical background through education, professional experience, or demonstrated proficiency

Senior Technical Program Manager

This position reports to Technical Program Management Leadership.

Senior Technical Program Manager Job Grade

The role is a grade 7.

Senior Technical Program Manager Responsibilities

• All responsibilities of previous roles plus:
• Lead programs of a reasonably high complexity; fulfilling the responsibilities of the Level 6 TPM role with a focus on larger scale and greater complexity.
• Drive continuous process improvement and operational excellence within the program
• Examine risks associated with programs and prioritize risks accordingly
• Collaborate on operational strategy and direction with organizational stakeholders; provide insight and suggestions to steer R&D strategy and roadmap
• Coach intermediate program managers

Senior Technical Program Manager Requirements

• All requirements of previous roles plus:
• Experience influencing others without having direct management authority and motivating them to successfully complete tasks within required timelines.
• Excellent at building relationships with partners and stakeholders across the business.
• 4+ years of experience in technical program/project management or equivalent
• (Depending on specialty) Technical degree in Engineering, or related technical field experience.

Staff Technical Program Manager

This position reports to Technical Program Management Leadership.

Staff Technical Program Manager Job Grade

The role is a grade 8.

Staff Technical Program Manager Responsibilities

• All responsibilities of previous roles plus:
• Lead programs of a high complexity; fulfilling the responsibilities of the Level 7 TPM role with a focus on larger scale and greater complexity.
• Be a change advocate responsible for initiating and / or leading organizations through pivots needed to address shifts in business trends and priorities.
• Proactively identify gaps in process, and execution and work with Product Leadership team to remedy. Develop repeatable, scalable, efficient, and effective processes.
• Track and provide reporting and measurements of program effectiveness and communicate findings to management.
• Assist in translating company objectives and product investment themes / roadmaps into clear and actionable strategy for the R&D orgs.
• Define acceptance criteria for solutions, value proposition and milestones for execution; Validate prototypes with partners and iterate solutions as needed to deliver value.

Staff Technical Program Manager Requirements

• All requirements of previous roles plus:
• 7+ years of experience in technical program/project management or equivalent
• Strong analytical skills for assessing and recommending solutions based on data and research
• Proven track record of complex, cross divisional program management and organizational change management

Principle Technical Program Manager

This position reports to Technical Program Management Leadership.

Principle Technical Program Manager Job Grade

The role is a grade 9.

Principle Technical Program Manager Responsibilities

• All responsibilities of previous roles plus:
• Lead programs of a high complexity; fulfilling the responsibilities of the Level 8 TPM role with a focus on larger scale and greater complexity.
• Develop and implement strategies for strategic program growth and expansion; Identify, define and implement programs across R&D
• Contribute to technical program management budgeting and financial reporting artifacts
• Accountable and responsible for overflow responsibilities from senior leadership
• Influence and implement significant change across the company
• Speak to and represent GitLab to customers and vendors

Principle Technical Program Manager Requirements

• All requirements of previous roles plus:
• 10+ years of experience in technical program/project management or equivalent
• Proven experience leading organizations through significant change, with positive outcomes for business objectives

TPM Leadership Roles

Manager, Technical Program Management

This role manages a team of Technical Program Managers and reports to PMO leadership.

Manager, Technical Program Management Job Grade

The role is a grade 8.

Manager, Technical Program Management Responsibilities

• Responsible for managing, directly or indirectly, GitLab team members performing in the role of Technical Program Manager.
• Additionally, responsible for staffing requirements for the TPM organization. Partner with PLT and ELT groups to proactively plan and identify programs that will need TPM support.
• Lead and mentor a team of Technical Program Managers, including providing regular feedback to foster their growth and ensure their success
• Support team members in their development and maintain an understanding of their roles and responsibilities as well as holding team members accountable for delivering results for customers
• Align TPM team resourcing / assignments with the company’s business objectives.
• Create and maintain program management standards for elements including program documentation, project plans, status reports, post-mortems as well as a team direction north star; work to continuously improve and iterate on these processes.
• Operationalize strategies and initiatives set forth by Product and Engineering Leadership
• Build strong relationships within the Product division and with cross-functional stakeholders including Engineering, Security, and GTM teams
• Identify and mitigate risks, resolve conflicts, and remove obstacles for the Technical Program Management team to ensure timely program delivery
• Establish and track key performance indicators (KPIs) for programs and team members and hold team accountable for meeting commitments
• Contribute to resource planning, capacity management, and budget allocation for programs as needed
• Demonstrate leadership as expected of Managers across GitLab
• Please note: If the Manager, Technical Program Management has less than 4 direct reports, some individual contributor responsibilities may be expected to be maintained. This could include managing day-to-day operations of complex, high-impact technical programs from inception to delivery

Manager, Technical Program Management Requirements

• All requirements of Level 8 Staff TPM role plus:
• Ability to prioritize and delegate work effectively
• Proven track record of successful collaboration with internal and external stakeholders
• Prior experience as a people manager

Manager, Technical Program Management - Performance Indicators

Division Wide Operational Efficiency of programs within R&D

Manager, Technical Program Management - Career Ladder

The next step in the Manager, Technical Program Management role is to move to a Senior Manager, Technical Program Management role.

Senior Manager, Technical Program Management

This role manages a team of Technical Program Managers and reports to PMO leadership.

Senior Manager, Technical Program Management Job Grade

The role is a grade 9.

Senior Manager, Technical Program Management Responsibilities

• All responsibilities of previous manager roles plus:
• Be a change advocate responsible for initiating and leading multiple organizations through pivots needed to address shifts in business trends and priorities.
• Lead strategic planning with direct influence over staffing decisions, project timelines, and planning stakeholders.
• Create and maintain a long-term strategy and vision for the Program Management function, in alignment with broader company goals.
• Develop and expand upon the job family, CDF, and long-term hiring and growth objectives for the Technical Program Management function
• Create resiliency plan for Technical Program Management function, looking for ways to reduce single points of failure and appropriate balancing of level across TPM team
• Build strong relationships with other program management functions across the company; advocate for program management best-practices company-wide
• Product / Engineering Leadership Team observer, with associated responsibilities to the larger R&D Organization
• Demonstrate leadership as expected of Managers across GitLab
• Please note: If the Senior Manager, Technical Program Management has less than 4 direct reports, some individual contributor responsibilities may be expected to be maintained.

Senior Manager, Technical Program Management Requirements

• All requirements of previous manager roles plus:
• Experience developing and executing on strategic team development plans Ability to coach others on driving cross functional product-driven initiatives, without direct control of the programs
• Proven ability to position oneself and the team as trusted partners and thought leaders

Senior Manager, Technical Program Management - Performance Indicators

Division Wide Operational Efficiency of programs within R&D

Senior Manager, Technical Program Management - Career Ladder

The next step in the Senior Manager, Technical Program Management role is to move to a Director, Technical Program Management role.

Director, Technical Program Management

Serves as the strategic leader for Technical Program Management across the Engineering, Security and Product organization, with executive-level influence over technical strategy, resource allocation, and organizational transformation.

Director, Technical Program Management Job Grade

The role is a grade 10.

Director, Technical Program Management Responsibilities

To Be Updated

 

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