Principal Program Manager

Job Description

An industry-leading tech company
 

At Zendesk, we are passionate about building software that delivers the ultimate customer experience. Your favorite brands maximize our products to engage you as a customer, and we lead the industry with appealingly simple software. We’re constantly innovating, and we apply this philosophy to all prioritized initiatives.

Job Summary

As a Principal Technical Program Manager (TPM) within Product Development, you will lead multiple complex, cross-functional technical programs that deliver measurable business outcomes and directly support Level 1–3 OKRs. You operate with a deep end-to-end view of value creation across Zendesk, proactively identifying cross-functional friction and dependencies before they surface as delivery risks. You will drive the narrative and operating cadence with senior leaders, translate strategy into executable plans, and ensure high-quality, predictable delivery through strong change management, risk mitigation, and stakeholder alignment.

You are trusted for sound judgment in ambiguity, for connecting the dots across teams and roadmaps, and for elevating program management standards through mentorship and process improvements that scale. You’ll have the opportunity to work autonomously but also have the support of our highly distributed Program Management team. You will be the glue that holds it all together, ensuring cross-team, cross-functional collaboration runs smoothly from end to end. You will have a global reach in this role and can expect to work with colleagues across EMEA, APAC and AMER.

What You’ll Be Doing
 

• Lead multiple concurrent, complex technical programs across Product Development and key partner functions, ensuring end-to-end delivery against milestones, outcomes, and quality bars.
   

• Seamlessly initiate, structure, and execute technical programs with minimal support—owning program strategy, structure, and governance from kickoff through operationalization.
   

• Drive OKR delivery: partner closely with KR owners and reporters to develop and drive the narrative, tie supporting programs into a cohesive story, and ensure progress is measurable and visible.
   

• Identify cross-functional dependencies and friction points early; design execution plans that account for end-to-end impacts across Zendesk and reduce delivery risk.
   

• Own program governance: establish decision-making forums, operating rhythms, and escalation paths; keep senior leaders informed with clear asks, options, and tradeoffs.
   

• Apply exceptional execution discipline: manage scope, critical path, risks, and change control to limit surprises; ensure mitigations are in place before issues become delivery blockers.
   

• Facilitate complex alignment and decision-making: guide groups through ambiguity using skilled facilitation, influence, and negotiation to drive clear outcomes.
   

• Communicate with executive presence: synthesize fragmented inputs into crisp narratives, business impact framing, and decision-ready updates for senior stakeholders.
   

• Improve how we run programs at scale: identify gaps, propose better ways of working, and drive adoption of program/process improvements across the PMO and partner organizations.

• Mentor and uplevel others: coach TPM/PgM peers and partners on planning, execution standards, stakeholder management, and the craft of program leadership.

What You Bring to the Role

Basic Qualifications
 

• Significant experience leading complex technical programs in a software/engineering environment, including initiating program structure, aligning cross-functional stakeholders, and delivering outcomes end to end.
   

• Proven ability to drive multiple programs with broad cross-functional dependencies and broader program alignment independently.
   

• Demonstrated strength in visioning and planning: aligns programs to company strategy, filters noise, anticipates risks/opportunities, and adjusts plans based on new information.
   

•  Exceptional execution and quality: strong scope/critical path management, proactive risk mitigation, and effective change management/control.
   

• Strong decision-driving capabilities: synthesizes fragmented discussions into plans that drive business outcomes; identifies gaps and implements improvements with stakeholders.

• Proven ability to leverage AI/LLMs to accelerate program delivery — synthesize requirements and meeting notes, generate program plans, risk mitigations and status reports, and produce clear executive updates.

• Demonstrated expertise in data analytics: ability to define and track KPIs, deliver actionable insights and forecasts that inform strategy and measure impact; partner with data teams to operationalize metrics.

• High executive presence and stakeholder management skills: builds trust across senior leaders, facilitates hard conversations, and drives alignment through influence and negotiation.
   

• Strong communication skills (written and verbal): able to craft clear narratives, status, and decision memos for diverse audiences from engineering teams to executives.

• Proficiency with common program and delivery tools (e.g., Jira, Confluence) and operational practices (agile/lean), with the ability to improve standards rather than only follow them. (Tooling aligned to the Program Manager JD format.)

Preferred Qualifications
 

• Deep experience driving OKR-aligned programs, including partnering with KR owners/reporters to define outcomes, measures, and reporting narratives across a portfolio of work.
   

• Demonstrated ability to connect plans across roadmaps and teams so dependencies are managed proactively and teams design with broader org/company constraints in mind.
   

• Experience driving process improvements that scale (e.g., standardizing reporting, improving planning cadences, or uplifting governance models) and mentoring others in adoption.

•  Experience partnering closely with Directors/VP-level stakeholders and influencing decision-making with data, outcomes, and tradeoffs.

That said, if your experience looks a little different from what we’ve identified and you think you can rock the role, we’d love to learn more about you!

EEO Statement

Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster diversity & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

By submitting your application, you agree that Zendesk may collect your personal data for recruiting, global organization planning, and related purposes. Zendesk's Candidate Privacy Notice explains what personal information Zendesk may process, where Zendesk may process your personal information, its purposes for processing your personal information, and the rights you can exercise over Zendesk’s use of your personal information.

Please note that Zendesk can only hire candidates who are physically located and plan to work from Karnataka or Maharashtra. Please refer to the location posted on the requisition for where this role is based.

Hybrid: In this role, our hybrid experience is designed at the team level to give you a rich onsite experience packed with connection, collaboration, learning, and celebration - while also giving you flexibility to work remotely for part of the week. This role must attend our local office for part of the week. The specific in-office schedule is to be determined by the hiring manager.

The intelligent heart of customer experience

Zendesk software was built to bring a sense of calm to the chaotic world of customer service. Today we power billions of conversations with brands you know and love.

Zendesk believes in offering our people a fulfilling and inclusive experience. Our hybrid way of working, enables us to purposefully come together in person, at one of our many Zendesk offices around the world, to connect, collaborate and learn whilst also giving our people the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week.

As part of our commitment to fairness and transparency, we inform all applicants that artificial intelligence (AI) or automated decision systems may be used to screen or evaluate applications for this position, in accordance with Company guidelines and applicable law.

Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster global diversity, equity, & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment and employees at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer. If you are based in the United States and would like more information about your EEO rights under the law, please click here.

Zendesk endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to submit this application, complete any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participate in the employee selection process, please send an e-mail to peopleandplaces@zendesk.com with your specific accommodation request.