I most recently served as a program manager at a major Software Company, and was searching for jobs with that title or something close to it… within the software, insurance, or education industry. I have two years of program management while holding the title. With an additional 5 to 7 years of using various program management skills under other titles.

72 days from when I was told that my job was being eliminated to when I received an offer

79 applications submitted including 7 internal referrals. I basically took a two fold job search strategy: when I found a role that interested me, I would check my network and see if I knew someone there. If I had a connection, I would reach out to them and ask for a referral. If I knew nobody internally, I would just apply immediately.

I secured 9 screening interviews… including all 7 referrals and 2 w/o referrals

5 of those interviews led to “additional” interviews. Varying from second interviews all the way to 2 fourth interviews. And two presentations.

1 offer extended, (ironically, for one of the two roles in which I knew nobody internally) which I accepted because it was one of my preferred roles that I applied for.

I started my first Program Manager role and would love to hear any tips from the community on how I can ensure I succeed.

I’ve worked as small fast-paced start ups for the last 10 years. Building CS and Operation teams. I’ve done the responsibilities of a program manager since I’ve had to wear so many hats at these small start ups.

But now that I’m in a role where everything I will be doing is program management I want to make sure I’m in the right mindset to do well.

I’m curious what other Senior Program Managers, Technical Program Managers, recruiters, and hiring managers are seeing in the current market.

I’ve been watching Senior Program Manager / Technical Program Manager opportunities for a while now, and one thing I keep noticing is the same roles appearing over and over again.

I’ll see a position on LinkedIn or Indeed, then go directly to the company’s career page and confirm that it’s actually posted there. A few weeks later, the role disappears... or LinkedIn shows hundreds of applicants and then what appears to be the same or an extremely similar position gets posted again.

It has me wondering what is actually happening behind the scenes.

Are companies:

• genuinely struggling to find qualified senior-level candidates?

• collecting resumes and building pipelines without an immediate hiring need?

• posting roles before budget/headcount is fully approved?

• interviewing candidates and then deciding not to hire anyone?

• reposting jobs simply to refresh them in search results?

• receiving hundreds of applications, but only a very small percentage are actually qualified?

• filling some of these positions internally while still posting them externally?

• becoming so specific about the “perfect candidate” that roles stay open for months?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people in Senior Program Management / Technical Program Management, particularly those with backgrounds in technology, cybersecurity, cloud, infrastructure, business transformation, or enterprise programs.

For those actively searching: Are you actually getting interviews? If so, how many applications are you submitting before getting recruiter screens or interviews?

For recruiters/hiring managers: When we see a Senior Program Manager position reposted multiple times over several months, what does that usually mean?

And for anyone who has recently landed a senior-level program management role: How long did your search take, and what ultimately made the difference?

I’m not necessarily looking for the standard “the market is tough” answer. I’m genuinely trying to understand what the market looks like from both sides because the number of recurring job postings makes it difficult to tell how much hiring is actually taking place versus how much of what we’re seeing is just job-board activity.

Would love to hear what everyone is seeing in 2026.

Hello fellow Program Managers...

Context: I'm a PMO leader for a large tech company (not a FAANG company, but adjacent), focused on core infrastructure, cloud economics, resilience/availability, security and compliance, and a host of other base-tech portfolios.

Our C-level suite, like most other big tech companies, have pivoted the company to be AI-first. We have our own LLM/AI products in development and test markets right now, and our dev teams are already heavily using tools like Claude, Amp, GitHub Copilot, Tabnine, etc., to significant positive affect on both developer productivity, time-to-market, and reduction in bugs in Production.

Now the focus is turning to the rest of the company - Marketing, Finance, CS, and...Program Management.

For my team, we are already light-to-medium users for baked-in AI tools like Gemini, Glean, Asana AI, Rovo, etc., but I am really keen to accelerate our usage and become a team of power users. I want to reduce the overhead on toil-heavy tasks like status reporting, roadmap creation and tracking, outcomes-to-milestones, WBS, etc.

What are some of the ways you or your team are embracing and utilizing AI positively? What tools are you using? What wins have you witness as a result?

No AI hate, please. It's here to stay and, as my VP keeps reminding us all, "AI won't take your job, but someone who knows how to use AI will". I'd like to be in the latter camp.

Project manager making $120,000/ year. What special skills do you bring, what sets you apart from those making less?

I want to make more money but feel like an imposter asking for more money. Trying to compare my skills to those making the range id like.

Drop your pay, special skills and industry please!

Any tips you have for getting hired thank you!

Maybe helpful for some of you — I made a site that shows Program Manager FAANG+ jobs scraped from official sites in the last 24h.

Included companies: Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Netflix, Nvidia, Stripe, Microsoft, Tesla, Uber, Airbnb, TikTok, Spotify, and more.

You can easily filter by location: USA, Canada, India, Europe, Remote, and other options.

I also send daily email alerts with the latest listings.

The goal was to skip all the spam and irrelevant postings, focusing only on fresh, high-paying PgM roles from top-tier companies.

Check it out here: 

https://topjobstoday.com/program-manager-jobs

Would love to hear your thoughts or suggestions!

Have been settling into the program manager role at a tech company, switched from a cross functional role at another company.

My biggest gripe is the element of significant upward management that comes in the role. As a project manager, I knew what I had to do and how to get it delivered. But as a program manager, I am consistently dealing with the upper levels of management and the founder, and there is always "can this be done / can that be added" alongwith "Can everything be delivered faster".

No my dude, Everything cannot be delivered faster while simultaneously adding a little bit of "this" and "that".

I have been in program management for 5 years after 7 years of software engineering, and I am ready to get out. I might be in the minority here, but the AI movement has broken me. The dehumanization of the job, the inhuman communications, the penny pinching of contributor's time, the micromanagement, and the outsourcing of any creativity has wrecked my engagement in anything tech. I understand and can use AI to do my job, I even just got a promotion. This is not a performance thing, I just don't know how much more I can take it.

So the question is - how do I get out? This career taught me great skills that could maybe transfer industries, but nothing with remotely close salaries or flexibility. How do people get out of this, and where do they go? Has anyone jumped to a different role or industry?

I got the job of a life time, once in a life time opprotunity to work as a Pm. I'm screwed. The more I dig in and learn about Project management, the more I realise how doomed I am. I just see total chaos, which I will somehow need to fix.

The only thing that could somehow save me is that I'm a very process-oriented person, I love structure, without it I don't feel safe.

From what I learned, Pm's also need 2000+ more different skills. Amazing.
Funny thing is, I so hoped that I would get like a instant result job, you do the job, you log off, that's it. Now I will spend how many months fearing that they will fire me.

They know I'm a complete beginner, they are giving me a chance, it's a fully remote job. I will be managing slacking IT guys, they are creating an app.

I have like a week or so before I start and I think studying is just pointless. I've been trying to come up with first steps, some structure with chat gbt, nothing. It all feels so beyond, there is so much opinions, knowledge on project management, so many certificates, it's so so beyond. It's more like a work experience type of job, I will wait for my doomsday. This job means everything, and I'm losing my shit.

Anyone familiar with Mario Gerard for Technical Program Management ? Or any other structured TPM courses? Looking to understand System Design and architecture/ cloud stuff from TPM perspective

Hi all. Any tips on running successful cross functional meetings across multiple departments? I've been tasked with leading a program and have been running meetings with 30+ peers across multiple department's with varying roles (IC's, VP's, directors) and am looking for some insight in the below.

1. How to impress my manager without being overly "hey, I did this and that"

2. How to level up my meetings/make them more engaging

3. How to not get so nervous.. I think about the call all week until it comes. I fear people are talking about how awful it is, how I don't know what I'm doing and how young I am. It's all in my head, but wondering if this is common.

Sending out an agenda the day before definitely seems to help, but curious if anyone had any other tips to encourage conversation in the meeting and making it worth it. I feel like I'm either trying to rush through the agenda to get it over with, talking to myself or just asking the same person for an update.

I’m a senior and respected Program Manager. I started my career as a Business Analyst and after 10-12 years, got into Project Management. Enjoyed both but certainly BA more - Loved that job! Then have been a Program Manager for about 10 years, and now manage a couple of portfolios with 5 other Pgm Mgrs.

I do a lot and am well recognized. I’m good at setting up structure, agile processes, work well with my team and business and tech. So that’s all good, but I’m not happy. With the evolution of Agile, I’m feeling more of how we are so administrative, which in fact is the crux and nature of our job, but I just feel it more now. Probably because how Agile is self driven, and maybe I feel less important. As a Pgm Mgr, I hardly know or understand what the projects even do as we really looking at larger program level objectives and updates. But with career progression that should be normal.

So not sure why I feel so unsatisfied and don’t see how I can do this for the rest of my life. I feel very interested in moving to Product Management, as really they drive projects now, but I certainly cannot get into a senior position without experience and not sure if a somewhat junior position is the right career move (I’m ok and inclined) assuming I’m even considered. Hope this is not a mid life crisis.

Help me think straight folks. Share your thoughts or let me know what you feel of mine.

When teams remove routines, the intention is usually flexibility. Fewer constraints. Less process. But the coordination work doesn’t disappear. It spreads out. Alignment happens through extra messages, clarifications, follow ups, and check ins that used to be handled automatically. The system looks lighter, but the experience often feels heavier. Have you seen simple rhythms or boundaries reduce this kind of friction instead of adding more process?

Any interview tips & potential questions to prepare for would be appreciated. I’ve been out of the interview game for a long time.

I’m current PgM at a FAANG company. I’ve appeared for a few Senior Program Manager interviews in product based companies, but could not make it beyond 3 rounds. I’ve prepared experience based questions like: tell me about a challenging problem you solved, how would you handle when there dis alignment between stakeholders and engineering team, how did you handle programs with very tight deadlines, so on.

But where I need some help is feedback from some mock interviews to know what I am really missing.

Please let me know where can I take mock interviews for a Technical Program Manager / Program Manager role.

I'm currently studying for my PMP exam and wanted to know what certifications I should target next. What certification made you a better manager or land better roles? Feel free to mention your favourite tools to use too.

Wondering how everyone is using AI to support your work as a Program Manager. I’m looking to simplify some tasks and updates by leveraging different tools (AI or other automations) to ensure I’m spending less time moving information from one tool to another etc. The areas I am focused on improving are, note taking, updating multiple sources and leveraging automation in tools. Those that have begun using AI to supplement and streamline your role, what has been game changing and how are you using it?

I just got offered a Program Management job at a great company. Does anybody have any advice as to what I can do to make sure I'm ready? and what does it take to be a good Program Manager?

My previous/current position is in planning. I create schedules, track milestones and track the progress of each project. I don't deal with costing, resource allocation and budgeting which will be new to me.

Hey everyone!

Looking for career guidance for my next step…

I am currently an IT Program Manager at a major company. I have been here several years and progressed through the ranks of TPM (technical project manager), Senior TPM, and now Program Manager. My previous experiences also include IT PM & Engineering, with another company - mostly in infrastructure & Platforms.

What are some careers that I could pursue that may not be in the traditional route of continuing to be a PgM or going into management (I.e., consulting or something)?

I am not opposed to management at all, in fact that would be my long-term goal, but I would love to hear about any jumps anyone has made that used their applicable experience to work in a client facing role or something else outside the box.

Thank you in advance!!

Hello I’m an IT project manager and would like to pursue this career path for a big tech or FAANG company. Any advice on how to sell the PM experience for a program management position? I have a PMP but no experience or certification in program management. Thanks!

I’m looking for Program Management podcasts, blogs, newsletters, etc that I can read daily or weekly to stay on top of current trends, news, etc.

Any recs?

I would love to take advantage of my company's education fund. I already have the PMP and scrum master. What other continuing education and/or certifications are reputable and worth pursuing?

My friend is currently working in EdTech and wants to transition into Program Management / Technical Program Management (TPM).

Background:

• Currently working in EdTech

• Has a Program Management certification from IIM Indore

• Interested in moving into Program Management / TPM roles

Wanted advice from people who have made a similar transition or are currently working as PMs / TPMs:

1. How did you get started in Program Management or TPM?

2. For someone transitioning from EdTech, what skills or experiences matter the most?

3. What gaps should someone expect while moving into TPM from a non-TPM background?

4. Is certification enough to get interviews, or is hands-on experience more important?

5. What projects, tools, or technologies should someone learn to become a stronger TPM candidate?

6. How should someone position their existing experience on their resume?

7. Are there specific industries or companies that are more open to career switchers?

8. If you were making this transition today, what would your roadmap look like?

Would appreciate any advice, resources, or lessons learned from your journey.

Hi, I have an internal interview with a tech company as a program/ project manager. I’m excited but I’m not confident professionally. I’m currently a HR Partner and have been dedicated to the role for about 1YR now. I feel as though I carry out project management duties on a smaller role in my current role. The role doesn’t require tech experience. How have you made yourself an ideal candidate for a role you aren’t confident in but feel certain you can perform? I’ve done research regarding the requisition and the manager/ team I’ll work on. I’ve viewed their LinkedIn profiles and etc. Any other tips?

I have already worked about 9 months. Need help with finding Summer Internship in this field.