Founded in 2014, Circles is a global technology company reimagining the telco industry with its innovative SaaS platform, empowering telco operators worldwide to effortlessly launch innovative digital brands or refresh existing ones, accelerating their transformation into techcos.
Today, Circles partners with leading telco operators across multiple countries and continents, including KDDI Corporation, Etisalat Group (e&), AT&T, and Telkomsel, creating blueprints for future telco and digital experiences enjoyed by millions of consumers globally.
Besides its SaaS business, Circles operates three other distinct businesses:
Circles is backed by renowned global investors, including Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia), Warburg Pincus, Founders Fund, and EDBI (the investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board), with a track record of backing industry challengers.
Job Role - Technical Program Manager
Job Location - Sri Lanka
Position Overview:
The Technical Program Manager (TPM) will play a key role in managing and delivering complex, high-impact programs across multiple teams. You will be responsible for planning, coordinating, and driving the execution of cross-functional initiatives, ensuring that all teams are aligned and that milestones are met. This role requires strong technical expertise, excellent communication skills, and a proven track record of managing large-scale technical projects.
Roles and Responsibilities:
Program Planning and Execution: Lead end-to-end program planning, execution, and delivery, ensuring projects are completed on time, within scope, and budget. Define clear objectives, success metrics, and key milestones while ensuring alignment with organizational goals.
Milestones & Capacity Planning: Develop and implement comprehensive project plans, including detailed timelines, milestones, resource requirements, and risk mitigation strategies. Ensure resource availability and capacity planning to meet project demands.
Budget Oversight: Oversee program budgets, ensuring accurate forecasting, meticulous tracking, and transparent reporting. Identify and address budgetary risks while maintaining cost efficiency.
Process Improvement: Drive continuous process improvements by identifying inefficiencies and implementing industry best practices. Promote Agile and Lean principles to optimize workflows and enhance delivery speed.
Culture and Team Leadership: Foster a collaborative culture emphasizing accountability, innovation, and continuous learning. Lead cross-functional teams to ensure seamless collaboration and shared ownership of project outcomes.
Development Life Cycle Management: Accountable for the overall development life cycle of the solution, managing complex projects with significant bottom-line impact. Ensure projects are delivered with high quality, within tight schedules, and aligned with business priorities.
Technical Leadership: Work closely with senior engineers to develop the best technical design and approach. Ensure solution architecture adheres to organizational standards and industry best practices.
Stakeholder Management: Act as the primary point of contact for stakeholders, providing regular updates, addressing concerns proactively, and ensuring transparent communication throughout the project lifecycle.
Risk Management: Identify potential risks early, develop mitigation strategies, and monitor progress to prevent project delays. Ensure that all project deliverables meet quality standards and stakeholder expectations.
Performance Tracking and Reporting: Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to track project progress, performance, and impact. Prepare detailed status reports and dashboards for leadership and stakeholders.
Vendor and External Collaboration: Coordinate with external vendors, partners, and third-party providers to ensure seamless integration and timely delivery of project components.
Must Have Skills:
Minimum 10+ years of experience as a Program manager in driving and managing complex projects working within a fast-paced and competitive environment with proven experience in driving development processes to achieve delivery outcomes.
Responsible for the timely and efficient execution of projects across the value chain using Agile Methodology, from strategy through to implementation. Integrate quickly into the organisation to assess and unblock barriers that affect developers working with the team on mitigation strategies
Handled and delivered complex tech projects, ideally within a heavily matrixed organisation where s/he was able to demonstrate leadership and lead effectively to meet the delivery objectives.
A successful track record of leading large cross-functional teams with the ability to manage priorities across multiple teams and functions is imperative.
Exceptional stakeholder management skills with the ability to communicate the Project progress/risks/reports to all organisation levels is a must.
Superior communication skills, including driving and leading the functional/technical discussions with the Engineering/Product/QA teams critical to the delivery.
Experience in developing tools/processes to improve team productivity will be beneficial.
Strong knowledge and experience in Agile Methodology and frameworks like SAFe, Scrum, Kanban etc.
Strong coaching abilities and team-building skills to drive adoption of agile scrum methodology.
Knowledge of the entire SDLC, Agile Techniques (User Stories, CI/CD, BDD, TDD, Continuous Testing, Automated Testing etc.)
Knowledge of backlog tracking, burn-down metrics, velocity, user stories etc.
Demonstrable engineering acumen: degree/ background in Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering or relevant degree
Certifications from PMI in ACP (Agile Certification Practitioner), SAFe certification from Scaled Agile or Scrum Master certification from Scrum alliance will be an added advantage
Attention to detail: Does not let important details slip through the cracks or derail a project.
Follow through on commitments: Lives up to verbal and written agreements
Flexibility and adaptability: Adjusts quickly to changing priorities and conditions. Copes effectively with complexity and change, especially in a start-up environment.
Qualification:
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science Engineering, or a related technical degree.
Circles is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, disability or age.
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