Technical Program Manager (TPM)

Technical Program Manager (TPM)

• Location: U.S. (Remote but must be based in the continental US; Mountain/Central time zone preferred)
• Clearance: Must be eligible and able to pass a government background check

About Spruce

Spruce builds privacy-preserving, standards-based digital identity and credentialing solutions that give individuals control of their information while enabling governments and enterprises to deliver secure, interoperable services. We partner with private and public-sector organizations to modernize how identity is issued, verified, and used.

The Role

We are seeking a Technical Program Manager (TPM) to lead delivery of complex, high-stakes identity and credentialing software solutions and programs across government and enterprise environments.

This is a high-autonomy, highly multifaceted role that blends technical delivery, customer ownership, and operational leadership. In many ways, this role functions as a Technical Success Manager / delivery lead hybrid—serving as the primary point of contact for one or more strategic customers.

The TPM is expected to operate as the connective tissue between engineering teams and external stakeholders, especially CTOs, CIOs, product leaders, and program owners on the customer side.

This role requires someone who can independently understand what the organization is trying to achieve, why it matters, and how to deliver it end-to-end—even when requirements are incomplete or evolving.

Core Responsibilities

1. Customer & Program Ownership

Serve as the primary point of contact for assigned customer programs

Build deep, trusted relationships with technical and executive stakeholders (CTOs, CIOs, product leaders, procurement teams)

Understand customer objectives and uncover the “problem behind the problem”

Maintain clarity between what is requested vs. what is contractually agreed vs. what is technically feasible

Operate confidently in public sector and enterprise contracting environments

2. Technical Program Delivery

Translate customer and policy requirements into executable technical delivery plans

Partner closely with engineering and product teams to define epics, milestones, and delivery roadmaps

Participate actively in technical conversations (cloud architecture, APIs, containers, identity systems, digital signatures, etc.)

Independently field technical questions (e.g., AWS vs GCP tradeoffs, deployment models, integration patterns)

Must be technically fluent enough to:

Participate in architecture-level discussions without relying on engineering escalation

Understand system design tradeoffs and communicate implications clearly to non-technical stakeholders

3. Contract-Aware Execution

Read, interpret, and execute against customer contracts and SOWs

Identify obligations, constraints, and deliverables within agreements

Ensure delivery aligns with contractual commitments and scope boundaries

Support translation of contract requirements into technical execution plans

(This is a core requirement of the role, not optional.)

4. Multi-Program Management

Manage multiple concurrent engagements across private and public sector customers

Prioritize effectively across competing demands and delivery timelines

Determine when to escalate, when to unblock independently, and when to engage engineering resources

Protect engineering time by filtering, structuring, and reducing unnecessary meeting load

5. Execution Excellence & Stakeholder Management

Lead recurring customer meetings, technical working sessions, and executive updates

Run structured governance cadences across internal and external stakeholders

Deliver clear communication in high-stakes environments

Maintain strong alignment across engineering, product, and customer leadership teams

6. Risk, Dependency & Delivery Management

Identify delivery risks early and proactively mitigate across teams

Manage dependencies across engineering, product, and customer stakeholders

Ensure alignment on scope, timelines, and technical feasibility

Surface gaps between customer expectations and delivery reality

What You Bring

3–7+ years in Technical Program Management, implementation delivery, or systems-focused customer success roles

Strong technical fluency (APIs, cloud infrastructure, system architecture, identity concepts preferred)

Proven ability to operate in complex, ambiguous, multi-stakeholder environments

Strong understanding of how software systems are built and delivered

Ability to independently interpret contracts, SOWs, or technical requirements

Excellent executive communication and relationship-building skills

Ability to protect engineering time while maintaining customer satisfaction

Nice to Have

Experience working with enterprise or government customers

Experience in identity, IAM / ICAM, zero trust, credentialing, or authentication systems

Familiarity with FedRAMP, NIST frameworks, or federal security standards

PMP or other program management certifications

Consulting, federal contracting, or enterprise transformation background

Prior engineering or deeply technical systems experience (strong advantage)

Why This Role Matters

Own delivery of mission-critical identity infrastructure programs

Work directly with senior government and enterprise stakeholders

Operate at the intersection of policy, engineering, and real-world systems delivery

Join a small, high-trust team where autonomy and judgment matter

Help shape how secure digital identity systems are delivered at scale