Principal Program Manager

San Diego, CA

About the Role

 

We are seeking a Principal Program Manager to join the Portfolio and Program Management Office (PPMO) and partner directly with the Sr. Director of Program Management. This senior individual contributor will play a critical role in driving program governance, enabling cross-functional alignment, and strengthening the Rhythm of Business (ROB) across PlayStation. 

The Principal PM will serve as a trusted operator and inspector, ensuring program health reporting is accurate, transparent, and action-oriented. This role requires credibility with senior leaders, strong analytical skills, and the ability to challenge teams constructively to ensure commitments are met and business value is realized. 

In addition, the Principal PM will help optimize resources and operating models, champion standards, processes and tools that drive efficiency, and mentor teams on best practices. Above all, this role is designed for a driver — someone with the credibility and depth to challenge assumptions, enforce accountability, and accelerate execution while modeling a culture of ownership and collaboration. 
 

Key Responsibilities

Program Governance

• Operate the Rhythm of Business (ROB), ensuring reviews are decision-making and escalation forums rather than ceremonial updates. 
• Drive cross-program health reviews, laddered from mission groups to senior leadership. 
• Maintain a single source of truth for program health by tracking KPIs, schedules, risks, dependencies, and velocity metrics 

Strategic Program & Portfolio Management

• Partner with cross-functional leaders in Engineering, Product, Design, Quality, Operations, and Business functions (go-to-market, finance, legal, customer success) to align and integrate priorities. 
• Translate complex requirements into shared milestones and outcomes that drive enterprise impact. 
• Apply program structure design expertise to ensure clarity in ownership, scope, and execution. 

Communication & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Proactively communicate opportunities, risks, and trade-offs to executives and stakeholders. 
• Collaborate across functions to streamline processes, increase efficiency, and unblock execution. 
• Evangelize the value of disciplined program management in delivering measurable business outcomes. 

 Efficiency, Resource Optimization & Continuous Improvement

• Optimize the use of people, processes, and budgets to deliver program objectives. 
• Improve operating models, streamline structures, and simplify processes to accelerate outcomes. 
• Champion standards, tools, and best practices that enhance efficiency and delivery across the PPMO. 
• Drive a “do more with less” mindset by creating scalable mechanisms that reinforce accountability and velocity. 

 Culture & Accountability

• Model a culture of ownership, urgency, and accountability across all engagements. 
• Ensure every deliverable has a single accountable owner and commitments are consistently tracked. 
• Act as a senior IC with the credibility to inspect programs, challenge assumptions, and enforce commitments at the executive level. 

Qualifications & Requirements 

• 15+ years of program management experience, including delivery of large-scale, complex programs across hardware, software, or enterprise systems. 
• Expertise in program governance, executive reporting, and rhythms of business. 
• Strong analytical skills, with experience using data and metrics to drive accountability and decisions. 
• Ability to influence VPs and senior executives while enforcing commitments and inspection rights. 
• Deep knowledge of program and portfolio management practices, tools (JIRA, Smartsheet, Asana, Confluence, etc) and methodologies. 
• Exceptional communication, executive presence, and stakeholder management skills. 
• Knowledge of the gaming, consumer electronics, or digital entertainment industries (preferred). 
• Experience with SAFe or other scaled agile frameworks is a strong plus, but not required. 

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