Senior Technical Program Manager in London

The client is one of the largest professional certification associations in the global finance industry, with DataArt as its primary technology partner. The engagement spans a large BAU operations team of approximately 80 people across multiple vendors and a portfolio of strategic initiatives, representing a significant multi‑year partnership. Currently, the client is undertaking a major platform modernization program shifting from a legacy monolith toward a modern microservices architecture, heavily leveraging AI-assisted development workflows.

We are looking for a Senior Technical Program Manager to lead the end‑to‑end delivery of this modernization program. The role requires a strategic leader who can manage multiple parallel workstreams, navigate a complex multi‑vendor stakeholder landscape, and manage high‑level C‑suite expectations around AI‑driven efficiency. You will coordinate closely across internal delivery teams, client product owners, CloudOps, and third‑party integration partners.

Technology Stack

• Cloud/Infra: AWS, Kong API Gateway
• Integrations/ERP: Salesforce, NetSuite, BigCommerce
• Architecture: Microservices, Event‑Driven, Strangler Fig pattern

Responsibilities

• Establish and run the program governance model, including meeting cadence, escalation paths, RACI, and a decision‑making framework across two parallel delivery tracks.
• Own the program roadmap, milestone tracking, dependency management, and critical path analysis across foundation, domain migration, and integration workstreams.
• Manage SAFe delivery execution, including PI planning, sprint cadence, phase gates, and production cutover processes with formal client sign‑off.
• Provide structured reporting at multiple levels, including weekly operational status for the delivery team, bi‑weekly updates for client engineering leadership, and monthly executive dashboards for the CIO.
• Track and report AI efficiency metrics, including code generation, test generation, and SDLC automation, as key program KPIs expected by the client executive sponsor.
• Facilitate cross‑team coordination between the modernization program, the operations team, and client infrastructure teams, including CloudOps and DevOps, responsible for environment provisioning and legacy decommissioning.
• Navigate dependencies with third‑party integration partners, including Salesforce, NetSuite, BigCommerce, and others, where sandbox access and API contract timelines are outside direct control.
• Manage the commercial cadence of the engagement, including bi‑monthly payment tracking, burn‑rate forecasting, and preparation of the re‑estimation checkpoint that determines the scope and pricing of the second SOW.
• Drive risk management through proactive identification, transparent communication, and data‑driven escalation, ensuring that risks inform decision making rather than only being tracked.
• Coordinate the team ramp‑up plan, including onboarding of new engineers, transition of BAU resources to modernization pods, and knowledge transfer from legacy platform SMEs.

Requirements

• 7+ years of program and project delivery experience in complex, multi‑track environments with distributed teams.
• Proven experience managing platform modernization or legacy migration programs, including monolith to microservices, cloud migration, strangler fig, or similar patterns.
• Strong understanding of SAFe or equivalent scaled Agile frameworks, including PI planning, sprint execution, and formal phase gate processes.
• Experience managing fixed‑price engagements with non‑milestone based payment schedules, including burn‑rate tracking and forecast at completion analysis.
• Demonstrated ability to manage C‑level stakeholder relationships, tailor communication to different audiences, and build executive confidence through metrics‑driven reporting.
• Experience coordinating multiple delivery pods running in parallel with independent backlogs but shared infrastructure and governance.
• Strong technical awareness, including understanding of microservices, API gateways, CI/CD pipelines, cloud infrastructure with AWS preferred, and data migration concepts sufficient to identify risks and ask the right questions.
• Emotional maturity and high emotional intelligence in managing cross‑functional teams, resolving technical disagreements, and navigating competing priorities between client stakeholders.
• Experience working alongside or managing vendor relationships in multi‑vendor environments.

Nice to Have

• Experience with AI assisted development tools or SDLC automation, including AI code generation, test generation, or agentic workflows.
• Familiarity with Kong API Gateway, event‑driven architectures, or domain‑driven design.
• Knowledge of compliance and regulatory standards relevant to financial services, including GDPR, data retention, and audit trail requirements.
• Experience in financial services, professional certification, or EdTech organizations.