Principal Technical Program Manager

About Upstart At Upstart, we’re united by a mission that matters: to radically reduce the cost and complexity of borrowing for all Americans. Every day, we bring creativity, experimentation, and advanced AI to reshape access to credit, helping millions move forward financially with clarity and confidence. As the leading AI lending marketplace, we partner with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit through technology that’s both radically intelligent and deeply human. Our platform runs over one million predictions per borrower using more than 1,800 signals, powering smarter, fairer decisions for millions of customers. But the numbers only hint at the impact. Every idea, every voice, and every contribution moves us closer to a world where credit never stands between people and their financial progress. We’re proudly digital-first, giving most Upstarters the flexibility to do their best work from wherever they thrive, alongside teammates across 80+ cities in the US and Canada. Digital-first doesn’t mean distant. We’re intentional about in-person connection through team onsites, planning sessions, and moments that spark creativity and trust. And whether you choose to work primarily from home or collaborate in-person from one of our offices in Columbus, Austin, the Bay Area, or New York City (opening Summer 2026), you’ll have the support to work in the way that works best for you. If you’re energized by tackling meaningful problems, excited to innovate with purpose, and motivated by work that truly matters, we’d love to hear from you. The Team: Upstart’s Technical Program Manager team is responsible for driving execution of the company’s most critical engineering initiatives. The TPMs operate at the intersection of product and engineering, delivering complex business outcomes that span multiple teams and systems. Current focus areas include 1/ improving engineering velocity through platformization and reducing system complexity, 2/ strengthening org-wide operational excellence, and 3/ increasing Upstart’s ML advantage by streamlining data evaluation and productization. As a Principal TPM at Upstart, you will operate as a force-multiplier in ambiguous problem spaces by bringing structure, clarity, and momentum to initiatives that would otherwise stall. Successful TPMs demonstrate a relentless sense of ownership over outcomes and can flex both strong technical and product judgement. In addition to delivering programs, you will shape how the organization executes at scale by influencing how we plan, prioritize, and deliver work. How you’ll make an impact Own system-level outcomes, ensuring initiatives deliver measurable business value instead of just ticking off feature completion checkboxes Bring clarity to ambiguity by aligning goals, defining milestones, translating high-level designs into actionable implementation details, and ensuring cross-team dependencies are clearly understood Proactively identify and mitigate critical risks early to de-risk delivery before failure happens Drive critical decisions by surfacing tradeoffs, clarifying priorities, and aligning stakeholders on a path forward Create and maintain a single, trusted view of program health to provide stakeholders at all levels with insights into progress, risks, and changes Partner with engineering and product leaders to balance feature delivery with long-term system scalability, reliability, and maintainability Minimum Qualifications BA/BS in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience 8+ years of technical program management, product management or related experience in a software engineering environment Experience leading large-scale, cross-functional programs spanning multiple engineering teams and systems Experience leading complex technical initiatives from concept through launch, including defining scope, success metrics, and execution strategy Experience w ... (truncated, view full listing at source)