Sr. Technical Product Manager

About the job

Sr. Technical Product Manager

Job Purpose

As a Senior Technical Product Manager at Panera, you are responsible for owning the strategy, roadmap, and delivery of critical digital platforms across the eCommerce and in-café ecosystem. This role operates with broad scope and high autonomy, leading complex, cross-functional initiatives that span multiple teams, systems, and vendor partnerships.

You serve as a bridge between product strategy and technical execution, translating business and customer needs into scalable, high-performing platform capabilities. In addition to driving delivery, you are accountable for product outcomes, platform reliability, and long-term technical evolution.

The Sr. TPdM also acts as a senior leader and mentor, elevating product management practices, influencing cross-functional decisions, and serving as a trusted advisor to Product, Engineering, and executive stakeholders.

Location: St. Louis, MO (hybrid)

Duties & Responsibilities

The primary responsibilities of this job include, but are not limited to:

• Product Strategy & Roadmap Ownership

• Own and define the technical product strategy and roadmap for one or more critical domains (Web, Mobile, Kiosk, Shared Services)

• Partner with Digital Product Managers to translate customer needs and business goals into scalable technical solutions

• Drive product discovery, solution design, and prioritization decisions

• Balance trade-offs across customer value, performance, scalability, technical debt, and speed to market

• Identify opportunities to evolve platform capabilities and support long-term growth and extensibility

• End-to-End Product Ownership & Execution Leadership

• Own the end-to-end lifecycle from ideation through delivery and post-launch optimization

• Translate roadmap initiatives into execution plans, backlog structure, and measurable outcomes

• Proactively identify cross-team dependencies, risks, and architectural constraints and drive resolution

• Ensure high-quality, predictable delivery across multiple teams and workstreams

• Act as a senior advisor on feasibility, sequencing, and solution trade-of

• Outcome Ownership & Product Performance

• Own and drive measurable product and platform outcomes, including:

• Conversion and digital revenue impact

• System performance and latency

• Reliability and stability (99.99% uptime target)

• Customer and operational experience metrics

• Use data and insights to inform prioritization and continuously optimize product performance

• Monitor platform health and proactively identify areas for improvement and innovation

• Engineering & Architecture Partnership

• Partner with Engineering and Architecture to define system design and technical direction

• Influence platform architecture decisions to support scalability, resilience, and maintainability

• Participate in and challenge technical design reviews

• Ensure solutions align with enterprise architecture, security, and performance standards

• Advocate for investments in technical health, modernization, and platform sustainability

• Advanced Prioritization & Backlog Leadership

• Own a multi-team, outcome-driven backlog aligned to strategic roadmap objectives

• Drive prioritization decisions balancing:

• Feature delivery

• Production stability

• Technical debt reduction

• Long-term platform evolution

• Ensure consistent quality of user stories, acceptance criteria, and readiness standards

• Mentor Product Managers/Owners on backlog strategy and prioritization best practices

• Release Ownership & Production Accountability

• Own execution of complex, high-impact releases across multiple teams and systems

• Ensure releases meet readiness standards including:

• Documentation and traceability

• Testing and certification

• Risk and dependency alignment

• Lead go/no-go decisions, release coordination, and issue resolution

• Serve as the primary escalation point for production issues

• Drive continuous improvement in release quality, predictability, and operational readiness

• Own, document, and execute release management process and calls, ensuring the product is deployed successfully and making precise business and technical judgment calls for issues found before or during the call

• Product Health, Stability & Technical Debt Strategy

• Own visibility and improvement of platform health metrics:

• Stability and crash trends

• Order and transaction performance

• Customer and operational feedback

• Lead strategic planning and execution of technical debt and platform modernization initiatives

• Ensure technical investments are proactively planned and aligned to roadmap priorities

• Partner with Engineering to maintain a healthy balance of feature delivery and platform sustainability

• Cross-Functional Leadership & Executive Communication

• Act as a thought partner and decision-maker across Product, Engineering, and business teams

• Influence roadmap trade-offs and investment decisions

• Provide clear, concise communication on:

• Roadmap progress

• Delivery status and forecasts

• Risks, blockers, and mitigation plans

• Product and platform performance

• Translate complex technical concepts into business-relevant insights for leadership

• Vendor & Partner Leadership

• Own delivery outcomes and performance for external vendor partners

• Lead vendor governance, execution reviews, and continuous improvement efforts

• Ensure alignment between vendors and internal teams on standards, timelines, and quality expectations

• Escalate and resolve vendor-related risks impacting delivery or platform health

• Mentorship & Team Leadership

• Serve as a mentor and coach to Technical Product Managers, Product Owners, and cross-functional peers

• Elevate standards across backlog management, delivery execution, and product thinking

• Drive consistency and maturity in product management practices across the organization

Qualifications (Education & Experience)

• Required Experience

• 8–10+ years of experience in Technical Product Management, Product Management, or related roles

• Proven experience owning product strategy, roadmaps, and delivery for complex digital platforms

• Strong background in software development lifecycle, system architecture, and scalable systems

• Experience leading large-scale, cross-team initiatives and high-visibility product launches

• Demonstrated ability to influence technical and business decisions at a senior level

• Experience working in Agile / SAFe environments at scale

• Technical & Product Skills

• Strong ability to translate business needs into technical solutions and architectural considerations

• Deep understanding of APIs, microservices, and distributed systems

• Experience with performance optimization, scalability, and reliability engineering principles

• Strong analytical and data-driven decision-making skills

• Leadership & Communication

• Executive-level communication and stakeholder management skills

• Ability to operate as both a strategic leader and hands-on executor

• Strong cross-functional leadership and influence without direct authority

• Proven ability to drive alignment in complex, fast-paced environments

• Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in eCommerce, mobile apps, kiosks, or omni-channel platforms

• Experience with enterprise-scale, high-availability systems

• Background in platform or backend product management

• Experience managing third-party integrations and vendor ecosystems

• Success Profile (What Great Looks Like)

• Owns both product strategy and execution across complex domains

• Drives measurable business, customer, and platform outcomes

• Partners deeply with Engineering to shape architecture and long-term technical direction

• Balances speed of delivery with platform scalability and health

• Acts as a trusted advisor to leadership and mentor to the broader team

• Elevates product management discipline and execution standards across the organization

Working Conditions

• Required travel – 0%–10%

Physical Requirements

• While performing this job, the incumbent is regularly required to stand, sit, talk hear & use hands and fingers to operate keyboards

Direct Reports

• None

Equal Opportunity Employer: Disabled/Veterans

Competitive Pay $145,305 - $174,366 annually

The actual pay offered will be determined by multiple factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s relevant experience, job-related knowledge, skills, and geographical location. Individual compensation decisions are dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each position and candidate.

Saint Louis Support Center