Principal Program Manager

Summary

Join ActBlue, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing progressive causes, as a Principal, Program Management. This role involves creating and executing a robust program management function for Product & Engineering departments. You will establish and carry out critical planning processes, drive data-informed decision-making, and coordinate large-scale initiatives. The ideal candidate is a dynamic leader who excels at creating structured processes and understands team dynamics. This is a full-time, remote, salaried position with competitive benefits. ActBlue is committed to equal employment opportunities and fostering a diverse, inclusive workplace.

Requirements

• Extensive experience establishing and executing a program management function in a fast-paced, technology-driven environment
• Demonstrated success in transforming high-level strategic priorities into actionable, measurable programs
• Deep experience in designing and executing scalable planning processes, tracking systems, and dashboards that drive continuous improvement and operational excellence
• Proficiency in creating and interpreting metrics and dashboards, with a hands-on approach to monitoring performance and identifying areas for improvement
• Experience implementing or managing OKRs, KPIs, or other performance metrics
• Exceptional communication skills and experience working with cross-disciplinary teams—including product, engineering, operations, and GTM—to drive alignment and execution
• Direct experience in product management or software development, providing you with a solid understanding of the product lifecycle and the technical challenges faced by engineering teams
• A pragmatic problem solver who thrives in dynamic environments, with a strong sense of ownership and the ability to create structure amidst ambiguity

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain a comprehensive calendar for all planning events, ensuring alignment with the broader organizational planning cadences
• Coordinate scheduling of planning meetings—including kickoffs, retrospectives, readouts—and adjust calendars to avoid conflicts with org-wide meetings or events
• Create and iterate on presentation decks, Airtable views, retro boards, and other tools used during planning sessions, incorporating feedback from leadership and retrospectives
• Proactively communicate deadlines and follow up with presenters to ensure all preparatory materials are completed on time
• Facilitate pre-meetings for leadership alignment on strategic cascade topics, ensuring decisions are cascaded effectively
• Iterate on planning processes to maximize successful achievement of goals while minimizing unproductive overhead of planning time
• Schedule and lead monthly meetings to keep plans on target, ensuring action items are captured, followed up, and that meetings do not conflict with other key activities
• Own and continually refine the monthly meeting agenda format based on stakeholder feedback
• Send timely reminders to both teams and stakeholders for agenda preparation and review
• Maintain a comprehensive tracker of committed versus delivered features and KRs/outcomes by quarter across all teams
• Develop visualizations that show trends over time, helping to identify process optimizations and areas for improvement
• Monitor initiatives, escalate off-track projects, and use data insights to refine planning and execution strategies
• Create mechanisms to track and monitor the health of large initiatives spanning multiple teams (leveraging tools such as Jira, Airtable, and Jellyfish)
• Develop best practices and templates to ensure accurate estimations, integration time, and robust testing processes
• Serve as the escalation point when initiatives are off-track, coordinating with key stakeholders to drive rapid resolution
• Collaborate with Data teams, Product Managers, and other stakeholders to define consistent, accurate metrics
• Develop clear, accessible dashboards for key metrics (including team and department OKRs and baseline KPIs) to be used in regular check-ins and across all teams
• Create and facilitate plans for how to communicate, implement and sustain organizational change in Product & Engineering
• May support supplementary projects as assigned, ensuring timely and efficient completion in line with organizational objectives and standards

Preferred Qualifications

• You’re proficient in agile methodologies and modern project management tools
• You’ve navigated the challenges of rapidly scaling organizations, particularly within technology sectors or politically influenced environments
• You possess prior experience in sectors such as eCommerce, B2B, or two-sided marketplaces

Benefits

• Flexible work schedules and an unlimited time-off policy
• Fully paid and trans-inclusive health, dental, and vision insurance for employees and their families; plus fully-paid health reimbursement arrangement to use for out of pocket expenses and fully-paid short- and long-term disability
• Fully paid basic and AD&D life insurance and a voluntary supplemental life insurance option
• Dependent and health care flexible spending account options
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) benefits for employees
• Automatic 2% Employer-paid 401K contribution, plus up to an additional 6% match on employee contributions
• A minimum of three months paid medical, family and parental leave (for all new parents, adoptions included)
• Commuter or home-office benefits, including a $1,000 home-office setup allowance for all new full-time remote employees
• Additional perks including quarterly snack deliveries and digital subscriptions to the Boston Globe & New York Times