Sr. Technical Product Manager

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

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
• 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.

SaintLouisSupportCenter

With more than 2,000 Panera LLC and independent franchise bakery‑cafes in the Panera Bread® family, and more locations opening all the time, it’s no wonder our company has been an excellent source of career and personal growth opportunities for more than 25years. In neighborhoods across the U.S. and Canada, customers enjoy flavorful, handcrafted meals centered around freshly baked artisan bread. To us, that means serving food like we serve our own families – free of any of the items on our ‘No No’ List. Along the way, we also like to give back to our community. We enjoy working together, shoulder to shoulder with our customers, to confront a serious problem plaguing communities across this country – Hunger. Through our Panera Cares community cafes, we offer a dignified dining experience in an uplifting environment. In addition, we support our communities through day‑end donations at our bakery‑cafe locations and partner with local non‑profit organizations. It’s this warmth that you’ll find when you join Panera Bread. From our competitive compensation and benefits packages to our unique cultural values, we’re confident you’ll find us a rewarding and fun place to work.