About this role
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
Additional Description :