Principal Technical Program Manager

About the Role

The Firefly team is building a new AI-native creative product at the intersection of generative AI and collaborative design. We’re looking for a Principal Program Manager to be the operational backbone of a fast-moving, multidisciplinary team—someone who thrives in zero-to-one environments and knows how to keep a diverse group of builders aligned, informed, and moving fast.

This role sits at the center of everything: the roadmap, the rituals, and the cross-functional relationships that make it possible for a team like this to ship ambitious work on tight timelines. You will work closely with engineering, design, data science, research, and go-to-market partners.

Your work will have a direct impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of Firefly. You will improve teamwork, communication, execution, and alignment with core teams and partners across the Adobe product portfolio. The ideal candidate is someone who is experienced in working in complex technical space, has experience with AI, and is passionate about solving problems. If you are looking to be part of a team that is building the future of creative tools, welcome to Firefly!

Responsibilities

Roadmap & Execution Management

• Own and maintain the source-of-truth roadmap, ensuring leadership always has a clear, current view of what the team is building and when.

• Manage day-to-day execution (eg. dependency tracking, and release coordination)

• Design and implement automations (Jira workflows, Slack integrations, reporting scripts) to eliminate repetitive overhead and let the team focus on building.

• Surface risks and blockers early. Proactively raise issues with proposed solutions rather than waiting for them to become problems.

Team Rituals & Culture

• Drive key rituals (eg. retrospectives, planning sessions) with a bias toward efficiency and clear outcomes.

Cross-Product Coordination

• Serve as the primary coordination point between collaborators

• Ensure cross-team dependencies are documented, communicated, and tracked—so that everyone knows what the priorities are, what’s happening, and when.

• Build strong relationships with program management peers across the organization to keep information flowing and reduce friction.

• Represent the team’s needs in broader planning cycles, ensuring our roadmap is reflected in platform and infrastructure priorities.

Requirements

• 10+ years experience in Technical Program Management or related field.

• Deep fluency with Jira (or equivalent) and a track record of building automations and workflows that meaningfully reduce team overhead.

• Experience coordinating across technical teams; not just tracking tasks, but genuinely understanding the work.

• Proven ability to manage complex cross-team dependencies across multiple product lines or platform teams.

• Excellent communication skills with the judgment to tailor updates for different audiences—leadership summaries, team-level detail, cross-functional briefs.

• Comfort operating in ambiguity. You don’t need a playbook handed to you—you build the playbook.

Nice to Have

• Experience with AI/ML product development or creative tools.

• Familiarity with generative AI workflows and the unique cadence of shipping AI-native products (model updates, evaluation cycles, prompt iteration).

• Background in design or creative software—you understand the users and the domain.

• Experience running inclusive team rituals that go beyond status updates to genuinely build culture and shared ownership.

Why This Role

• You’ll play a central role in one of Adobe’s most ambitious bets—a new AI-native product built by a small, senior team moving at startup speed.

• You’ll work with a multidisciplinary crew that values bias to action, intellectual honesty, and shipping over process for its own sake.

• You’ll have real ownership over how this team operates—not just delivering an existing program, but designing the one that fits.

About Adobe

Adobe empowers everyone to create through innovative platforms and tools that unleash creativity, productivity and personalized customer experiences. Adobe’s industry-leading offerings including Adobe Acrobat Studio, Adobe Express, Adobe Firefly, Creative Cloud, Adobe Experience Platform, Adobe Experience Manager, and GenStudio enable people and businesses to turn ideas into impact, powered by AI and driven by human ingenuity.

Our 30,000+ employees worldwide are creating the future and raising the bar as we drive the next decade of growth. We’re on a mission to hire the very best and believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. At Adobe, we believe that great ideas can come from anywhere in the organization. The next big idea could be yours. 

Let’s Adobe together

At Adobe, we believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. Learn more about Adobe life, including our values and culture, focus on people, purpose and community, Adobe for All, comprehensive benefits programs, the stories we tell, the customers we serve, and how you can help us advance our mission of empowering everyone to create.

Adobe is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. Learn more.

Adobe aims to make our Careers website and recruiting process accessible to any and all users. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation to navigate our website or complete the application process, email accommodations@adobe.com or call +1 408-536-3015. 

AI Use Guidelines for Interviews:
Our interviews are designed to reflect your own skills and thinking. The use of AI or recording tools during live interviews is not permitted unless explicitly invited by the interviewer or approved in advance as part of a reasonable accommodation. If these tools are used inappropriately or in a way that misrepresents your work, your application may not move forward in the process.

At Adobe, we empower employees to innovate with AI — and we look for candidates eager to do the same. As part of the hiring experience, we provide clear guidance on where AI is encouraged during the process and where it’s restricted during live interviews. See how we think about AI in the hiring experience.

 

Expected Pay Range:

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several  U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets. The U.S. pay range for this position is $146,300 -- $277,400 annually. Pay within this range varies by work location and may also depend on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the job location during the hiring process.

 



In California, the pay range for this position is $191,600 - $277,400


At Adobe, for sales roles starting salaries are expressed as total target compensation (TTC = base + commission), and short-term incentives are in the form of sales commission plans.  Non-sales roles starting salaries are expressed as base salary and short-term incentives are in the form of the Annual Incentive Plan (AIP).

In addition, certain roles may be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of a new hire equity award.

State-Specific Notices:

California:

Fair Chance Ordinances

Adobe will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and “fair chance” ordinances.

Colorado:

Application Window Notice

If this role is open to hiring in Colorado (as listed on the job posting), the application window will remain open until at least the date and time stated above in Pacific Time, in compliance with Colorado pay transparency regulations. If this role does not have Colorado listed as a hiring location, no specific application window applies, and the posting may close at any time based on hiring needs.

Massachusetts:

Massachusetts Legal Notice

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.