---
title: 'Director, Technical Program Management at Samba'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/director-technical-program-management-samba-austin-s1s19bswbvcs'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-07'
---

# Director, Technical Program Management at Samba

- **Company:** Samba
- **Location:** Austin, TX
- **Compensation:** $200k–$250k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-07-10
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07
- **Apply:** https://jobs.lever.co/sambatv/5e22f693-1979-4a7e-a6a1-3c4ef3833c64

## Job description

Samba is a media intelligence company. We know what the world is watching, reading, and thinking about — in real time, at scale, across every screen. Our data exists with the consent of over a billion people, organized into the most complete picture of consumer attention ever built. The biggest brands in the world use that picture to make smarter decisions. We think it’s the most interesting data asset on the planet, because it’s the most culturally relevant.

We are looking for a Director of Technical Program Management to lead and grow our TPM function at a critical inflection point in the company's expansion. This is not a pure execution role — it is a strategic leadership position. You will be a peer to VPs and Sr. Directors across Engineering, Product, Data Science, and Executive Leadership, owning how we plan, execute, and govern complex programs that span the full ad tech stack: data collection, identity, audience platforms, measurement solutions, and third-party integrations. You will own, build and develop a small but high-impact team of TPMs, establish the frameworks and operating model that scale with the organization, and personally drive the most complex, cross-functional programs. The right candidate brings deep engineering discipline, ad tech domain knowledge a plus, proven people leadership, and the organizational instincts to operate credibly at the senior leadership level.

## WHAT YOU'LL DO

Organizational Leadership

- Lead, mentor, and grow a team of 2–4 TPMs, setting a high bar for program ownership, communication, and technical credibility.

- Define the TPM team's operating model — how programs are staffed, governed, escalated, and reported — and evolve it as the organization scales.

- Act as the senior-most TPM voice in leadership forums, representing program health, risk posture, and execution capacity to the CTO, SVP of Engineering and cross-functional peers.

- Drive hiring decisions, performance development, and career growth for the TPM team.

Program Strategy & Execution

- Own the end-to-end program execution strategy for the technology organization's most complex, cross-functional initiatives — from annual planning through delivery.

- Define and enforce program governance frameworks: scope, milestones, dependency management, risk registers, and earned value tracking.

- Partner with Engineering, Product, and Data Science leadership to align program roadmaps with business priorities, capacity constraints, and strategic objectives.

- Drive the shift from bespoke, one-off execution to scalable, repeatable program infrastructure — ensuring teams build for hundreds of integrations, not one at a time.

- Personally lead the highest-stakes programs when complexity, risk, or organizational span demands senior TPM ownership.

Cross-functional Influence & Stakeholder Management

- Operate as a credible peer to VPs and Sr. Directors — not just a coordinator, but a strategic partner with a clear point of view on tradeoffs, priorities, and risk.

- Communicate program status, risks, and strategic dependencies to the CTO,SVP of Engineering and executive leadership with clarity, precision, and appropriate urgency.

- Build and maintain alignment across Engineering, Product, Legal, Data, and Operations on programs that cut across organizational boundaries.

- Surface and resolve cross-functional blockers that cannot be handled at the team level — escalating with a recommended resolution, not just a flag.

Process, Tooling & Governance

- Use of AI tools and skills for acceleration of automations from the perspective of TPM artifacts. Claude / Gemini / Cursor / Codex preferred

- Establish and continuously improve the standard TPM toolkit: program templates, RAID frameworks, status reporting cadences, and planning rituals.

- Champion Agile and scaled Agile (SAFe) practices across engineering teams, partnering with Engineering Managers to ensure methodology serves delivery — not the other way around.

- Ensure programs reflect regulatory and compliance requirements (GDPR, CCPA, privacy-by-design) as first-class planning inputs, not afterthoughts.

- Stay current on industry trends in ad tech, programmatic advertising, and digital measurement — bringing external perspective into internal planning.

## WHO YOU ARE

- 10+ years of experience in technical program management, with at least 5+ years in a senior or lead TPM role.

- Demonstrated experience managing and developing a team of TPMs — hiring, coaching, setting standards, and building a high-performance culture.

- Deep domain expertise in ad tech — including programmatic advertising, audience data platforms, measurement and attribution solutions, identity, and/or data product delivery. This is a hard requirement; candidates without ad tech context will not be considered.

- Proven track record operating as a peer to VPs and Sr. Directors — influencing strategic decisions, representing program risk at the executive level, and driving alignment across senior leadership.

- Expertise in Agile, Scrum, and SAFe methodologies with hands-on experience driving adoption across engineering organizations.

- Strong command of program governance: earned value metrics, dependency management, risk mitigation, and structured escalation frameworks.

- Exceptional written and verbal communication — able to adapt from engineering deep-dives to executive briefings without losing precision or credibility.

- Experience managing programs that span regulatory or compliance constraints (GDPR, CCPA, or similar privacy frameworks).

- Background in software engineering, computer science, or a related technical field — prior hands-on engineering experience gives strong credibility with technical teams.

- Experience with cloud-based data platforms, big data technologies, and/or real-time data pipeline infrastructure.

- Familiarity with ACR (Automatic Content Recognition), connected TV data, or OEM-level data collection.

- Experience managing TPM functions during periods of rapid organizational growth, M&A integration, or geographic expansion.

- MBA or advanced technical degree — valued but not required where equivalent experience is clear.

## About Samba

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Samba (formerly Samba TV) is a media intelligence company that uses AI and first-party deterministic data from 1.5 billion people to power cross-screen TV and digital advertising measurement, targeting, and analytics for the world's largest brands, publishers, and platforms.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series B)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2008
- **Founders**: Ashwin Navin (Co-founder & CEO), Alvir Navin (Co-founder & COO)

## Core Business
- **Primary Industry**: Media Intelligence / Advertising Technology / Data & Analytics
- **Target Customers**: B2B — primarily Enterprise (global brands, agencies, publishers, and platforms like Disney, Havas Media, and "the vast majority of top global brands")
- **Mission Statement**: Unite TV, digital, and behavioral data through AI to power faster, more accurate media decisions.

## Products & Services
- **Samba Analytics**: Independent cross-screen measurement using first-party data for deduplicated reach, frequency, and performance outcomes. Allows optimization of campaigns while they are still in-flight.
- **Samba Audiences**: Exclusive audience segments and Private Marketplaces (PMPs) built from Samba's deterministic cross-screen signals for effective targeting.
- **Samba Knowledge Graph**: AI-powered mapping of interests, behaviors, and purchase intent, linking content to 1.5 billion real people, devices, and households.
- **Samba ID**: A universal identity solution linking content to real people and devices across screens.
- **Samba AI**: Contextually analyzes and indexes all media content, including brand logo detection on TV.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Total Funding**: $75.7M USD across 9 rounds
    - Last known round: Series B ($30M, June 2017, led by Union Grove Venture Partners and Disney Accelerator)
    - Other notable rounds: Series A ($7M, February 2012, led by August Capital)
- **Key Metric**: Owns first-party TV and web data for 1.5 billion people globally.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: August Capital, Union Grove Venture Partners, Disney Accelerator. Strategic clients include Disney, Havas Media, and "every platform and publisher you need."
- **Growth Signals**: Acquired Semasio in 2024, becoming the only provider owning both TV and web first-party data. Rebranded from "Samba TV" to "Samba" in 2026. Global workforce of 251 employees (+20.1% YoY growth). Operations span 6 countries with 13 offices.

## Competitive Advantages
- **First-Party Data Moat**: Nearly two decades of proprietary, deterministic data from smart TVs (24 brands, 48M devices) and web (1.5B people), creating a unique and un-copyable dataset.
- **Full-Funnel Integration**: The only provider to combine TV and web first-party data (after acquiring Semasio), offering planning, measurement, and activation in one platform.
- **AI-Powered Knowledge Graph**: Goes beyond traditional media measurement by mapping interests, behaviors, and purchase intent, enabling contextual analysis without relying on third-party cookies.

## Strategic Focus
- **Platform Expansion**: Evolving from a TV data provider into a comprehensive "media intelligence" company (rebranded in 2026).
- **Cross-Screen Unification**: Connecting TV and digital data to provide a complete view of audience behavior across all screens.
- **AI & Contextual Intelligence**: Deepening investment in AI for content analysis, brand detection, and predictive audience targeting.
- **Global Scale**: Operating across six continents and expanding direct partnerships with major platforms and publishers.

## Why Work Here
- **Founder-Led Culture**: Described as having "startup intensity and enterprise impact," with a "culture that values ownership over hierarchy and outcomes over optics."
- **Global & Distributed**: Teams span San Francisco (HQ), New York, London, Hamburg, Sydney, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, Warsaw, Taipei, and Amsterdam. Officed with a global, collaborative ethos.
- **Engineering & Data-First**: Ships products that "touch billions of signals daily." A strong emphasis on data science, engineering, and product roles.
- **Compensation & Benefits**: Competitive base salary, equity participation, performance bonuses, generous parental leave, flexible PTO, annual learning budgets, home office stipend, and best-in-class hardware.
- **Culture Values** (from company career page): Determined & Resilient, Self-Aware, Naturally Curious, Low Ego, Results Oriented.
- **Employee Rating**: 3.9/5.0 on LinkedIn (172 reviews), with Work-Life Balance at 3.9, Compensation at 3.8, and Culture at 3.8.

## Sources
1. [samba.com](https://samba.com/about-samba) — About Samba / Company History
2. [samba.com](https://samba.com/careers) — Careers Page / Culture & Benefits
3. [samba.com](https://samba.com/) — Home Page / Product & Platform Overview
4. [linkedin.com/company/sambatv](https://www.linkedin.com/company/sambatv) — LinkedIn Profile (Company Details, Size, Financials)
5. [jobs.lever.co/sambatv](https://jobs.lever.co/sambatv) — Lever Careers Page (Open Roles)

## Other roles at Samba

- [Senior Director - Data Platform and Cloud Services](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-director-data-platform-and-cloud-services-samba-warsaw-vnpe99twtfcg) — Warsaw, Poland
- [Senior Ontologist - Knowledge Graph & Identity](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-ontologist-knowledge-graph-identity-samba-warsaw-maadbvvzpzgv) — Warsaw, Poland
- [Data Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/data-scientist-samba-amsterdam-cq236q9e9445) — Amsterdam, Netherlands
- [Data Scientist](https://feeny.ai/job/data-scientist-samba-warsaw-11hwb6kajyaz) — Warsaw, Poland
- [Software Development Engineer in Test](https://feeny.ai/job/software-development-engineer-in-test-samba-porto-6qf6nra7fhpa) — Porto, Portugal
- [Associate Measurement Partner](https://feeny.ai/job/associate-measurement-partner-samba-london-yknw975zv4zy) — London, United Kingdom
- [Programmatic Account Manager - German Speaking](https://feeny.ai/job/programmatic-account-manager-german-speaking-samba-london-afavw00gcd6v) — London, United Kingdom
- [Full Stack Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/full-stack-engineer-samba-san-francisco-5fr298dp4qwq) — San Francisco, CA
- [Workplace Experience Coordinator](https://feeny.ai/job/workplace-experience-coordinator-samba-new-york-city-zbwn6na20a0g) — New York City, NY
- [Principal Engineer, Architecture — Audiences & Measurement](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-engineer-architecture-audiences-measurement-samba-austin-97bw5v1r7h3d) — Austin, TX