Technical Program Manager, Incident Operations

The Technical Program Manager, Incident Operations at Anthropic plays a crucial role in building and scaling the incidents program globally. This position involves managing on-call incident responses, collaborating with various teams to refine incident management processes, and ensuring effective communication during critical situations.

Anthropic seeks candidates for the Technical Program Manager, Incident Operations role who have at least 3 years of experience in incident management within a technology-related environment. Strong project management skills, the ability to troubleshoot complex issues, and excellent communication capabilities, especially with technical stakeholders, are important for this role.

As a Technical Program Manager, Incident Operations at Anthropic, you'll be an on-call incident commander, leading the first response to various incidents. You'll have the support of cross-functional teams and be responsible for driving the incident response efforts while fostering a culture of learning from past incidents.

In the Technical Program Manager, Incident Operations role at Anthropic, expect to work in a dynamic, rapidly evolving environment. This position will challenge you to devise efficient incident response processes, engage with diverse team members, and empower the organization to learn from incidents, while aiming for an emphasis on safety and customer experience.

Candidates for the Technical Program Manager, Incident Operations role at Anthropic are typically expected to have significant experience in incident management within tech companies, preferably in high-growth environments. Previous engineering experience or familiarity with Technical Program Management principles can also be advantageous.

Yes, Anthropic has a hybrid working policy. As a Technical Program Manager, Incident Operations, you can expect flexibility with in-office work, as all staff are required to be in one of the offices at least 25% of the time, with some roles needing more in-office presence.

The expected salary for the Technical Program Manager, Incident Operations position at Anthropic ranges from £200,000 to £215,000 annually, reflecting the high level of expertise and the critical nature of the role within the organization.

When preparing to discuss a critical incident, highlight the specific situation clearly, focusing on the actions you took, the collaborative efforts involved, and the final outcome. Ensure to explain how you diagnosed the issue, utilized your communication skills, and facilitated a learning opportunity for your team afterward.

Discuss your approach to incident management, emphasizing structured communication, rapid response planning, and a focus on continuous improvement. You might mention how you leverage data from past incidents to refine processes and how collaboration across teams enhances effectiveness.

Explain how you assess the urgency and impact of incidents, using criteria such as user impact, business criticality, and technical complexity. Emphasize your ability to stay calm under pressure and work methodically to ensure the most severe incidents receive immediate attention.

Address how you would initiate post-incident reviews without placing blame, focusing instead on what can be learned. Discuss the importance of transparency and encouraging team members to share their insights freely in order to enhance processes and prevent future incidents.

Be prepared to share your familiarity with common incident management tools and software, such as ticketing systems, incident dashboards, and communication platforms. Explain how these tools have helped you efficiently track incidents and facilitate team collaboration.

Discuss your approach to maintaining clear, concise communication with stakeholders during an incident, balancing transparency with the need for accuracy. Highlight your experience in updating teams likely affected while ensuring consistent messaging and reducing misinformation.

Identify key performance indicators such as mean time to resolve (MTTR), incident frequency, and stakeholder communication effectiveness. Explain how you use these metrics to guide improvements and inform the team's response strategies moving forward.

When discussing a process improvement, elaborate on the existing challenges, the data-driven decision-making you applied, and the outcomes of your changes. Emphasize how it not only alleviated issues but also enhanced team effectiveness or customer satisfaction.

Explain your methods for continuous learning, whether through attending industry conferences, reading relevant literature, or engaging with communities online. Emphasize your desire to translate this knowledge into actionable improvements within incident management.

Detail your experience in collaborating with various departments. Provide examples of how you’ve navigated differing perspectives and skill sets to ensure unified incident response or improve related processes and highlight a successful outcome resulting from that collaboration.