Program Manager, Customer Engagement & Strategic Programs

About the Role

As Program Manager, Customer Engagement & Strategic Programs, you will lead strategic programs that strengthen customer relationships, enable Engineering teams to engage effectively with customers, and create scalable internal initiatives that improve collaboration, employee engagement, and university partnerships.

You will partner closely with Engineering, Product, Sales, Customer Success, HR, Talent Acquisition, and executive stakeholders to deliver strategic initiatives with measurable business impact. In this role, you will establish scalable program frameworks, influence cross-functional teams without direct authority, and continuously improve programs that support business priorities, customer experience, and operational excellence.

What You'll Do

Customer Engagement Programs

Lead end-to-end customer engagement programs that connect customers with Engineering teams to uncover business challenges, gather product insights, and create measurable customer value.

Lead discovery sessions, executive briefings, and strategic customer engagements to understand business priorities, technical considerations, and desired outcomes.

Translate customer and business insights into scalable engagement strategies, repeatable frameworks, and program roadmaps.

Partner with Engineering, Product, Sales, and Customer Success to align priorities, define success metrics, and deliver measurable business outcomes.

Facilitate strategic customer workshops and executive discussions that accelerate decision-making and strengthen long-term customer relationships.

Establish governance, milestones, dependencies, communication plans, and risk mitigation strategies to ensure successful execution.

Measure program effectiveness using KPIs, Voice of the Customer insights, stakeholder feedback, and business outcomes, and continuously optimize the program.

Internal Employee Programs

Design and lead strategic employee programs that improve collaboration, knowledge sharing, employee engagement, and organizational effectiveness.

Define program objectives, governance models, success metrics, adoption strategies, and operating rhythms aligned with business priorities.

Lead cross-functional initiatives from concept through execution while driving continuous improvement and operational excellence.

Develop scalable processes, communications, playbooks, and best practices that enable consistent execution across global teams.

University Engagement

Develop strategic partnerships with universities to strengthen innovation, employer branding, research collaboration, and early-career talent pipelines.

Partner with Engineering, HR, and Talent Acquisition to deliver university engagement initiatives aligned with business priorities.

Lead campus events, technical workshops, and student engagement programs while measuring impact and continuously improving engagement strategies.

Program Leadership

Manage multiple strategic initiatives while balancing priorities, resources, and timelines in a fast-paced global environment.

Drive stakeholder alignment across Engineering, Product, Sales, Customer Success, HR, and executive leadership.

Build executive dashboards, program documentation, governance artifacts, and status reporting that support data-driven decision-making.

Identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency by simplifying processes, standardizing best practices, and implementing scalable program frameworks.

Influence cross-functional teams without direct authority and successfully drive programs from strategy through execution.

What You'll Bring

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Communications, Marketing, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

6–10 years of experience in Program Management, Business Operations, Customer Engagement, or a related discipline.

Proven experience leading complex cross-functional programs in a technology environment.

Experience partnering with Engineering and customer-facing organizations to deliver strategic initiatives.

Demonstrated ability to establish scalable program frameworks, define milestones, identify dependencies, manage risks, and deliver measurable business outcomes.

Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence and drive alignment across organizations without direct authority.

Excellent analytical, organizational, communication, presentation, facilitation, and problem-solving skills.

Ability to simplify complex concepts and communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences, including senior leaders.

Professional fluency in English and German, both written and spoken.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience leading customer engagement, executive briefing, or customer success programs.

Experience designing employee engagement or organizational effectiveness initiatives.

Experience managing university partnerships, campus recruiting initiatives, or early-career talent programs.

Experience working in a global, matrixed technology organization.

Experience with Adobe Workfront, Jira, Asana, Smartsheet, Microsoft Project, or similar program management platforms.

Familiarity with change management, continuous improvement, and program governance methodologies.

Why Join Us

Own strategic programs with visibility across senior leadership.

Partner with global Engineering and business teams to solve meaningful customer challenges.

Build scalable programs that improve customer engagement, employee experience, and operational effectiveness.

Join a collaborative environment that values curiosity, innovation, continuous learning, and measurable business impact.

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.

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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 .