Senior Program Manager, AI Startups - San Francisco - DigitalOcean

Description

Dive in and do the best work of your career at DigitalOcean. Journey alongside a strong community of top talent who are relentless in their drive to build the simplest scalable cloud. If you have a growth mindset, naturally like to think big and bold, and are energized by the fast-paced environment of a true industry disruptor, you'll find your place here. We value winning together-while learning, having fun, and making a profound difference for the dreamers and builders in the world.

Behind every great startup program is a well-oiled operations machine. As our Startup Senior Program Manager, you'll be the backbone of the DigitalOcean Startup Ecosystem-building the systems, processes, and data infrastructure that enable us to scale efficiently while delivering an exceptional experience to founders.

This role combines operational excellence with strategic thinking. You'll own the end-to-end startup application process, build automations to eliminate manual work, and create the data infrastructure that drives decision-making. You'll take a leadership role on the team, proposing and developing new systems to improve efficiency and working cross-functionally across the organization. If you love building systems, optimizing processes, and turning chaos into clarity, this is your role.
What You'll Do:
Application Process Management & Optimization (30%)

• Own the end-to-end startup application process-from submission through approval, onboarding, and credit provisioning
• Manage application review workflows, approval criteria, and cross-functional handoffs with Sales
• Monitor application pipeline health: volume, approval rates, time-to-decision, and bottlenecks
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to streamline and automate the application process
• Identify opportunities for automation using tools like Zapier, n8n, or custom integrations
• Reduce manual work through process optimization, smart forms, and workflow automation
• Collaborate with Engineering and IT to implement technical solutions for application management

Process & Systems Ownership (30%)

• Own operational processes and procedures for the entire team-document workflows, create SOPs, and maintain operational playbooks
• Define and manage cross-functional interlocks with Sales, Marketing, Support, Finance, Legal, and Product teams
• Establish clear escalation paths, approval workflows, and decision-making frameworks
• Identify process gaps and implement solutions to improve team efficiency and member experience
• Manage program operations calendar including application cycles, credit renewals, and key milestones
• Own vendor relationships for operational tools and platforms
• Lead operational planning for program launches, policy changes, and scaling initiatives

Data Analytics & Reporting (20%)

• Own data and analytics for the Startup team-be the single source of truth for all startup metrics
• Build and maintain dashboards in Looker or similar platforms tracking key program KPIs
• Define and track metrics including: application volume, approval rates, credit utilization, member retention, program ROI
• Drive creation of executive dashboards for leadership visibility into program performance
• Contribute data, insights, and analysis for Weekly Business Reviews (WBRs) and QBRs
• Partner with Data Analytics team to ensure data integrity, proper instrumentation, and reporting accuracy
• Conduct ad-hoc analysis to answer business questions and inform strategic decisions
• Translate data into actionable insights and recommendations for program improvements

Issue Resolution & Customer Support (15%)

• Serve as the operational point of contact for startup credit package issues, application questions, and account problems (working with the Community Manager)
• Triage and resolve member issues related to credits, billing, account access, and program eligibility
• Work closely with Sales and the Community Manager to resolve complex customer issues quickly
• Build and maintain internal knowledge base for common issues and resolutions
• Escalate systemic issues to Product, Engineering, or Leadership with recommendations
• Track issue trends and develop proactive solutions to prevent recurring problems
• Create self-service resources (FAQs, troubleshooting guides) to reduce support volume
• Manage disputes, appeals, and edge cases with professionalism and sound judgment

Form Design & Survey Management (5%)

• Own all startup program application forms-design, maintain, and continuously optimize for conversion and data quality
• Manage program surveys including onboarding, satisfaction, and exit surveys
• Implement A/B testing to improve form completion rates and data collection
• Ensure forms capture essential data for decision-making, reporting, and program evaluation
• Maintain form infrastructure across platforms (Typeform, Google Forms, Salesforce, etc.)
• Proactively recommend improvements based on user feedback, drop-off analysis, and evolving program needs
• Partner with Marketing and Community teams to ensure consistent member experience
• Ensure compliance with data privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA) in all data collection

What You'll Bring:
Required Qualifications:

• 8+ years of professional operations, program management, or business operations experience-preferably in tech, SaaS, or startup environments
• Proficiency with data analytics tools such as Looker, Tableau, Google Analytics, or similar platforms
• Strong analytical skills-comfortable with SQL, data modeling, and creating actionable dashboards
• Process optimization expertise-proven track record improving efficiency through automation and workflow design
• Application or program management experience-managing intake processes, approval workflows, and member onboarding
• Customer service orientation-ability to handle escalations with empathy while protecting program integrity
• Cross-functional collaboration-success working with Sales, Marketing, Product, and Engineering teams
• Systems thinking-sees connections between processes and designs holistic solutions
• Detail-oriented with strong organizational skills-manages multiple workstreams without dropping balls

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in the startup ecosystem (accelerators, VCs, startup programs, or early-stage companies)
• Familiarity with CRM platforms (Salesforce, HubSpot) and marketing automation tools
• Background with form builders (Typeform, Google Forms, Jotform) and survey platforms (Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey)
• Experience with workflow automation tools (Zapier, n8n, Workato)
• Knowledge of cloud infrastructure or developer tools
• Understanding of startup funding stages, business models, and growth metrics
• Project management experience or certification (PMP, Agile, Six Sigma)
• Experience with data privacy and compliance requirements

Skills & Competencies:

• Analytical mindset-naturally curious, digs into data to uncover insights
• Problem-solving-diagnoses root causes and implements sustainable solutions
• Attention to detail-catches errors, ensures accuracy, maintains high standards
• Communication-explains complex processes clearly to technical and non-technical audiences
• Bias for action-moves quickly, iterates, and learns from experience
• Customer empathy-balances program rules with individual member needs
• Technical aptitude-comfortable learning new tools and working with Engineering teams
• Stakeholder management-builds relationships and navigates organizational complexity
• Process documentation-creates clear, comprehensive SOPs and training materials

Compensation Range:

• $122,000 - $153,000

*This is a remote role

#LI-Remote

Why You'll Like Working for DigitalOcean

• We innovate with purpose. You'll be a part of a cutting-edge technology company with an upward trajectory, who are proud to simplify cloud and AI so builders can spend more time creating software that changes the world. As a member of the team, you will be a Shark who thinks big, bold, and scrappy, like an owner with a bias for action and a powerful sense of responsibility for customers, products, employees, and decisions.
• We prioritize career development. At DO, you'll do the best work of your career. You will work with some of the smartest and most interesting people in the industry. We are a high-performance organization that will always challenge you to think big. Our organizational development team will provide you with resources to ensure you keep growing. We provide employees with reimbursement for relevant conferences, training, and education. All employees have access to LinkedIn Learning's 10,000+ courses to support their continued growth and development.
• We care about your well-being. Regardless of your location, we will provide you with a competitive array of benefits to support you from our Employee Assistance Program to Local Employee Meetups to flexible time off policy, to name a few. While the philosophy around our benefits is the same worldwide, specific benefits may vary based on local regulations and preferences.
• We reward our employees. The salary range for this position is based on market data, relevant years of experience, and skills. You may qualify for a bonus in addition to base salary; bonus amounts are determined based on company and individual performance. We also provide equity compensation to eligible employees, including equity grants upon hire and the option to participate in our Employee Stock Purchase Program.
• DigitalOcean is an equal-opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service.

Application Limit: You may apply to a maximum of 3 positions within any 180-day period. This policy promotes better role-candidate matching and encourages thoughtful applications where your qualifications align most strongly.