Senior Technical program/project manager - Telecom/Network engineering

Position Summary

The Senior Technical Program Manager is responsible for the planning, execution, financial management, tracking, and reporting of Engineering and Network projects across the organization. This role will own the overall Engineering project portfolio, including CAPEX, non-CAPEX, strategic initiatives, and Business-as-Usual (BAU) projects that arise throughout the year. The individual will partner closely with Network Engineering leadership and other stakeholders to develop the annual project plan, establish realistic schedules and budgets, drive projects through completion, identify risks and dependencies, and provide consistent visibility into project and portfolio performance. This is a hands-on role requiring strong project-management discipline, financial awareness, technical aptitude, attention to detail, and the ability to hold teams and vendors accountable for commitments.

Key Responsibilities

Engineering Project Portfolio
• Own and maintain the complete Engineering and Network project portfolio.
• Manage CAPEX, non-CAPEX, strategic, operational, and BAU projects.
• Drive projects from initial planning through implementation and formal closeout.
• Maintain clear project scope, schedules, milestones, owners, dependencies, risks, budgets, and completion criteria.
• Ensure projects remain aligned with company priorities and approved budgets.
• Provide a single, accurate source of truth for Engineering project status.

Annual Planning
• Partner with Engineering leadership to develop the annual Engineering project and capital plan.
• Identify and document planned initiatives for the upcoming year.
• Establish preliminary scope, budgets, schedules, resource requirements, dependencies, and priorities.
• Maintain visibility into both planned and unplanned projects throughout the year.
• Incorporate newly identified projects into the portfolio and clearly communicate their impact on budgets, resources, and existing commitments.

Budget & Financial Management
• Track project budgets, commitments, actual expenditures, and forecasts.
• Monitor CAPEX performance against approved annual budgets.
• Identify budget variances and potential overruns early.
• Work with Engineering, Finance, Procurement, and vendors to maintain accurate project financial information.
• Provide regular budget-versus-actual and forecast reporting.
• Ensure scope or budget changes are documented and appropriately approved.

Project Execution & Accountability
• Develop and maintain detailed project plans and schedules.
• Conduct regular project reviews with Engineering teams and project owners.
• Track deliverables and commitments.
• Identify stalled or at-risk projects and drive corrective actions.
• Challenge unrealistic schedules or incomplete project plans.
• Escalate risks, resource constraints, budget issues, and missed commitments when appropriate.
• Coordinate dependencies across Engineering, Operations, Finance, Procurement/Warehouse, Sales, IT, and other departments.
• Manage vendor deliverables and external dependencies when applicable.

Reporting & Executive Communication
• Produce clear weekly Engineering portfolio reporting.
• Provide visibility into project status, milestones, accomplishments, upcoming activities,
budgets, forecasts, risks, dependencies, and corrective actions.
• Identify trends across the portfolio and highlight areas requiring leadership attention.
• Develop the Engineering/Network project content for quarterly Board of Directors presentations.
• Produce executive-level reporting that clearly communicates:
o Portfolio health
o Major accomplishments
o Major upcoming milestones
o CAPEX performance
o Budget vs. actual
o Forecasted spend
o Project risks
o Schedule risks
o Corrective actions
o Changes to the annual project plan

Documentation & Process
• Establish and maintain consistent project-management standards.
• Maintain project charters, schedules, budgets, meeting notes, action items, decision logs, risk registers, change records, and completion documentation.
• Ensure documentation remains current throughout the project lifecycle.
• Maintain historical project information to support future planning and forecasting.
• Continuously improve Engineering project-management processes and reporting.

Qualifications
• 7+ years of project or program management experience.
• Demonstrated experience managing multiple complex technical projects simultaneously.
• Experience managing project portfolios and annual planning processes.
• Strong experience with budgets, forecasting, variance analysis, and CAPEX tracking.
• Experience producing executive-level project and financial reporting.
• Excellent organizational skills and exceptional attention to detail.
• Strong written and verbal English communication skills.
• Ability to independently drive projects and hold stakeholders accountable.
• Strong Excel/Google Sheets and project-management software skills.
• Comfortable working directly with senior technical staff and executive leadership.
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-moving environment where priorities and projects may change throughout the year.

Preferred Experience
Experience in one or more of the following is highly desirable:
• Telecommunications / ISP
• Network Engineering
• Fiber networks
• Data centers
• Network infrastructure
• Circuit deployments and migrations
• Infrastructure/Hardware/equipment deployments
• Vendor and procurement management

PMP, PgMP, Agile, or similar certifications are beneficial but are not a substitute for demonstrated project ownership and execution experience.

Work Schedule
Regular availability during U.S. Pacific and Central business hours is required.

What Success Looks Like
Engineering leadership has immediate and accurate visibility into:
• What projects are underway
• What is on schedule and what is not
• What has been completed
• What is coming next
• Who owns each deliverable
• Where risks and dependencies exist
• How much has been spent
• How much remains committed
• Where each project is forecast to finish
• Whether the annual Engineering plan will be completed within the approved budget

The successful candidate will create project-management discipline and accountability while allowing
Engineering leaders to focus on technical strategy, architecture, and execution.