Technical Program Manager (#5776)

We are looking for a Technical Program Manager to join our team! 

Our client is an Azerbaijani telecommunications company, the largest mobile network operator in Azerbaijan. The main products are: Fixed telephony, Mobile telephony, Internet services, Wireless broadband, and Value-added services. The primary goal is to accelerate the client’s Data & AI initiatives via a secure, hybrid cloud foundation while systematically modernizing the IT estate as part of the cloud migration.

Key Project Objectives include:

• Cloud Foundation & Landing Zone: Deploy target hybrid network architectures, establishing a secure Landing Zone and hybrid Data/AI platforms on AWS.
• Security, Compliance & Governance: Operationalize on-prem tokenization (achieving zero raw PII in the cloud), resolve policy blockers to include AWS in the ISMS, and establish a Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE) to govern Cloud adoption.
• AI Chatbot & Voicebot Design & Implementation: Develop and operationalize a flagship Customer Care Chatbot and Voicebot as the first hybrid-setup consumer.

Responsibilities:

• Drive complex program initiation and execution using Scrum of Scrums or SAFe frameworks, coordinating multiple cross-functional teams.
• Oversee AI/ML projects and data migration initiatives within the program portfolio.
• Define and manage project scope, requirements, WBS, schedules, estimates, budgets, and forecasts, ensuring timely corrective actions and stakeholder approvals.
• Monitor overall program/project progress, risks, dependencies, and changes, implementing mitigation and corrective actions where needed.
• Lead project staffing, onboarding, team building, and performance management, ensuring team motivation, engagement, and effective conflict resolution.
• Manage project financials, including budgets, forecasts, invoices, working hours, and cost overruns.
• Establish and drive project governance, communication, quality, and reporting processes across all relevant stakeholders.
• Ensure adherence to company project management standards, configuration management, and quality processes, driving continuous improvement and resolving audit findings.
• Lead project knowledge management and ensure proper project/phase closure and handover.
• Act as the single point of contact for the program, maintaining effective communication and escalation paths with stakeholders.
• Manage project documentation, tools, repositories, and team availability planning, ensuring secure and structured project information.
• Contribute to pre-sales and account growth activities, identifying opportunities for expanding client engagement.

Requirements:

• 5+ years of proven experience in IT project/program management, with hands-on ownership of at least two complex projects/programs from initiation to delivery.
• Proven experience in complex program initiation and setup, including establishing project processes from scratch, ideally in a Scrum of Scrums or SAFe environment.
• Proven experience delivering AI/ML projects, including data migration initiatives.
• Strong experience managing solution-based, fixed-scope, and fixed-price projects, including budgeting, forecasting, cost control, and financial reconciliation.
• Proven experience managing cross-cultural, cross-functional, and distributed teams of 20+ people across multiple projects or 30+ within a single project.
• Strong knowledge of project management methodologies and SDLC models, including Agile, Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, Scrum of Scrums, Waterfall, and V-Model.
• Good understanding of pricing, billing, and delivery models, including Fixed Price, T&M, team augmentation, managed teams, and solution-based delivery.
• Experience in Engagement / Pre-sales activities, including contributing to client proposals and SOW development, is nice to have.
• Strong leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills, with excellent problem-solving, decision-making, conflict management, critical thinking, and the ability to build and motivate high-performing teams.
• Upper-Intermediate+ English with excellent communication, negotiation, and presentation skills.