Senior Technical Program Manager

Senior Technical Program Manager | Network Migrations (Remote, US)

Our client is retiring and upgrading large parts of its global network while it carries live traffic. You would own the migration portfolio: hundreds of concurrent platform swaps, link speed upgrades, optical conversions and equipment forklifts across data center, backbone and edge networks.

Every cutover happens on production infrastructure where one wrong step causes an outage.

This is a program leadership role first. You do not need to configure the routers, but you need enough network fluency to understand why a backbone forklift depends on optical planarization, which depends on a cage move, and to unblock engineers when the sequence slips.

What you will do

• Own the end-to-end migration lifecycle: scoping, dependency mapping, sequencing, hardware readiness, cutover, validation, decommission and close-out
• Design cutover plans with go/no-go criteria, rollback triggers and validation checkpoints, and make the call on the night
• Sequence work in risk-ordered waves, with lower-risk sites first and high-complexity cutovers after
• Maintain a single source of truth for portfolio health, covering site status, schedule confidence, material readiness and risk
• Align network engineering, network operations, construction, hardware supply and vendors, without direct authority over any of them
• Run weekly program cadences and site-level execution calls, and present portfolio health to senior leadership
• Automate manual tracking and reporting, and standardise repeatable migration patterns across sites

Network domains in scope

• Data center: spine and fabric switch platform swaps, link speed upgrades, rack uplink restriping, architecture retrofits
• Backbone: router forklifts, optical planarisation, transponder conversions, topology standardisation
• Edge: aggregation consolidation, POP hardware forklifts, IP cage migrations

You do not need deep expertise in all three, but you must understand how they depend on each other.

What we are looking for

• 10+ years of program management in network infrastructure, carrier, cloud or hyperscale environments
• Direct experience leading network platform migrations on live production, where failure means an outage and you planned for rollback
• Experience managing many concurrent activities across multiple sites or regions
• Strong dependency management and a data-driven approach, using KPIs and automated reporting instead of status theatre
• Executive presence, with the ability to turn hundreds of activities into a clear narrative of risk and decisions
• Comfort moving between program management and technical conversations with network engineers

Preferred

• Hyperscale, carrier or large enterprise network experience
• PMP, PgMP or equivalent
• Network certifications (a plus, not required)
• Bachelor's degree in a technical or business field, or equivalent experience

If interested, please reach out with your latest resume and I'll be in touch