Program Manager - Reality Labs Network Infrastructure

Overview:




TekWissen is a global workforce management provider headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan that offers strategic talent solutions to our clients world-wide.

Title: Program Manager - Reality Labs Network Infrastructure
Duration: 12 Months
Location: Menlo Park, CA
Job Type: Temporary Assignment
Work Type: Onsite

About the Team
The Network Infrastructure & Lab Services team delivers network engineering and DevOps solutions for device farms and cellular testing infrastructure. We support 8,000+ devices across multiple global locations, enabling hardware validation and software testing for XR headsets, smart glasses, wearables, and next-generation AR devices.

Our scope spans two major workstreams:
Cellular Labs (Cell): Scaling public and private cellular networks (4G/5G) in device farm environments for next-gen wearable devices. This includes RF chamber networking, small-cell core infrastructure (gNB/eNB), device modem provisioning, and integration with automated test frameworks and CI/CD pipelines.
DevInfra: Supporting the broader device farm network infrastructure - VLAN architecture, remote access solutions, IP management services, DNS automation, monitoring/observability, and lifecycle management for lab equipment across multiple tiers of locations.

Role Summary
As a Program Manager for the RL pod, you will drive planning, execution, and delivery for network infrastructure programs supporting Reality Labs. You are the connective tissue between engineering, DevInfra partners, wearables stakeholders, and cross-functional teams. You run war rooms, chase deliverables, keep trackers current, and make sure nothing slips.
What you will do is run rooms full of engineers - and you need enough domain fluency to ask the right questions, call out when an answer doesn't add up, assess realistic timelines, and drive decisions when the path forward isn't obvious.

Responsibilities
Program Delivery & Coordination
Own end-to-end program management for Cellular and DevInfra initiatives, from scoping through delivery
During heavy periods, ability to run Cell War Rooms (3x/week) and cross-team DevInfra syncs - drive agendas, capture action items, follow up relentlessly
Coordinate cellular infrastructure scale-out (rack deployments, RF chamber installations, multi-site expansion)
Track cross-team deliverables across engineering, wearables, and operations with clear ownership and timelines

Stakeholder Management & Communication
Serve as primary PM interface between the RL pod and DevInfra partners (Device Farm Ops, Operations Tooling, Farm Design teams)
Align priorities with wearables leadership on cellular lab roadmap and capacity planning
Provide clear status updates to leadership via monthly/quarterly reporting cycles
Translate technical blockers into actionable escalation paths - triage whether issues are network-side, device-side, or infrastructure-side

Task & Sprint Management
Manage sprint planning and task hygiene within a points-based delivery model
Create, size, assign, and track tasks with proper categorization and tagging
Maintain structured backlogs for cellular deployments, DevInfra improvements, and operational support requests
Drive task completion within sprint boundaries - flag undersized work early, manage rollups for small items

CI/CD & Test Integration Coordination
Understand which cellular tests gate which releases (blocking vs. non-blocking lanes) and drive prioritization when gates are failing or incomplete
Recognize when flaky tests are blocking engineering velocity and escalate to the right owners
Track test coverage milestones across bands, RATs, and device variants - know what's covered and what gaps remain
Align automation priorities between cellular engineering and DevInfra tooling teams - drive trade-off conversations and unblock dependencies

Operational & Technical Support
Maintain visibility into device farm health metrics (VLAN capacity, throughput, power, inventory) and know when numbers signal a problem worth escalating
Drive break/fix accountability and SLA adherence - ensure the right engineer is on it and timelines are met
Lead incident reviews and post-mortems: ask the questions that surface root cause, assign follow-ups, and track remediation
Own vendor relationships (cellular platform providers, callbox vendors, carrier partners) - drive contract conversations, escalate support issues, and track licensing/upgrade timelines

Process Improvement & Reporting
Build and maintain program trackers, dashboards, and reporting for Cell and DevInfra workstreams
Drive continuous improvement in deployment efficiency and lab uptime
Document standard operating procedures for cellular lab bring-up, maintenance, and expansion
Support KPI/OKR development and tracking for pod delivery commitments

Minimum Qualifications
1. 3+ years of experience in program or project management in a technology or infrastructure environment
2. Proven ability to run recurring coordination forums (war rooms, standups, syncs) and drive accountability for action items
3. Strong task management skills - experience with structured backlog management, sprint planning, and delivery tracking
4. Ability to work across multiple concurrent workstreams with competing priorities and shifting timelines
5. Clear written and verbal communication - can translate between technical teams and leadership audiences
6. Comfort operating in ambiguity - able to build structure where none exists and chase answers without being told
7. Experience coordinating with vendors, partners, or managed service providers
8. Comfort navigating hardware lab environments - has walked lab floors, understands what racks and RF chambers are, and can hold conversations about physical infrastructure without needing everything explained
9. Experience with project tracking tools (Jira, Asana, Smartsheet, or equivalent)
10. Self-starter mentality - proactively identifies gaps, follows up without prompting, and drives closure

Technical Fluency (Required)
You likely won't build, configure, or debug these systems. But, you need to be fluent enough to ask sharp questions in meetings, assess whether a reported blocker is real or misdiagnosed, properly size backlog items, and communicate technical risk to leadership in plain language:
Cellular fundamentals: Know what 4G LTE, 5G NR SA/NSA, and NR-RedCap are and how they differ. Understand what frequency bands mean in a lab context. Recognize what RSRP/RSRQ/SINR numbers tell you about signal health so you can assess severity when engineers report issues.
Device & modem basics: Understand what modem provisioning and attach/detach cycles are. Be able to ask the right questions to distinguish whether a failure is network-side, device-side, or firmware-side - so you route it to the right team
Lab hardware: Know what RF chambers, shield boxes, rack infrastructure, PoE, and cabling do. Understand physical constraints so you can assess realistic timelines for deployments and break/fix work.
CI/CD concepts: Understand the difference between blocking and non-blocking test gates. Know what a flaky test costs in engineering velocity. Be able to drive priority conversations about which tests should gate releases.
Infrastructure services: Understand what DNS automation, IP management, VLAN allocation, and config push pipelines accomplish. Be able to properly size these items in sprint planning and recognize scope creep when an engineer says "this is a small change."
Networking basics: Follow meeting discussions about VLANs, routing, IP addressing, and proxy issues without needing a translator. Assess whether a reported network blocker is a 1-hour fix or a multi-day effort.

Preferred Qualifications
Experience in lab infrastructure, device testing, or hardware validation environments
Hands-on exposure to cellular technologies (LTE/5G lab setups, RF testing, small-cell/callbox platforms like Amarisoft, Keysight, or R&S)
Familiarity with DevOps workflows (CI/CD pipelines, deployment automation, monitoring/alerting tools like Grafana, Prometheus, PagerDuty)
Experience with OKR frameworks and sprint-based delivery reporting
Background supporting hardware R&D, data center, or network engineering teams
Understanding of managed services delivery models and SLA/SLO tracking
Experience working with cellular platform vendors - understanding support models, licensing constraints, and upgrade cycles
Experience with cross-regional coordination (NA, EMEA, APAC lab sites)
PMP, PgMP, or equivalent certification (nice to have, not required)

What Success Looks Like
First 90 Days
Onboard to the cellular lab environment - visit labs, understand the rack layouts, meet the engineers, attend meetings as a listener
Build working knowledge of the cellular test infrastructure: what the callboxes do, how devices are staged, what the CI pipeline looks like
Own meeting agendas and action-item trackers - demonstrate you can follow up without being reminded
Establish relationships with DevInfra partners and wearables stakeholders

First 6 Months
Fully own program delivery for at least one major workstream (e.g., cellular scale-out or DevInfra automation)
Deliver measurable improvement to sprint health - points landing on time, task hygiene clean, reporting accurate
Drive at least one cross-team initiative end-to-end (e.g., site expansions, vendor onboarding, or test coverage milestone)
Be recognized by engineering and stakeholders as the person who makes things move

Ongoing
Relentless follow-through: Nothing gets lost. Every action item has an owner, a deadline, and a nudge if it's late.
Meetings effectiveness: Meetings are tight, outcomes are clear, and teams leave knowing exactly what's next.
Stakeholder trust: DevInfra and Wearables teams view you as the go-to person. You're the one who makes things move.
Sprint health: Points land on time, tasks are properly sized and tagged, and reporting tells a clean story.
Proactive risk identification: You flag problems before they escalate. Blockers get surfaced and resolved early.
Scaling impact: As cellular labs grow from pilot to production scale, you keep the coordination clean and the delivery predictable.

Location
On-site at Engineering Labs (Bay Area, CA - lab access required). This role works closely with wearable connectivity and device infrastructure teams to ensure reliable cellular testing at scale.

TekWissen Group is an equal opportunity employer supporting workforce diversity.