Project/Program Manager II

Overview:

TekWissen is a global workforce management provider headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan that offers strategic talent solutions to our clients world-wide. Our client is a global technology leader that is transforming the way people shop, consume content, and interact with digital services. With a strong presence across e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence, the company is known for its customer-centric approach, innovation-driven culture, and large-scale global impact. It continues to invest in building products and services that improve everyday life while supporting businesses, communities, and economies worldwide.

Position: Project/Program Manager II

Location: Seattle,WA

Duration: 10 Months

Job Type: Temporary Assignment

Work Type: Onsite

Job Description:

What the Team Does

• The DA team delivers network connections (called "spans") between AWS data centers.
• Each span is a physical + logical link that carries production traffic between two sites.
• The team delivers approximately 120 spans per month across three work types: new builds (57%), capacity expansions on existing connections (38%), and decommissions (5%).
• The team operates follow-the-sun across Dublin and Seattle.

What the TIPM Does (Day-to-Day)

• The TIPM owns project coordination across the full span delivery lifecycle - from the moment a project is accepted from the planning team until the span is operational and carrying traffic.
• They don't configure network devices (that's the engineers), but they ensure every project moves through its milestones without stalling.

Full Delivery Lifecycle (TIPM Scope)

Phase 1 - Intake & Supplier Readiness

• Validate incoming projects - confirm that the planning team has provided all required inputs (hardware positions, fiber paths, port reservations) before the engineering team accepts the project
• Track supplier readiness in parallel - each span depends on 3-5 supplier teams delivering their piece:
• Hardware team: network device positions ready at both data center sites
• Optical team: light path provisioned (for 80% of spans that use optical wavelengths)
• Fiber team: physical fiber connection delivered (for 20% that use dark fiber)
• Chase and escalate - when suppliers are late or blocked, identify the blocker, escalate to the right owner, and drive resolution.
• Currently there are no committed SLAs from suppliers - the TIPM must actively manage this ambiguity

Phase 2 - Preparation & Handoff to Field

• Monitor workflow progress - once engineers initiate the automated workflow, track that each step completes. When steps stall (waiting for supplier milestones), identify why and coordinate unblocking
• Coordinate field team handoff - when the project is ready for physical work (cabling, hardware patching), create the work request for the datacenter field team with all required details (cutsheet, rack locations, cable specifications)
• Manage the field execution queue - track 20-40 concurrent projects in various stages of physical build. Key milestones to track per project:
• Hardware intake at site (target: 21 days)
• Cable installation (target: 7 days)
• Cabling completion and verification (target: 7-14 days)
• Hardware pre-staging (target: 14 days)

Phase 3 - Physical Build & Troubleshooting

• Track field team progress - monitor physical work completion across multiple concurrent projects
• Triage field escalations - when field technicians encounter issues during physical work (wrong rack position, cabling conflicts, hardware not where expected), determine whether it's a coordination issue (TIPM resolves) or a technical issue (route to engineer)
• Reduce engineer interruptions - a key success metric. Currently, field team issues pull engineers off their main delivery work. The TIPM absorbs this coordination load so engineers can focus on technical execution

Phase 4 - Validation & Turn-Up

• Track validation milestones - after physical work completes, the automated workflow runs link validation, cabling checks, and configuration verification. Monitor that these pass cleanly
• Coordinate turn-up scheduling - when all validations pass, ensure the span turn-up (going live with production traffic) is scheduled and executed within SLA
• Close out projects - confirm span is operational, all tickets resolved, project marked complete in tracking systems

Cross-Cutting Responsibilities (Daily/Weekly)

• Priority management - work with the DA manager to understand which projects are highest priority (some are tied to critical capacity deadlines). Ensure high-priority projects get unblocked first
• Status reporting - provide clear, regular updates on project portfolio health: how many projects are on track, how many are blocked, where the blockers are
• Pattern detection - identify systemic issues (e.g., "the same supplier is late on 8 projects" or "field team capacity in Region X is a bottleneck") and escalate to the DA manager
• Process documentation - maintain and improve coordination procedures, handoff checklists, and escalation paths

Essential Skills

Skill Why It Matters Here

• Cross-functional project coordination Bridges 5+ teams daily - engineers, field technicians, hardware teams, optical teams, fiber teams, planning teams
• Datacenter operations familiarity Must understand physical DC work: cabling, rack positions, fiber patching, optical hardware
• Network deployment lifecycle Needs to understand the end-to-end flow from project acceptance through physical build to operational turn-up
• Supplier/vendor coordination Manages multiple parallel supplier dependencies per project, each with different teams and timelines
• Change management Physical work happens within controlled maintenance windows - must manage scheduling and approvals
• Stakeholder communication Daily status updates across multiple teams with different priorities and timelines
• Workflow/ticket management Tracks 20-40 concurrent projects across multiple tracking systems simultaneously
• Incident triage When projects stall or field work fails, must quickly identify root cause and route to correct owner
• Documentation and reporting Maintains coordination procedures, tracks milestone completion, surfaces portfolio-level metrics
• Fiber and optical infrastructure (basic) 80% of spans involve optical wavelength paths - needs enough context to coordinate effectively with optical teams

What This Role is NOT

• Not a network engineer - does not configure routers, write automation, or own technical design
• Not a people manager - coordinates work across teams but does not have direct reports
• Not a strategic program manager - this is operational delivery coordination, not roadmap or planning work

Success Looks Like

• Projects don't stall because of coordination gaps between teams
• Engineers are not pulled off technical delivery work to chase supplier status or field team issues (currently a major pain point consuming approximately 20% of engineering capacity)
• Clear visibility into which projects are blocked, at which phase, and why - at all times
• Consistent delivery cadence: projects move through each phase within target timelines
• Systemic issues are surfaced early (not discovered when a deadline is missed)

TekWissen® Group is an equal opportunity employer supporting workforce diversity.