Project/Program Manager II

This role leads end-to-end coordination of technical infrastructure projects that deliver network connections between data centers. You will manage the full delivery lifecycle from project intake through physical build, validation, and turn-up, ensuring spans go live on time and without coordination gaps. The position focuses on operational delivery, cross-functional communication, and supplier management rather than hands-on network engineering or strategic roadmap work. You will enable engineers to stay focused on technical execution by absorbing the coordination, triage, and status management across multiple teams and concurrent projects.

• Own project coordination across the full span delivery lifecycle, from acceptance by the planning team until the span is operational and carrying production traffic.
• Validate incoming projects at intake by confirming all required inputs are present, including hardware positions, fiber paths, and port reservations, before engineering accepts the work.
• Track supplier readiness in parallel for each project, coordinating with hardware, optical, fiber, and other supplier teams to ensure their deliverables are on track.
• Actively manage ambiguous supplier timelines by identifying blockers, escalating to the correct owners, and driving timely resolution in the absence of committed SLAs.
• Monitor workflow progress once engineers initiate automated workflows, ensuring each step completes and intervening when steps stall due to supplier or process issues.
• Coordinate the handoff to datacenter field teams by creating detailed work requests that include cutsheets, rack locations, and cable specifications for physical work such as cabling and hardware patching.
• Manage the field execution queue and track 20–40 concurrent projects through key physical build milestones, including hardware intake, cable installation, cabling completion and verification, and hardware pre-staging.
• Track field team progress on physical work across multiple concurrent projects and ensure timely completion of on-site tasks.
• Triage field escalations by distinguishing between coordination issues that you can resolve and technical issues that require routing to the appropriate engineering owner.
• Reduce engineer interruptions by absorbing coordination and communication work so engineers can focus on their core technical delivery responsibilities.
• Track validation milestones after physical work completes, including automated link validation, cabling checks, and configuration verification, and ensure issues are addressed promptly.
• Coordinate turn-up scheduling so that spans go live with production traffic within agreed timelines once all validations pass.
• Close out projects by confirming spans are fully operational, all tickets are resolved, and project records are complete in tracking systems.
• Partner with leadership to understand priority projects, especially those tied to critical capacity deadlines, and ensure high-priority work is unblocked and progresses first.
• Provide clear, regular status reporting on the overall project portfolio, including counts of on-track, at-risk, and blocked projects and the specific phases where issues occur.
• Identify and highlight systemic issues, such as recurring delays from particular suppliers or regional field capacity constraints, and escalate these patterns for structural resolution.
• Maintain and improve process documentation, including coordination procedures, handoff checklists, and escalation paths, to drive consistency and efficiency.
• Use workflow and ticketing systems to track all work items, maintain accurate project records, and ensure visibility into progress and dependencies.
• Engage in incident triage when projects stall or field work fails by quickly determining root causes and routing issues to the correct owners.
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including engineers, field technicians, hardware teams, optical teams, fiber teams, and planning teams, to keep projects moving smoothly through each phase.
• Ensure projects maintain a consistent delivery cadence so that spans move through each lifecycle phase within target timelines and do not stall due to coordination gaps.

• Proven cross-functional project management experience (4 years), coordinating work across multiple technical and operational teams.
• Hands-on experience with cross-functional project coordination, bridging engineers, field technicians, hardware teams, optical teams, fiber teams, and planning teams.
• Data center operations experience (2 years), with familiarity in physical datacenter work such as cabling, rack positions, fiber patching, and optical hardware.
• Practical understanding of the network deployment lifecycle (2 years), from project acceptance through physical build to operational turn-up.
• Experience managing third-party suppliers and vendors (4 years), including tracking multiple parallel dependencies and handling varying timelines.
• Change management experience (2 years), including scheduling and coordinating physical work within controlled maintenance windows.
• Strong workflow and ticket management experience (2 years), tracking 20–40 concurrent projects across multiple systems and ensuring accurate status.
• Incident management and triage experience (2 years), quickly identifying root causes when projects stall or field work fails and routing issues appropriately.
• Documentation and reporting experience (4 years), maintaining procedures, tracking milestones, and surfacing portfolio-level metrics.
• Stakeholder communication skills (4 years), providing clear, concise updates to diverse stakeholders with differing priorities and timelines.
• Basic knowledge of fiber and optical infrastructure (1 years), sufficient to coordinate effectively with optical and fiber teams on wavelength paths and dark fiber connections.
• Demonstrated ability to manage priorities across a portfolio of projects and focus attention on high-impact work tied to critical capacity deadlines.
• Comfort working in an operational delivery role focused on coordination rather than hands-on network engineering or strategic program design.
• Proficiency with reporting and Excel for tracking project metrics, timelines, and portfolio health.

• Background in construction, construction management, or similar fields that involve coordinating physical builds and multiple suppliers.
• Experience in customer service or stakeholder-facing roles, demonstrating the ability to manage expectations and communicate clearly under pressure.
• Experience in project coordination roles within technical or infrastructure environments.
• Familiarity with managing change windows and communicating planned work and impacts to relevant stakeholders.
• Ability to identify systemic issues across projects, such as recurring supplier delays or capacity constraints, and escalate these effectively.
• Experience in environments where projects follow a follow-the-sun model or involve collaboration across geographically distributed teams.
• Interest in long-term opportunities, as this role is expected to be extended and has the potential to convert to a full-time position after the contract period.

This role is 100% onsite in Seattle, Washington, at a large-scale datacenter and technical infrastructure environment. You will work closely with engineering, planning, hardware, optical, fiber, and field operations teams in a fast-paced, operationally focused setting. The team operates on a follow-the-sun model across multiple global locations, so you can expect frequent collaboration with colleagues in other regions and time zones. The work centers on coordinating physical and logical network connections between data centers, involving technologies such as optical wavelengths, dark fiber, network hardware, and associated infrastructure. You will regularly use workflow and ticketing systems, spreadsheets, and reporting tools to track 20–40 concurrent projects and maintain portfolio visibility. The environment emphasizes controlled maintenance windows, precise coordination of field activities, and adherence to datacenter procedures and safety practices. Dress expectations align with a professional technical and datacenter setting, including any site-specific safety or access requirements that apply when working in or around datacenter facilities.

This is a Contract position based out of Seattle, WA.

The pay range for this position is $54.00 - $90.23/hr.

Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms. If eligible, the benefits available for this temporary role may include the following: • Medical, dental & vision • Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital • 401(k) Retirement Plan – Pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions available • Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents) • Short and long-term disability • Health Spending Account (HSA) • Transportation benefits • Employee Assistance Program • Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave)

This is a fully onsite position in Seattle,WA.

This position is anticipated to close on Jul 23, 2026.

About Actalent

Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 20,000 consultants and 5,000 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500. We are proud to be an Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firm for our engineering design services and a ClearlyRated Best of Staffing® winner for both client and talent service.

The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law.

If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, such as the modification or adjustment of the job application process or interviewing process due to a disability, please email actalentaccommodation@actalentservices.com for other accommodation options.

San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, for all positions located in the city and county of San Francisco, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Massachusetts Lie Detector: It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI): We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support parts of our hiring process, including sourcing, screening, and evaluating candidates. AI helps assess applications and qualifications, but final decisions are made by our hiring team. By applying, you acknowledge and agree that your application may be reviewed using AI tools.

Salary : $54 - $90