Senior Strategic Program Manager (Data Center and AI Infrastructure)

Senior Strategic Program Manager – Data Center & AI Infrastructure

Location: Remote – United States | Travel and onsite presence required
Contract Duration: 6 Months, potential extension
Work Schedule: 40 hours/week; flexibility for Australia/APAC delivery hours
Pay Rate: To Be Determined – Competitive, Based on Experience
Start Date: ASAP

Position Overview

We are seeking a highly experienced Senior Strategic Program Manager to lead complex, multi-site data center and AI infrastructure deployment programs valued at $25 million or more.

This position is responsible for end-to-end program delivery, from equipment ordering and logistics through physical installation, configuration, validation, and customer acceptance.

The ideal candidate has direct experience managing large-scale data center infrastructure, AI compute, GPU clusters, or high-performance computing deployments, including financial accountability, executive stakeholder management, and coordination of extensive cross-functional delivery teams.

This is a senior, customer-facing professional services leadership role requiring strong operational execution, financial ownership, and commercial experience.

Top Required Skills – Ranked

1. Physical Data Center & AI Infrastructure Delivery – Critical

• Direct experience managing physical data center deployments, AI infrastructure, GPU clusters, or HPC environments

• Experience overseeing receiving, racking, cabling, configuration, testing, validation, and customer acceptance

• Experience delivering across multiple data centers, facilities, or deployment sites

2. Large-Scale Program Ownership – Critical

• 10 years of project/program delivery experience

• 5 years managing complex, multi-site programs

• Ownership of programs valued at $25M or more

• Experience coordinating 50 matrixed resources across internal teams, OEMs, integrators, logistics partners, and field crews

3. Financial & Commercial Accountability – Critical

• Direct ownership of program budgets, forecasts, revenue, cost, and margin

• Experience with statements of work, scope management, change orders, and contract modifications

• Ability to manage financial performance and negotiate delivery-related changes

4. Executive & Customer-Facing Leadership – Critical

• Experience leading customer-facing professional services programs

• Strong executive communication, reporting, and stakeholder management

• Ability to resolve cross-site dependencies, competing priorities, and delivery risks

• Experience holding internal teams and external delivery partners accountable

Key ResponsibilitiesProgram Delivery

• Own multi-site data center and AI infrastructure programs from order placement through customer acceptance.

• Oversee receiving, rack-and-stack, cabling, configuration, validation, and final acceptance.

• Manage milestones, dependencies, risks, issues, escalations, and delivery commitments across multiple sites.

• Reconcile ordered, received, installed, validated, and accepted equipment against bills of materials and statements of work.

• Resolve hardware damage, DOA equipment, RMA issues, supply constraints, logistics delays, and staffing challenges.

• Coordinate OEMs, systems integrators, logistics providers, field engineers, and customer teams.

• Balance resources, schedules, and dependencies across geographically distributed deployment sites.

Financial & Contract Management

• Own program budgets, forecasts, revenue, cost, and margin.

• Monitor financial performance and take corrective action when delivery impacts profitability.

• Track procurement commitments, hardware lead times, supply availability, and delivery constraints.

• Manage statements of work, scope changes, contract modifications, and change orders.

• Develop and estimate client statements of work and associated changes.

• Partner with commercial and legal stakeholders to negotiate changes involving scope, cost, and schedule.

Governance & Executive Reporting

• Establish program governance, delivery controls, reporting standards, and escalation procedures.

• Develop executive-level reporting covering delivery health, financials, risks, milestones, and required decisions.

• Ensure project managers and field teams maintain accurate delivery records.

• Drive adoption of designated program management and reporting platforms.

• Monitor customer satisfaction, delivery quality, and acceptance readiness.

Team & Stakeholder Leadership

• Lead assigned project managers and coordinate 50 matrixed resources.

• Develop staffing plans and ensure resource capacity aligns with deployment requirements.

• Coordinate onboarding and offboarding of technical teams and field crews.

• Coach project managers and strengthen accountability across delivery teams.

• Build relationships with customer executives, technical leaders, OEM partners, and delivery stakeholders.

• Drive resolution of competing priorities and cross-functional delivery challenges.

Required Qualifications

• 10 years of project or program delivery experience.

• 5 years leading complex, multi-site programs.

• Direct experience with physical data center infrastructure, AI infrastructure, GPU, or HPC deployments.

• Experience overseeing physical installation, validation, and customer acceptance.

• Demonstrated ownership of programs valued at $25M or more.

• Financial accountability for budgets, forecasts, revenue, costs, and margin.

• Experience leading matrixed teams of 50 resources.

• Experience managing OEMs, integrators, logistics providers, and field teams.

• Strong understanding of infrastructure procurement, supply chain, and hardware deployment processes.

• Experience managing contracts, SOWs, change control, and scope modifications.

• Executive-level communication and customer relationship management.

• Ability to manage multiple delivery sites and distributed teams.

• Ability to travel and support Australia/APAC delivery hours as required.

• Bachelor's degree in a related discipline or equivalent professional experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• PMP certification

• 1–3 years of sales or business development experience

• Experience developing and estimating customer-facing SOWs

• AI factory or NVIDIA GPU infrastructure deployment experience

• Experience delivering large-scale compute clusters

• Experience with Smartsheet or comparable field delivery and program reporting systems

• Experience working in a technology integrator or professional services organization

Ideal Candidate Background

Strong candidates will have managed physical infrastructure programs for:

• Data center infrastructure integrators

• Global technology solution providers

• Enterprise infrastructure deployment organizations

• AI and GPU compute infrastructure providers

• Large-scale systems integration and professional services firms

Candidates should be able to explain how they managed equipment procurement, installation sequencing, field resources, financial performance, and customer acceptance across multiple locations.

Additional Requirements

• Remote within the United States

• Travel and regular onsite presence required; percentage to be confirmed

• Ability to accommodate Australia/APAC delivery schedules when needed

• W-2 employment required

• Must meet applicable U.S. work authorization requirements

• Strong customer-facing leadership and executive communication skills