Senior Project Manager - Cloud

Key Responsibilities

• Project Delivery & Governance

• Plan and coordinate all aspects of AIC projects (strategy/assessments, architecture/design, implementation/execution, and transition to operations) from initiation through closure.

• Ensure service delivery success, quality, and customer satisfaction through effective project and program management practices.

• Lead project initiation activities, including confirmation of client objectives, success metrics, scope, assumptions, constraints, dependencies, and governance model .

• Develop, maintain, and execute project plans, schedules, budgets, work breakdown structures, and RAID (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies) logs .

• Own project administration in AHEAD’s tools (e.g., PSA), ensuring accurate project setup, resource plans, budgets, billing milestones, and status updates.

• Apply change control and Project Change Request (PCR) processes for scope, schedule, and budget changes in collaboration with ELs, TLs, and Sales.

• Stakeholder & Client Management

• Serve as a primary point of contact for assigned projects, driving clear and proactive communication with client stakeholders and internal leadership.

• Facilitate status meetings, steering committees, and executive-level updates , providing transparent views of progress, risks, decisions, and financial health.

• Align delivery with AIC and client standards (e.g., Agile, hybrid, or waterfall delivery), ensuring the ways-of-working are explicit and followed.

• Partner with Engagement Leads and Client Directors to shape a top-notch client experience , including responsiveness, expectation management, and structured escalation handling.

• Coordination of Global & After-Hours Work

• Oversee and coordinate after-hours and weekend change windows (e.g., production cutovers, platform migrations, major releases) in partnership with US-based PMs and TLs.

• Act as the primary offshore liaison during change events when assigned, ensuring alignment with approved implementation plans, backout plans, and validation steps.

• Maintain continuous communication channels across time zones (India ↔ U.S.) so that risks, blockers, and status are clearly handed off and tracked.

• When no after-hours activities are scheduled, work aligned to India/U.S. overlap hours to independently lead small to medium AIC projects (e.g., cloud adoption pilots, data platform workstreams, application modernization sprints).

• Risk, Quality, and Financial Management

• Identify, document, and manage project risks, issues, and dependencies , driving timely mitigation and escalation as needed.

• Ensure appropriate quality gates are defined and met (e.g., design reviews, test readiness, go/no-go, post-implementation reviews).

• Track and manage project budgets, burn rates, and margin , raising concerns early and partnering with ELs and practice leadership to protect both client value and profitability .

• Support PSA data hygiene by maintaining accurate time entry expectations, project end dates, budget adjustments, and revenue alignment.

• Practice & PMO Enablement

• Model and reinforce AIC PMO standards for project hygiene, governance, and reporting, including use of standard templates, dashboards, and inspection routines.

• Contribute to practice development , including harvesting reusable artifacts (plans, RAID logs, status report templates, change playbooks) and improving delivery frameworks.

• Provide coaching and mentoring to junior project managers, coordinators, and consultants who are performing PM tasks on AIC engagements.

• Collaborate with Resource Management and Delivery leaders regarding  resource planning and capacity management , helping to structure onshore/offshore staffing models that align to AIC scoping guidelines.

• Pre-Sales & Opportunity Support (As Needed)

• Identify follow-on opportunities and work with client-facing teams to position next-phase work informed by project outcomes and client feedback.

Must Have Skills & Experience

• 10–12+ years of progressive IT project management experience, including multi-phase engagements in at least one of the following areas:

• Cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP) – migrations, modernization, landing zones, platform build-outs.

• Data & AI – data platform implementations, analytics/BI, AI/ML initiatives.

• Application modernization / DevOps – refactoring, re-platforming, or re-architecting workloads.

• Demonstrated success leading medium to high complexity, multi-stakeholder projects with significant client visibility.

• Strong working knowledge of project management standards and methods , including both Agile (Scrum/Kanban) and waterfall/hybrid approaches.

• Experience coordinating work across global, distributed teams , including offsite/offshore resources and cross-practice contributors.

• Proven ability to plan and manage after-hours or production change activities (e.g., cutovers, major releases, infrastructure or platform changes affecting production).

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, including experience with:

• Executive-ready status reports and presentations.

• Facilitating workshops, working sessions, and steering meetings.

• Proficiency with project management tools (e.g., Microsoft Project, Smartsheet, Microsoft Azure DevOps boards, Atlassian Jira, Salesforce, or similar tools).

• Strong analysis, problem-solving, negotiation, and conflict management skills.

• Demonstrated ability to:

• Manage project budgets, forecasts, and financials .

• Operate with a consultative mindset , connecting delivery activities to business and operational outcomes.

Nice to Have Skills

• Background in consulting or a services organization with AIC-style project portfolios (cloud, data, AI, application/platform transformations).

• Experience in one or more of the following:

• Cloud migration programs , landing zone builds, or modernization roadmaps.

• Data platform (e.g., Snowflake, Databricks, Synapse, Redshift) or analytics initiatives.

• DevOps / Continuous Integration (CI) – Continuous Delivery (CD) enablement or platform engineering initiatives.

• Familiarity with AHEAD-style delivery artifacts (e.g., engagement plans, outcome roadmaps, prioritized backlogs, action plans).

• PMP or Agile certifications (e.g., PMI-ACP, PSM, CSM, SAFe) are a plus.

• Experience working within or alongside a centralized PMO in a global context.