Program Manager

Job Description

Reporting to the Senior Manager – Project Management, the position holder will work with the Digital IT lead in the assigned unit to provide program leadership in the Pursuit and Delivery of Complex Information, Communications and Technology solutions for Safaricom programs & projects. This role will be responsible for partnership with assigned delivery unit to ensure realization of business outcomes through kick off, execution, control and closure of programs and projects

Responsibilities

• Uphold the company code of conduct, policies and procedures, ensuring integrity and accountability in every aspect of your work.
• All employees have a responsibility to adhere to safety, health, and wellbeing policies, guidelines and procedures in all actions and decisions.
• Lead the planning and delivery of infrastructure-focused projects by developing and managing integrated project plans that incorporate data center, cloud, virtualization, and platform components, while aligning technical deliverables, dependencies, risks, and acceptance criteria to defined business outcomes and service readiness.  
• Coordinate infrastructure project execution, ensuring that engineering, architecture, and vendor teams are aligned, accountable, and delivering to agreed milestones.
• Demonstrate working knowledge of core infrastructure domains—including cloud environments, compute and virtualization platforms, containers, storage and backup systems, networking, and database platforms (both open-source and proprietary, e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, GaussDB)—sufficient to understand end-to-end delivery implications, challenge timelines, and identify cross-domain risks (e.g., capacity constraints, performance bottlenecks, data integrity, recovery readiness, and migration complexity), while ensuring alignment across infrastructure layers.
• Drive execution discipline using standard project management tools and frameworks (EPM, MS Project, SharePoint, SOWs, governance structures, communication and risk plans).
• Manage cross-functional dependencies across infrastructure, application, vendor, and business teams, ensuring no disconnect between platform readiness and service/product launch timelines.
• Enforce stage gates and readiness criteria across the project lifecycle, including infrastructure readiness (environment setup, security, capacity) and business readiness (UAT, operational handover, stakeholder sign-off).
• Proactively manage risks and issues, including those arising from technical complexity, vendor delivery, integration points, and changing business requirements, with clear escalation and mitigation strategies.
• Track and manage project financials, including CAPEX utilization for infrastructure initiatives and alignment of spend to delivery milestones and approved business cases.
• Produce clear, insight-driven reporting and governance updates, reflecting true project health, key risks, decisions required, and alignment to business outcomes beyond just activity tracking.
• Ensure structured project closure and transition, including operational handover, documentation, benefits tracking, and lessons learned applicable to both infrastructure and business project contexts.
• Foster collaboration across diverse stakeholder groups, balancing priorities between technical teams and business units to maintain delivery momentum and alignment.
• Continuously build capability to deliver across domains, applying lessons learned from infrastructure projects to improve effectiveness in future business/service delivery environments.
• Provide leadership and oversight for project teams and direct reports, ensuring clarity of roles, strong execution discipline, and the ability to operate effectively across both deep technical discussions and executive-level engagements. 

Qualifications

• Degree in ICT/Business Related field
• Project management expertise: Certified in PMP or PRINCE 2 and Agile certification
• At least 4 years’ experience in managing IT projects  
• Demonstrate strong knowledge and background of Waterfall and Agile concepts in project delivery
• Ability to motivate teams to achieve business outcome