Senior Project Manager
Location: London (Canary Wharf)
Type: Contract
Industry: Financial Services/Banking
Overview:
A leading Financial Services client is seeking a Senior Project Manager to lead the downstream execution of a new co-location (Co-Lo) data centre initiative. This role focuses on managing and coordinating the build and migration activities, ensuring adherence to standards, and engaging multi-disciplinary teams across infrastructure, development, governance, and customer-facing business units.
Key Responsibilities:
Data Centre Build and Vendor Management
- Define and validate cage/space specifications to ensure they meet the client’s standards.
- Work closely with the Co-Lo vendor and their build teams to ensure all requirements are met and aligned with specifications.
- Maintain clear and regular communication with the financial client’s Data Centre team for validation and updates.
Stakeholder Engagement and Coordination
- Collaborate with application, service, and infrastructure teams, including networks, to review and finalize requirements.
- Manage and coordinate cross-functional teams spanning infrastructure, development, architecture, governance, and customer-facing business units.
- Act as the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for internal and external stakeholders, ensuring alignment and buy-in for project plans.
- Proactively engage stakeholders, facilitate clear communication, and minimize project disruptions.
Planning and Migration Execution
- Develop and oversee detailed project plans, covering both the data centre build and application/service migration processes.
- Directly interface with customer account teams and customers to secure buy-in, address technical queries, and manage expectations.
- Lead and support migration activities, including:
- Weekend and evening work for pre-migration tests.
- Execution of Network Integration Tests (NITs), Disaster Recovery (DR) tests, and migration dress rehearsals.
- Managing both physical (lift-and-shift) and logical migrations.
Qualifications and Skills:
- Proven experience in managing data centre builds and migration projects within a complex environment.
- Expertise in engaging with Co-Lo vendors and ensuring compliance with defined standards and specifications.
- Strong leadership and interpersonal skills to manage multi-stakeholder teams effectively (“herding cats”).
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to engage stakeholders and foster collaboration across diverse teams.
- Demonstrated ability to create, execute, and manage detailed project and migration plans.
- Flexibility to work during weekends and evenings for critical migration phases.
Why Join?
- Opportunity to lead a high-impact project for a global financial client.
- Work in a dynamic, collaborative environment with diverse teams across infrastructure and business units.
- Competitive compensation and a chance to work on cutting-edge data centre solutions.
How to Apply:
If you are a detail-oriented, proactive project manager with a track record in data centre builds and migrations, we encourage you to apply. Please submit your CV to barry.ansell@harringtonstarr.com or click the link provided.
