Senior Project & Delivery Manager - AI & Managed Services
First seen by Alion on Oct 27, 2026.
We are seeking an experienced Senior Project & Delivery Manager to lead complex technology projects, cloud transformation initiatives, AI-enabled operational improvement, and ongoing managed services engagements for enterprise customers across multiple industry verticals.
The role combines end-to-end project and program execution with service delivery governance, customer relationship management, financial performance, operational excellence, and team leadership.
The successful candidate will have a proven track record of managing multiple projects, workstreams, or customer engagements with varying technology stacks, delivery models, team sizes, and commercial requirements.
Key Responsibilities :
1. Project and Program Delivery :
- Own end-to-end delivery of complex IT projects, cloud migration and modernization initiatives, infrastructure transformation, cybersecurity implementations, and service onboarding.
- Manage multiple concurrent projects or workstreams, ensuring delivery against contractual scope, schedule, budget, quality, and acceptance criteria.
- Develop integrated delivery plans, resource forecasts, financial baselines, risk mitigation strategies, and governance mechanisms.
- Lead project reviews, steering committee meetings, dependency management, change control, and escalation resolution.
- Establish recovery plans for at-risk projects and drive corrective actions to successful completion.
2. Cloud Transformation and Modernization :
- Lead delivery governance for AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, hybrid cloud, multicloud, data centre migration, and infrastructure modernization engagements.
- Coordinate cloud architects, engineering teams, security specialists, operations, and third-party providers.
- Govern migration waves, workload dependencies, cutover readiness, testing, disaster recovery, security requirements, and transition into production.
- Monitor delivery risks, resource requirements, cloud implementation costs, and transformation milestones.
- Drive cloud cost optimization and FinOps initiatives in partnership with technical and finance teams.
3. AI, GenAI, AIOps and Automation :
- Identify and govern AI-enabled transformation and operational improvement initiatives across projects and managed services.
- Lead delivery of initiatives such as intelligent incident management, alert correlation, automated root-cause analysis support, GenAI knowledge assistants, service desk copilots, and workflow automation.
- Work with AI/ML, cloud, data, security, and operations teams to define delivery scope, dependencies, milestones, and acceptance criteria.
- Establish measurable benefits such as reduced manual effort, improved MTTR, lower recurring incident volumes, improved productivity, and better customer experience.
- Govern pilot-to-production readiness, testing, integration, user adoption, operational support, and benefits realization.
- Ensure appropriate oversight of data security, privacy, model accuracy, reliability, cost, and responsible AI requirements.
4. Managed Services and Service Delivery :
- Own service performance for assigned customers, accounts, or technology towers, including SLAs, KPIs, service quality, and contractual commitments.
- Monitor incidents, major problems, change execution, availability, service backlogs, capacity, and operational risks.
- Lead service reviews, customer escalations, major incident governance, root-cause analysis, and service improvement plans.
- Ensure effective transition from project delivery into steady-state managed services, including operational readiness and support ownership.
- Drive automation, standardization, proactive problem management, service analytics, and continual service improvement.
5. Customer and Executive Stakeholder Management :
- Build strong relationships with customer IT leadership, project sponsors, service owners, procurement, and business stakeholders.
- Lead customer governance, executive reviews, project steering committees, and service performance discussions.
- Manage escalations, delivery recovery, expectation setting, and stakeholder alignment.
- Communicate project health, financial exposure, delivery risks, decisions required, and improvement opportunities.
- Identify opportunities for legitimate service expansion, transformation programs, and improved customer outcomes.
6. Financial and Commercial Ownership :
- Own or govern project budgets, delivery cost forecasts, effort estimates, resource utilization, and milestone-based billing.
- Monitor service delivery economics, including cost efficiency, gross margins, forecast accuracy, and profitability within the assigned accountability.
- Review SOWs, change requests, scope variations, contractual obligations, and commercial risks.
- Partner with Sales, Presales, Finance, Procurement, and Legal teams on estimation, solution validation, delivery mobilization, renewals, and scope expansion.
- Drive productivity, automation, cloud cost optimization, and resource-efficiency improvements.
7. People Leadership and Delivery Excellence :
- Lead cross-functional project teams, service leads, technical managers, vendors, and geographically distributed delivery teams.
- Manage resource planning, capacity, utilization, skill development, and performance accountability.
- Mentor Project Managers and delivery leads, standardize governance, and improve delivery maturity.
- Drive lessons learned, automation adoption, risk management discipline, and continuous improvement across engagements.
Required Skills and Experience :
- 8 - 14 years of experience in IT services, project management, cloud delivery, infrastructure, or managed services.
- Demonstrated ownership of complex projects, multiple workstreams, or customer-facing service engagements.
- Strong experience with customer governance, escalations, risk management, project financials, and cross-functional team leadership.
- Practical understanding of cloud migration, hybrid/multi-cloud environments, infrastructure operations, and service transition.
- Experience with SLAs, KPIs, incident/problem/change management, ITSM, and service improvement.
- Exposure to AI, GenAI, AIOps, automation, or analytics initiatives, preferably including measurable business outcomes.
- Strong commercial understanding of budgets, cost control, forecasting, resource utilization, and margins.
- Excellent executive communication, negotiation, analytical, and decision-making skills.
Preferred Qualifications :
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, IT, Computer Science, or a related field.
- PMP or PRINCE2 Practitioner certification.
- ITIL certification.
- Relevant AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud certification.
- FinOps, Agile, Scrum, or automation-related credentials where applicable.
Key Performance Indicators :
- Delivery of projects within agreed scope, schedule, budget, and quality.
- SLA/KPI achievement, operational stability, and customer satisfaction.
- Successful cloud transformation and project-to-service transition.
- Measurable benefits from AI, AIOps, automation, and service improvement.
- Financial performance, margin protection, utilization, and forecast accuracy.
- Reduction in recurring incidents, manual effort, delivery risk, and avoidable cost.
- Team capability development and sustained customer confidence
Skills
Project Management, Delivery Management, IT Project Delivery, IT Service Delivery, Cloud Migration, Application Modernization, Project Risk Management, PMP, Prince2, AIOps