Technical Project Manager

we are looking for highly experienced Technical Project Manager with strong Telecommunications and Mobile Network Delivery experience to lead the end-to-end delivery of Project MARS VENUS, a reciprocal Radio Access Network (RAN) sharing and roaming initiative between MTN and Vodacom.

The candidate will be responsible for managing complex telecom network deployment programmes, coordinating multiple technical teams, vendors and stakeholders, and ensuring successful project delivery from planning and design readiness through deployment, integration, testing, acceptance and operational handover.

The role requires strong practical knowledge of LTE, 5G, RAN deployment, network sharing (MOCN/MORAN), roaming, transmission/backhaul and network integration.

The ideal candidate should have excellent project governance, budget management, risk management, stakeholder coordination and executive reporting skills, with the ability to manage multiple concurrent network deployment workstreams.

• Lead end-to-end project management of MTN's MARS VENUS RAN sharing and roaming programme with Vodacom.

• Manage project mobilisation, planning, scheduling, resource allocation and delivery governance.

• Develop and maintain project plans, Work Breakdown Structures (WBS), RACI matrices and integrated master schedules.

• Coordinate RAN deployment, network integration, transmission/backhaul upgrades and site readiness activities.

• Manage LTE/5G network deployment, configuration, testing, cutover and implementation activities.

• Coordinate network-sharing configurations, including MOCN, MORAN and spectrum pooling dependencies.

• Manage multiple cluster and site rollout workstreams, ensuring timelines, milestones and deliverables are achieved.

• Coordinate with MTN, Vodacom, network engineering teams, vendors, contractors and external stakeholders.

• Monitor project budgets, procurement, supplier performance, costs and financial forecasts.

• Identify and manage project risks, issues, assumptions, dependencies and change requests (RAID).

• Ensure network quality, coverage, capacity, QoS and customer experience are maintained during implementation.

• Coordinate testing, acceptance testing procedures (ATP), interoperability testing, KPI validation and defect resolution.

• Manage operational readiness, network handover, documentation and project closure.

• Prepare executive dashboards, project status reports, steering committee presentations and governance reports.

• Ensure compliance with regulatory, legal, health and safety, security and internal governance requirements.

• 10+ years of overall experience in telecommunications and/or mobile network delivery.

• Minimum 5+ years of experience as a Technical Project Manager handling complex RAN deployment, network-sharing and/or roaming projects.

• Strong practical knowledge of LTE and 5G Radio Access Networks (RAN).

• Experience with network-sharing technologies such as MOCN, MORAN and spectrum pooling.

• Good understanding of mobile network architecture, roaming and interoperability.

• Experience managing end-to-end telecom network deployment and integration projects.

• Experience with RAN hardware/software upgrades, capacity expansion and network configuration.

• Knowledge of transmission, backhaul, site deployment, power, antennas and network integration.

• Experience managing multiple concurrent projects, rollout workstreams and geographically distributed teams.

• Strong experience in vendor management, supplier coordination, procurement and budget forecasting.

• Experience in project governance, risk management, change control and executive stakeholder management.

• Experience coordinating network testing, ATP, QoS/KPI validation, go-live and operational handover.

• Experience managing customer-impacting network changes in a live production environment.