Practice Lead - Program Management

About the role

We are seeking an experienced program management leader to lead the program and project management capability within Integrated Infrastructure Solutions (IIS), a Professional Services practice focused on complex enterprise data center and edge infrastructure engagements. The Program Management Lead establishes the management discipline, governance and performance visibility needed to deliver complex, cross-functional programs predictably and with strong commercial control. The role leads IIS program and project management resources and ensures engagements are managed consistently while retaining the adaptability required by different customers, solutions, delivery environments and risk profiles. This role maintains a portfolio-level view of engagement health, customer outcomes, delivery performance and commercial position. The Program Management Lead uses data and meaningful KPIs to identify trends, risks and exceptions requiring leadership attention and helps resolve significant barriers that extend beyond an individual engagement team.

Annual compensation: $190K - $240K USD

What you'll be doing

• Lead the program and project management capability supporting Integrated Infrastructure Solutions.
• Establish clear expectations for how complex enterprise data center and edge infrastructure programs are planned, governed, managed and reported.
• Define and maintain program management standards, controls, tools and operating practices appropriate to IIS engagements.
• Ensure program and project managers consistently apply agreed methodology and controls while adapting the level of rigor to engagement scale, complexity, risk and customer needs.
• Maintain portfolio-level visibility to engagement health, customer outcomes, delivery performance, commercial position and organizational capacity.
• Establish meaningful KPIs and reporting that enable IIS and broader Computacenter leadership to understand portfolio performance and areas requiring attention.
• Use data to identify performance trends, material risks, emerging constraints and exceptions across the IIS engagement portfolio.
• Provide clear, fact-based performance visibility and recommendations to the IIS Practice Director and other Computacenter leaders.
• Ensure program and project managers actively manage engagement financials, including margin, forecasting, change, cost exposure and other key commercial indicators.
• Partner with Finance, Commercial and the Professional Services PMO to maintain appropriate financial controls, forecasting discipline and reporting.
• Provide leadership support when significant risks, blockers, dependencies or customer issues are escalated beyond the engagement level.
• Navigate stakeholders and capabilities across Computacenter to secure ownership, decisions and timely resolution of cross-functional issues.
• Identify systemic or practice-level constraints and escalate them to the IIS Practice Director with clear impact and recommended action.
• Align program and project management capacity to current engagements, pipeline expectations, geographic needs and anticipated demand.
• Lead, develop and support program and project management professionals responsible for complex data center delivery.
• Establish clear expectations for program managers, project managers and engagement-level leadership roles.
• Strengthen program management capability in executive communication, commercial management, risk leadership, multi-site coordination and customer governance.
• Incorporate lessons learned and delivery experience into IIS program and project management practices.
• Drive corrective actions and improvements to methodology, tools, governance and management practices when portfolio performance indicates a recurring issue.
• Work closely with Technical Consulting, Field Engineering, Service Design, Technology Sourcing, Integration Centers and other delivery capabilities to support coordinated execution.

Data Center Program Leadership Background

The successful candidate must bring meaningful leadership experience in complex enterprise data center or closely related infrastructure delivery environments. This is not a general PMO administration role.

• Leadership experience overseeing complex enterprise data center, edge infrastructure or large-scale infrastructure programs.
• Experience leading program and project managers responsible for multiple concurrent customer engagements, workstreams, sites or deployment locations.
• Understanding of how solution design, program management, technical delivery, field execution, logistics, supply chain and Integration Center activities come together during data center delivery.
• Experience overseeing programs that span multiple technologies, vendors, operational teams, locations and customer stakeholders.
• Experience managing portfolio-level delivery and commercial performance rather than focusing solely on the execution of one project.
• Understanding of the risks and operational demands associated with business-critical data center programs, including dependencies across design, procurement, configuration, logistics, installation, testing and customer acceptance.
• Experience supporting the transition from solution development and customer commitment into executable delivery.

What you have

• 10+ years of progressive program or project management experience within Professional Services, enterprise data center delivery, infrastructure services, technical services or a comparable complex delivery environment.
• Significant experience leading program and project management teams or overseeing a portfolio of complex customer engagements.
• Demonstrated leadership experience in enterprise data center or complex infrastructure delivery, not solely general project management.
• Experience directing large, multi-workstream programs involving multiple technologies, vendors, locations and delivery teams.
• Strong understanding of program governance, delivery controls, risk and issue management, dependency management, change control and executive-level reporting.
• Demonstrated experience managing commercial and financial performance, including margin, forecasts, cost exposure, change and recovery planning.
• Experience using KPIs and delivery data to evaluate engagement health and portfolio performance.
• Experience leading significant escalations and coordinating resolution across organizational and functional boundaries.
• Experience establishing or improving program management methodology, governance, tools and operating practices.
• Experience aligning program and project management capacity with pipeline and portfolio demand.
• Experience leading and developing program managers, project managers and related delivery professionals.
• Ability to communicate complex delivery and commercial information clearly to customers, executives and cross-functional leaders.
• Working knowledge of the relationship between solution design, technical delivery, Field Engineering, Technology Sourcing, logistics, supply chain, Integration Centers and program management within complex infrastructure engagements.
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent relevant experience.
• PMP, PgMP, MSP, PRINCE2 or a comparable program or project management credential is preferred.

How You Will Lead

The Program Management Lead owns the management discipline, commercial performance visibility and portfolio-level health of IIS delivery.

Program and project managers remain responsible for detailed engagement execution, including schedules, milestones, risks, issues, dependencies, change, financial administration and customer communications. The Program Management Lead establishes the expectations, governance, capability and performance visibility that allow those professionals to operate effectively.

The role becomes directly involved when an issue requires leadership intervention beyond the engagement team, when cross-functional stakeholders must be aligned or when portfolio data indicates a systemic delivery or commercial concern.

What Success Looks Like

• Complex IIS engagements achieve predictable customer, delivery and commercial outcomes.
• Engagement health and portfolio performance are visible through meaningful KPIs and reliable data.
• Material risks, blockers and cross-functional dependencies receive timely leadership attention and resolution.
• Program and project management disciplines are consistently applied while remaining appropriate to engagement scale and complexity.
• Financial performance is actively managed across the IIS engagement portfolio.
• Program and project managers demonstrate strong data center delivery, customer leadership and commercial management capabilities.
• Program and project management capacity remains aligned with active engagements and forecast demand.
• Recurring delivery issues result in corrective action and measurable improvements to IIS management practices.
• Customers and Computacenter leaders receive clear, timely and fact-based visibility to program performance.

Work Environment

• Hybrid leadership role based in one of Computacenter’s U.S. hub markets: New York City, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, San Francisco or Los Angeles, with preference for candidates in the Atlanta, Chicago or San Francisco metro areas.
• Regular in-person presence at a Computacenter office and/or Integration Center is an expected part of the role, balanced with remote work based on business needs.
• Approximately 20% travel is expected to support customer engagements, visit project sites and Integration Centers, and participate in leadership and business meetings.
• Works closely with distributed program management, Technical Consulting, Field Engineering, Service Design, Finance, Commercial, PMO, sales and operational teams across multiple locations and time zones.
• May require leadership support for significant customer, delivery or commercial escalations outside standard business hours.

What you can expect

There’s so much more to enjoy about being at Computacenter than just having a rewarding career. In addition to offering competitive compensation plans and long-term career opportunities, we provide an attractive mix of benefit plans to contribute to your good health, future financial security, and peace of mind.

About us

Computacenter is a leading independent technology partner, trusted by large corporate and public sector organizations. We help our world-renowned customers to source, transform, and manage their IT infrastructure to deliver digital transformation, enabling users and their business. We’re a public company quoted on the London FTSE 250 (CCC.L) and employ over 21,000 people worldwide. In the US, we support some of the country’s best-known businesses with regional hubs in San Francisco and Irvine, CA; Norcross, GA; Plano, TX; and New York City; and Integration Centers in Silicon Valley and Atlanta. www.computacenter.com/us