Senior Project Manager

About the Role
The Senior Project Manager is responsible for leading the end-to-end delivery of strategic software and IT services engagements for key customers in Saudi Arabia. This role combines delivery leadership, customer relationship management, commercial discipline, and governance. The Senior Project Manager will be accountable for managing complex, business-critical technology projects from initiation through successful delivery and closure, ensuring alignment with contractual commitments, customer expectations, quality standards, and organizational objectives.
This position requires providing senior-level leadership to multidisciplinary delivery teams, proactively managing project risks and dependencies, and maintaining clear, decision-oriented communication with customer executives and internal leadership.

Core Responsibilities

• Project Delivery Management

  • Lead the end-to-end delivery of complex IT projects and programs.
  • Develop and manage integrated project plans covering scope, schedule, budget, resources, dependencies, quality, and acceptance criteria.
  • Monitor project performance and ensure delivery aligns with contractual commitments and business objectives.
  • Drive successful execution across all phases of the project lifecycle.

• Financial & Commercial Management

  • Manage project budgets, cost controls, and financial performance.
  • Monitor resource utilization, project profitability, and delivery investments.
  • Track revenue milestones, customer acceptance, and contractual obligations.
  • Identify and manage commercial risks and contractual exposures.

• Change Management

  • Govern project change requests and scope modifications.
  • Ensure all changes are evaluated, estimated, approved, and contractually aligned before implementation.
  • Manage project baselines and change control documentation.
  • Minimize scope creep through disciplined governance.

• Resource & Capacity Management

  • Coordinate resource planning with PMO, engineering, operations, and supporting teams.
  • Manage project staffing requirements and allocation plans.
  • Identify resource constraints and implement mitigation strategies.
  • Optimize resource utilization across projects and workstreams.

• Stakeholder & Customer Management

  • Build and maintain strong customer relationships.
  • Lead customer governance meetings, steering committees, executive reviews, and status discussions.
  • Manage customer expectations and ensure timely decision-making and approvals.
  • Act as the primary escalation point for project-related matters.

• Leadership & Team Coordination

  • Coordinate activities across software engineering, QA, DevOps, architecture, infrastructure, security, business analysis, and external vendors.
  • Foster collaboration, accountability, and delivery excellence.
  • Support mentoring and guidance for Project Managers and delivery personnel.

• Delivery Methodologies & SDLC Oversight

  • Apply Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, and Hybrid delivery methodologies as appropriate.
  • Ensure adherence to Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) processes.
  • Oversee release planning, deployment coordination, testing, and production readiness.
  • Support continuous delivery and operational excellence practices.

• Vendor & Third-Party Management

  • Manage external vendors, partners, and subcontractors supporting project delivery.
  • Monitor vendor performance and contractual obligations.
  • Ensure third-party deliverables meet agreed quality and timelines.
  • Coordinate vendor dependencies and issue resolution.

• Project Recovery & Performance Improvement

  • Develop and execute recovery plans for challenged projects.
  • Address schedule slippages, quality concerns, budget overruns, and resource issues.
  • Implement corrective actions to restore project performance.
  • Continuously monitor and improve delivery effectiveness.

• Project Closure & Knowledge Management

  • Ensure successful project closure and operational handover.
  • Capture lessons learned and best practices.
  • Validate contractual completion and customer acceptance requirements.
  • Support realization of project objectives and business outcomes.

• PMO Continuous Improvement

  • Contribute to enhancement of PMO frameworks, tools, templates, metrics, and governance practices.
  • Promote project management best practices across the organization.
  • Support maturity improvement initiatives and delivery excellence programs.
  • Participate in internal PMO audits and process optimization activities.

• Pre-Sales & Transition Support

  • Support business development and pre-sales activities when required.
  • Contribute delivery estimates, assumptions, risks, resource plans, and implementation strategies.
  • Participate in solution reviews and transition planning.
  • Ensure delivery commitments are realistic and achievable.

Qualification, Experience, Skills & Requirements

• Education

  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
  • A master’s degree in business, technology, or project management is an advantage.

• Professional Experience

  • Minimum 10 years of total professional experience in software, technology, digital transformation, or IT services environments.
  • Minimum 6 years of direct project management experience with accountability for project scope, schedule, budget, quality, resources, risks, and customer outcomes.
  • Proven experience managing complex software development or systems integration projects through the complete lifecycle, from initiation and planning through deployment, acceptance, and closure.
  • Demonstrated experience managing large enterprise or government customer accounts in Saudi Arabia.
  • Strong experience within a software development, IT consulting, systems integration, or managed services organization.
  • Experience leading cross-functional and geographically distributed delivery teams.
  • Demonstrated exposure to project financials, contract management, change requests, resource planning, and commercial risk.
  • Experience managing multiple workstreams, vendors, system dependencies, and senior stakeholders.
  • Previous experience working within STC, government entities, or other major KSA enterprise environments is highly desirable.

• Technical & Delivery Knowledge

  • Strong understanding of the software development lifecycle and contemporary delivery models.
  • Practical knowledge of Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, and hybrid project delivery methodologies.
  • Good understanding of enterprise applications, digital platforms, APIs, integration architectures, cloud environments, and data migration.
  • Familiarity with DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, release management, quality assurance, and production deployment.
  • Strong competence in project planning, effort estimation, resource forecasting, financial tracking, RAID management, change control, and executive reporting.
  • Proficiency with common project and delivery management tools, such as Jira, Azure DevOps, Microsoft Project, and Microsoft 365.

• Certifications

  • PMP certification is required.
  • PMI-ACP, PRINCE2, SAFe, CSM, PSM, or another recognized Agile certification is an advantage.
  • ITIL or a relevant service management certification is an advantage for candidates with managed services experience.

• Skills & Competencies

  • Strong leadership with hands-on ownership of delivery outcomes.
  • Excellent stakeholder management and customer relationship skills.
  • Executive-level communication and presentation capabilities.
  • Professional fluency in English; Arabic communication capability is strongly preferred.
  • Strong commercial awareness and ability to identify contractual or financial exposure before it materializes.
  • Ability to challenge unrealistic expectations professionally and protect approved project scope.
  • Structured problem-solving, negotiation, decision-making, and conflict-resolution skills.
  • Ability to work effectively under pressure and lead recovery of complex or challenged projects.
  • Strong attention to delivery evidence, governance discipline, and contractual documentation.
  • Collaborative leadership style with the ability to influence technical teams, business stakeholders, customers, and senior management.