Senior Project Manager

Al Tayer Group; Dubai; Hybrid; AED 600,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

Al Tayer Group in Dubai, UAE seeks a Senior Project Manager to lead cloud migration initiatives and oversee post-migration operations across multi-cloud and on-premises environments.

The role demands extensive PMO leadership, vendor management, and coordination of 20+ workstreams with budgets over AED 10m, delivering Azure-centric and Microsoft 365 transformation, security and governance programs.

Qualifications

• 12-15+ years of IT experience with enterprise programmes.
• Experience managing budgets of AED 10m+ and 20+ workstreams.
• Proven Azure migration and Microsoft 365 transformation delivery.
• Experience in Retail, Automotive, Distribution or Enterprise Shared Services environments is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with business, IT, finance, QA, audit and vendor teams to strategize migration to cloud-based solutions.
• Establish a project plan, baseline the plan, manage schedule and resource load, and project operation budget.
• Define acceptance criteria for deliverables and secure sign-off.
• Establish governance processes for decision-making and stakeholder communication.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams to ensure seamless migration and post-migration operations.
• Identify risks and mitigation strategies and provide regular status reports to leadership.
• Drive on-time delivery within budget and quality standards while minimizing disruption.
• Lead multi-workstream programmes (20+ workstreams, AED 10m+ budgets) and oversee vendor partners.

Skills

Project management

Cloud migration

Azure

AWS

Vendor management

Stakeholder management

Multi-cloud governance

PMO experience

Budget management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Information Technology or Computer Science

Tools

Terraform

CloudFormation

Nagios

Zabbix

VMware

Hyper-V

Azure

AWS

Microsoft 365

Job description

Seeking a Senior Project Manager, specializing in cloud migration to lead the seamless transition of our organization’s infrastructure to cloud-based platforms and ensure continuous management of cloud infrastructure. Must be able to manage multiple streams in a hybrid environment (multi-cloud and on premise), experience in delivering industry standard cloud orchestration monitoring tools to enable tracking of progress, consumption and health post migration.

Your role will be pivotal in ensuring the successful execution of complex cloud migrations and also maintaining optimal post-migration operations. We’ll be leveraging your extensive project management expertise and in-depth knowledge of infrastructure technologies and excellent people skills to collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, business stakeholders, and technology partners. Beyond migration, the role spans the wider platform agenda - digital workplace and Microsoft 365 transformation, cloud operating model and governance, security and compliance programmes, and the transition of delivered services into stable operations - largely delivered through strategic partners.

Essential Roles and Responsibilities

Functional Roles and Responsibilities

• Outcome driven; pragmatic, strong focus on delivering the intended benefit and ensure benefits realization
• Collaborate with Business, IT SME, Finance, QA, Audit & Vendor teams to strategize and plan the migration of the organization's infrastructure to cloud-based solutions, ensuring alignment with long-term goals.
• Establish a project plan, baseline the plan, manage schedule and resource load, and project operation budget.
• Define the acceptance criteria for each project deliverable, work with the team to establish delivery dates project milestones, and review of deliverables to ensure they meet acceptance criteria, securing sign-off on each deliverable as defined in the project management plan.
• Establish strong governance processes to guide decision-making, ensure transparency, and maintain clear communication across stakeholders.
• Coordinate the efforts of cross-functional teams, including IT, operations, and vendor partners, to ensure a seamless migration process.
• Identify, register and address potential risks and challenges and proactively developing mitigation strategies.
• Provide regular reporting on project status, accomplishments, challenges, and recommended actions to leadership and stakeholders.
• Drive the project to adhere to timelines, budget, and quality standards while minimizing disruption to ongoing operations.
• Manage the relationship with the project stakeholders throughout the project duration and act as the primary point of contact for the sponsor and project team.
• Experience working within a PMO and working to standard including regular reporting.
• Lead multi-workstream programmes (20+ workstreams, budgets above AED 10m, multiple vendors and business units) such as data centre exit, workplace transformation, cloud migration, ERP infrastructure modernization, contact centre platform migration and enterprise security programmes.
• Drive digital workplace and employee experience programmes - Microsoft 365, collaboration technologies, endpoint management, Copilot/AI adoption and Windows refresh - alongside cloud and infrastructure workstreams.
• Deliver security and compliance programmes in partnership with cyber security teams, covering areas such as IAM/PAM, Zero Trust, DLP, MIP, Insider Risk, vulnerability management and SOC transformation.
• Manage vendor-led delivery with partners such as Microsoft, AWS and other major providers - owning SOWs, challenging vendor delivery plans, controlling scope and tracking commercial obligations.
• Own project-to-operations handover, including operational readiness, support model design, knowledge transfer, hypercare governance and formal service acceptance.

Technical Knowledge and Skills

• Cloud and Hyperscalers: Sound working knowledge of Azure (essential) and AWS (desirable) across IaaS, PaaS and SaaS, including landing zones, cloud governance, FinOps and cost optimization, Azure modernization, hybrid cloud and DevOps operating models, managed service transitions and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation) - able to challenge vendor designs and delivery plans rather than produce the technical design.
• Digital Workplace: Microsoft 365 and modern workplace transformation, collaboration technologies, endpoint management (Intune), employee experience platforms, Copilot/AI adoption and Windows refresh programmes.
• Security and Compliance: Data centre security protocols, access controls and relevant compliance regulations (e.g. GDPR, SOX), together with enterprise security programme exposure - IAM, PAM, Zero Trust, DLP, MIP, Insider Risk, vulnerability management, SOC transformation and the Microsoft Security stack.
• Core Infrastructure: Data centre operations and standards (e.g. Tier levels, Uptime Institute), networking, server hardware and virtualization (VMware, Hyper-V), storage and backup (SAN, NAS, RAID), server operating systems (Windows Server, Linux), and disaster recovery and business continuity planning.
• Monitoring and Management: Industry monitoring and infrastructure management tooling across cloud and on-premise environments (e.g. Nagios, Zabbix, SNMP).

Qualifications

Education/Certification and Continued Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a related specialization.

Years of Experience

• 12-15+ years of IT experience, including a minimum of 8 years managing a multi-site IT infrastructure and 8+ years leading enterprise programmes.
• Track record of programmes with budgets of AED 10m+ and teams of 20-50+ resources, spanning multiple vendors and business units.
• Azure mandatory and AWS desirable, with proven Microsoft 365 transformation and cyber security programme delivery experience.
• Experience within Retail, Automotive, Distribution or Enterprise Shared Services environments preferred.

Knowledge and Skills

• Strong knowledge of IT infrastructure project management.
• Analytical thinking and decision-making skills.
• Good interpersonal skills.
• Ability to handle multiple projects.
• Effective communication and presentation skills.
• Strong leadership and communication skills, capable of guiding cross-functional teams and engaging stakeholders effectively.
• Proficiency in project management tools and methodologies, coupled with the ability to manage budgets and timelines.
• Experience in risk assessment, issue resolution, and change management within complex technology projects.
• Strong commercial and vendor management skills, including SOW management, scope control and managing complex partner ecosystems.
• Service transition and operational readiness expertise, ensuring delivered solutions are accepted and supportable by operations teams.