Autonomous Operations Stream Lead – AI

Manning Global AG; Den Haag; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Manning Global is recruiting for an Autonomous Operations Stream Lead – AI in the Netherlands. This full-time, hybrid role interfaces with business stakeholders, technology teams and delivery leads to translate AI initiatives into defined plans and successful outcomes.

Strong telecom domain knowledge and senior stakeholder management are essential. The role focuses on delivery and leadership rather than hands-on AI engineering, requiring excellent communication and multi-team coordination across

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in Telecom/IT, including significant experience managing complex transformation or technology delivery programs.
• Strong Telecom domain knowledge, preferably across Network Operations, Assurance, Fulfilment, Inventory, Service Management, or OSS/BSS.
• Proven experience managing senior business and technology stakeholders.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to communicate complex delivery topics clearly to senior management.
• Strong project/program management capabilities, including: Delivery planning and tracking, Milestone and dependency management, Risk and issue management, Governance and status reporting, Resource and capacity coordination, Ability to manage multiple teams and workstreams in a complex, multi-vendor environment.
• Strong ownership mindset with the ability to drive teams toward decisions, actions, and committed outcomes.
• Experience working in Agile/hybrid delivery environments.

Responsibilities

• Act as the primary point of contact for business stakeholders for the stream.
• Build strong relationships with senior business, operations, technology, and program stakeholders.
• Understand business objectives and translate them into clear priorities and actionable delivery plans.
• Drive regular stakeholder reviews, ensuring clear communication of progress, dependencies, risks, decisions, and expected outcomes.
• Manage stakeholder expectations proactively and ensure alignment between business priorities and technology delivery.
• Prepare and present concise updates for senior management and governance forums.
• Own end-to-end planning, tracking, governance, and reporting for AI initiatives within the AO program.
• Develop integrated delivery plans covering requirements, design, development, testing, business validation, deployment, and operational readiness.
• Track delivery against committed timelines and proactively drive corrective actions where required.
• Drive delivery from initial use-case definition through MVP/pilot to production and subsequent scaling.
• Proactively identify delivery risks, issues, assumptions, and cross-stream dependencies.
• Drive issues to closure and manage dependencies with other telecom transformation streams and platforms.

Job description

Manning Global, an Internationally renowned staffing and managed services organization specializing in providing staffing solutions for leading corporations in AI, IT & Telecoms, Engineering, Digital Media, Automotive and Renewable Energy is recruiting for Autonomous Operations Stream Lead – AI on behalf of one of their blue-chip international clients to join their organization in the Netherlands.

Job Title:Autonomous Operations Stream Lead – AI

Employment:Full time

Start Date:01/09/2026

Country:Netherlands, Hague, hybrid

Salary range:90-120k EUR/annum

About the role

• Autonomous Operations (AO) Stream Lead – AI to lead the planning and delivery of AI/Agentic AI initiatives within a large-scale Telecom transformation program.
• The role will act as the primary interface between business stakeholders, technology teams, architects, and delivery team, ensuring that AI initiatives are translated into well-defined delivery plans and executed successfully against agreed business outcomes, timelines, and quality expectations.
• This is primarily a delivery and stakeholder leadership role rather than a hands-on AI engineering position. The candidate should have strong telecom domain understanding, excellent communication skills, and demonstrated experience managing complex, multi-team technology deliveries.

Key Responsibilities

Stakeholder & Business Management

• Act as the primary point of contact for business stakeholders for the stream.
• Build strong relationships with senior business, operations, technology, and program stakeholders.
• Understand business objectives and translate them into clear priorities and actionable delivery plans.
• Drive regular stakeholder reviews, ensuring clear communication of progress, dependencies, risks, decisions, and expected outcomes.
• Manage stakeholder expectations proactively and ensure alignment between business priorities and technology delivery.
• Prepare and present concise updates for senior management and governance forums.

Project & Delivery Management

• Own end-to-end planning, tracking, governance, and reporting for NAI initiatives within the AO program.
• Develop integrated delivery plans covering requirements, design, development, testing, business validation, deployment, and operational readiness.
• Track delivery against committed timelines and proactively drive corrective actions where required.
• Drive delivery from initial use-case definition through MVP/pilot to production and subsequent scaling.
• Proactively identify delivery risks, issues, assumptions, and cross-stream dependencies.
• Drive issues to closure rather than limiting the role to tracking and reporting.
• Manage dependencies with other Telecom transformation streams and underlying platforms.

Experience/Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience in Telecom/IT, including significant experience managing complex transformation or technology delivery programs.
• Strong Telecom domain knowledge, preferably across Network Operations, Assurance, Fulfilment, Inventory, Service Management, or OSS/BSS.
• Proven experience managing senior business and technology stakeholders.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to communicate complex delivery topics clearly to senior management.

Strong project/program management capabilities, including:

• Delivery planning and tracking
• Milestone and dependency management
• Risk and issue management
• Governance and status reporting
• Resource and capacity coordination
• Ability to manage multiple teams and workstreams in a complex, multi-vendor environment.
• Strong ownership mindset with the ability to drive teams toward decisions, actions, and committed outcomes.
• Experience working in Agile/hybrid delivery environments.

Success Measures

Success in this role will be measured by:

• Delivery of AI initiatives against committed scope, timelines, value and quality.
• Business stakeholder confidence and satisfaction.
• Predictability and transparency of AI stream delivery.
• Timely identification and resolution of risks, issues, and dependencies.
• Successful progression of AI use cases from concept/MVP into production and scale.
• Demonstrable business and operational value delivered through AI-enabled Autonomous Operations.