Technical Project Manager

AXIAN Group; Islamabad; On-site; PKR 33,296,000 - 49,945,000; Full time

Job summary

AXIAN Group seeks an experienced Programme Delivery Manager to steer the Core Wallet and Core Banking Transformation across multiple workstreams. Translate roadmaps into sprints, manage dependencies, RAID logs, and governance while coordinating Core Wallet teams, vendors, and OPCO tech groups.

The role requires 10+ years in technology delivery, hands-on fintech experience with core wallet/payments platforms, and proficiency in Agile/Hybrid delivery; willingness to travel across Africa as needed.

Qualifications

• Minimum 10 years of project/delivery management experience in technology, with fintech/digital banking or telecom exposure.
• Hands-on technical delivery on core wallet, core banking, or payments platforms.
• Proven track record leading technical workstreams within transformation programs and data migration.
• Experience managing tier-1 vendor delivery teams and third-party integrators.
• Experience in African markets and multi-country delivery advantages.
• Solid knowledge of Agile, Waterfall and hybrid delivery models.

Responsibilities

• Drive technical planning and execution across multiple workstreams and align with the Programme Director.
• Coordinate with Core Wallet delivery teams, vendors, and OPCO technology teams daily.
• Governance, reporting, and documentation including RAID, decisions, and change control.
• Manage budgets, resources, and operational tooling to ensure on-time, on-budget delivery.
• Lead testing readiness, SIT/UAT, cutover planning, and go-live readiness.

Skills

Highly organized

Strong communication

Accountability

Problem solving

Calm under pressure

Cross-cultural teams

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Engineering/IT or equivalent

PM/Agile certifications (PMP/PRINCE2/CSM/PSM/SAFe)

Tools

JIRA

Confluence

MS Project / Smartsheet

Power BI

Excel

Job description

1. Drive the day-to-day technical delivery of the Core Wallet and Core Banking Transformation program across one or more workstreams (Technical Build & Integration, Data Migration, Distribution, Operations, or others as assigned), under the direction of the Programme Director.

2. Own the integrated technical plan, dependencies, RAID, ceremonies, and reporting for assigned workstreams — translating the Programme Director's roadmap into executable sprints, milestones, and deliverables.

3. Coordinate Core Platform Supplier, third-party vendors, D&F Tech, and OPCO technology teams on a daily basis to unblock issues, manage dependencies, and keep the program on plan, on budget, and on quality.

4. Provide the Programme Director with clear, structured, evidence-based reporting on progress, risks, issues, and decisions required — and surface escalations early enough to be acted on.

MAIN FUNCTIONS – RESPONSIBILITIES & ACTIVITIES

Technical planning & execution

• Build and maintain the detailed technical project plan for assigned workstreams; integrate it into the overall program plan owned by the Programme Director.
• Decompose the Programme Director's roadmap into sprints, milestones, deliverables, and acceptance criteria with clear owners and dates.
• Track progress against plan; spot slippage early; replan proactively with the Programme Director when needed.
• Run sprint planning, daily stand‑ups, demos, retrospectives, and other delivery ceremonies for assigned squads.
• Maintain a single, accurate, up-to-date view of status, scope, schedule, and budget.
• Identify, document, and actively manage dependencies within the workstream and across other workstreams (Product, Compliance, Data, Distribution, Operations, Customer Care).
• Maintain Risks, Assumptions, Issues, and Dependencies (RAID) logs; drive mitigation actions to closure.
• Run change control for the workstream — assess impact (scope, time, cost, quality), recommend decisions, and route through program governance.
• Escalate blockers and material risks to the Programme Director with clear options and recommendations, not just problems.
• Coordinate Core Wallet delivery teams and third-party vendors on a daily basis — track SOW deliverables, milestones, and SLA adherence.
• Align D&F Tech, Architecture, Security, OPCO technology, and BU teams on shared deliverables and integration points.
• Chair working groups; ensure decisions are documented, owners assigned, and follow‑through happens.
• Hold vendors and internal teams accountable to commitments without losing the working relationship.

Testing, quality & technical readiness

• Plan and orchestrate SIT, UAT, performance, and security testing cycles in coordination with QA, vendors, and BU teams.
• Track defects, drive triage, prioritization, and closure against agreed quality gates.
• Ensure environments, test data, and access are in place ahead of each test cycle.
• Validate technical readiness for go‑live: cutover plans, rollback plans, runbooks, monitoring, and on‑call coverage.
• Coordinate dry runs and rehearsals; chase down every open item before cutover.

Governance, reporting & documentation

• Produce weekly / fortnightly workstream status reports for the Programme Director and program governance forums.
• Maintain accurate project artefacts: plans, RAID logs, decision logs, action logs, meeting minutes, and change records.
• Contribute to Steering Committee packs with clear data, options, and recommendations.
• Ensure traceability between requirements, designs, build, test results, and deployment.

Budget, resource & operational discipline

• Track workstream budget consumption against forecast; flag variances early.
• Manage resource onboarding, allocation, and offboarding across the workstream — internal staff, contractors, and vendor resources.
• Drive operational discipline in tooling: JIRA hygiene, Confluence documentation, SharePoint structure, and reporting cadence.
• Capture lessons learned at each phase and feed them into subsequent OPCO rollouts.

LEVEL OF EDUCATION:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, Telecommunications or equivalent. PMP, PRINCE2, Scrum Master (CSM / PSM), or SAFe certifications are strongly preferred.

LEVEL OF EXPERIENCE:

• Minimum 10 years of project / delivery management experience in technology, with at least 3 years in fintech, mobile money, digital banking, or telecom.
• Hands‑on technical delivery experience on core wallet, core banking, or payments platforms
• Proven track record running technical workstreams within larger transformation programs, including integration delivery and data migration.
• Experience managing tier‑1 vendor delivery teams alongside third‑party integrators.
• Experience in African markets is preferred; experience in multi‑country delivery is an advantage.
• Strong working knowledge of Agile (Scrum / Kanban), Waterfall, and hybrid delivery models; comfortable picking the right approach for the context.

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS REQUIRED:

• Highly organized; relentless on follow‑through and closure.
• Strong written and verbal communication; able to produce crisp, executive‑ready status reports.
• Comfortable holding engineers, architects, and vendors to account without damaging working relationships.
• Pragmatic problem‑solver; reaches for the simplest solution that works.
• Calm under pressure during cutovers, incidents, and escalations.
• Comfortable working with diverse, multicultural, multilingual teams across Africa.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Sufficient technical literacy to read architecture and integration designs, challenge estimates, and understand the technical trade‑offs being made.
• Strong command of project management tooling (JIRA, Confluence, MS Project / Smartsheet) and reporting tools (Excel, Power BI).
• Working knowledge of the pan‑African fintech / mobile money ecosystem (regulation, MNO partnerships, agent economics) is a plus.
• High availability and geographical mobility — periodic travel across AFS OPCOs is expected, particularly around go‑live windows.

English required; French is a strong advantage given AFS footprint.