Program Manager

QumulusAI Inc.; Atlanta (GA); Remote; USD 142,000 - 192,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity participation

Competitive compensation

Job summary

QumulusAI is hiring a Program Manager to own delivery across our GPU clusters and data center deployments today, coordinating the schedule, gates, and budget. You will align field teams, technicians, vendors and Engineering to one plan and one date.

As we grow, you will shape delivery methods, coach PMs, and maintain scalable templates; you will oversee every active build and ensure handoffs to Cloud Ops and Customer Success.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in technical project/program management leading multiple projects as one program.
• Experience building and running critical-path schedules.
• Experience owning a program budget and forecast.
• Experience managing vendors and contractors to a schedule.
• Leading work through teams without direct reports.
• Comfortable presenting plans and trade-offs to senior leaders.
• Technical discussions with engineers and vendors.
• Proficient with Jira and Microsoft 365; quick to learn new tools.
• Coaching or leading other project managers or technical staff.
• Delivered physical infrastructure (data centers, network) at scale, GPU/HPC preferred.

Responsibilities

• Run one or more programs with a unified plan and dates across builds.
• Oversee every active project within your programs; PMs run projects.
• Trade dates and priorities across projects with partner leads; allocate resources.
• Own risks, issues, mitigation, and dates; escalate early when risks threaten dates.
• Own the program budget and forecast spend; explain variances.
• Run change control and assess impact on date and cost.
• Coordinate with Procurement on long-lead hardware; manage vendor/install crews.
• Work with data center partners on power, space and connectivity readiness.
• Own the standard delivery method and project gates; maintain currency.
• Template each build type for faster future deployments; create repeatability.
• Manage scheduling tools and run projects in Jira; train others.
• Commit delivery dates to Portfolio; justify changes to leadership.
• Run weekly program reviews and report status, risk, and date changes.
• Close builds with handoff to Cloud Ops and Customer Success; feed lessons back.

Skills

Technical program management

Critical-path scheduling

Budget and forecast ownership

Vendor & contractor management

Cross-team leadership

Executive stakeholder communication

Jira expertise

Microsoft 365 tools

Team coaching/mentoring

GPU/HPC infra delivery

Delivery method development

Education

PMP certification

PgMP certification

Tools

Jira

Claude

Microsoft 365

Job description

QumulusAI operates high-performance bare-metal GPU infrastructure at carrier-neutral exchange points, serving AI and ML customers (inference platforms, model developers and compute aggregators) who buy on performance, price and the credibility of our operations. We run our own network, our own fabrics across the latest Ethernet and InfiniBand, and our own control plane across multiple production data centers.

We build at hyperspeed. Rather than wait years for a greenfield campus to come online, we take existing data center capacity that is ready today and put it to work, deploying our own servers, network stack, storage, racks and PDUs, and turning a site up in 90 days. The model is distributed by design, and the long-term goal is to operate in more than a hundred locations.

About the role

We are hiring a Program Manager to own delivery across our GPU cluster and data center deployments today, and the other programs that come as we grow: the schedule, the critical path, the checkpoints (gates) each build must pass, and the date each cluster is ready for the customer. You run related builds as one program, line up the work across our field team, technicians, vendors and Engineering, and keep everyone working to one plan and one date.

Our delivery method and project gates are in use on live builds and being formalized now, and you will help shape them. While the team is small you will oversee every active build, become an expert user of our scheduling tools, and coach the Project Managers who join after you. We are on a hyper-growth trajectory and need to be ready.

What you will do

• Run one or more programs, such as a quarter's builds that come due together, with one plan, one set of shared dates, one view of the critical path and one view of risk.
• While the team is small, oversee every active project. Project Managers run projects within your programs.
• Trade dates, people and priorities across projects to protect the overall result, and agree the trade with partner team leaders. Today you also assign people across projects, working with the leaders who manage them.
• Own risks and issues across your programs, with an owner, a mitigation and a date for each, and elevate early when a risk threatens a committed date.
• Own the program budget, forecast spend and explain any variance.
• Run change control for your programs: when scope, hardware or a site changes, show the impact on date and cost.
• Know the long-lead hardware that drives each schedule, and work closely with Procurement to hold vendors and install crews to the plan.
• Work with our data center partners so power, space and connectivity are ready when the hardware lands.
• Own the standard delivery method and the project gates, including the standard for acceptance testing, and keep them current.
• Turn each type of build into a repeatable template, so the next site starts faster.
• Own the scheduling and capacity tools, and run projects in Jira. Be a trained expert user, and train others.
• Commit delivery dates for every program, give them to Portfolio for the view across all projects, and explain every change.
• Run a weekly program review, and report status, risk and date changes to leadership.
• Close each build cleanly: confirm handoff to Cloud Ops and Customer Success, and feed what the build taught back into the method.
• Coach project managers and review their work. This role has no direct reports.

Your first 90 days

• Days 1 to 30: learn our delivery method on live builds, and run your first build.
• Days 31 to 60: run every active build, and the quarter's biggest builds as one program.
• Days 61 to 90: own the delivery method and the gates, and set up the team that follows.

What we are looking for

• Typically 8 or more years in technical project or program management, including running several projects together as one program, or equivalent experience.
• Has built and run critical-path schedules.
• Has owned a program budget and forecast.
• Has managed vendors and contractors to a schedule.
• Has led work through people and teams who don't report to you.
• Comfortable presenting plans and trade-offs to senior leaders.
• Comfortable in technical conversations with engineers and vendors.
• Confident with Jira, Claude and Microsoft 365 tools, and quick to learn new ones.
• Has coached or led other project managers or technical staff.
• Has delivered physical infrastructure, such as data center, telecom or network builds, with hardware, vendor and site dependencies, ideally GPU or HPC at scale.
• Has built a delivery method from scratch.
• PMP, PgMP or similar certification.
• Has helped hire and grow a project management team.

How you will know it is working

• Programs reach their committed dates.
• Committed delivery dates hold.
• Delivery planning no longer depends on one person.
• Project Managers run projects to standard without you.
• Time from locked order to ready-for-customer falls over time.

Who thrives here

• You find the missed dependency weeks before it turns into a slip, and you say so the same day.
• You give dates people can plan against, and you explain every change before anyone has to ask.
• You are at ease in technical conversations about servers, networks, power and fiber, and you know when an answer needs an engineer.
• You work with peers across teams as an equal, and you trade dates and priorities to protect the overall result.
• You would rather improve the method than work around it, and you write the change down.

How we work with AI

AI tools are part of how we work here, and everyone is expected to use them daily: to draft, to check their own work and to move faster. The tool helps; you own the result. Nothing goes to a customer without a person reading it and standing behind it.

Travel and hours

• Remote, with travel up to 25% for site visits, vendor meetings and key milestones.
• Go-lives and key milestones can fall outside normal business hours, and you will flex your hours when a project needs it.

QumulusAI is building the next generation of AI infrastructure, and we are early enough that the decisions you make will still be how this company operates at a hundred sites. We offer competitive compensation, equity participation, and infrastructure problems at a scale few companies encounter.

The base salary range for this role is $142,000 to $192,000, set by experience and skills, plus equity participation.

QumulusAI is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to any characteristic protected by law.