About the role
Deadline Date: Friday 13 November 2026
Requirement: Senior Project Transition Manager
Location: Wiesbaden, DE
Full Time On-Site: Yes
Time On-Site: 100%
Total Scope of the request (hours): 350
Required Start Date: 7 December 2026
End Contract Date: 31 December 2026
Required Security Clearance: NATO SECRET
Duties & Role:
Project Transition to Operations
- Leads the transition of projects and capabilities into operational service, from early engagement in project planning through to formal handover and early life support. - Defines and agrees transition plans, entry and exit criteria, service acceptance criteria and handover deliverables with Project Managers, Service Owners and customers. - Ensures operational readiness prior to go-live: support model, staffing, training, documentation, spares, underpinning contracts, monitoring and configuration data are in place. - Evaluates project outputs against agreed service acceptance criteria and formally recommends acceptance, conditional acceptance or rejection. - Identifies, manages and escalates transition risks, issues and dependencies, and ensures residual risks are understood and owned by operations. - Manages early life support and closes transition only when agreed service performance has been demonstrated. - Captures and applies lessons identified to improve future transitions.
Local Operations Management (Wiesbaden)
- Takes accountability for the day-to-day delivery of NCIA services at the location, including service performance, customer satisfaction and compliance with security and safety requirements. - Leads and coordinates local technical, support and contractor personnel, setting clear priorities, standards and direction. - Oversees the local infrastructure (facilities, networks, data centre / server rooms, end-user and deployable CIS assets) and ensures it is maintained, secured and fit for purpose. - Ensures asset and configuration management records for the location are accurate and complete. - Coordinates local business continuity and service recovery arrangements.
Incident and Problem Management
- Ensures incidents are logged, prioritised, diagnosed and resolved according to agreed procedures and service levels. - Leads the resolution of major incidents, coordinating technical teams, vendors and customers, and provides timely, accurate communication to senior stakeholders. - Escalates unresolved incidents and facilitates recovery following resolution. - Initiates and monitors problem investigations, drives root cause analysis and ensures preventive measures are implemented. - Analyses incident and problem trends to reduce recurrence and improve service stability.
Change Management
- Manages the change control process for services and assets at the location and for services in transition. - Assesses changes for risk, impact, cost and resource requirements, and represents the location in Change Advisory Boards. - Ensures changes are planned, communicated, tested, implemented and reviewed in a controlled manner, minimizing disruption to operations.
Service Level Management
- Negotiates service level requirements and agreed service levels with customers, and contributes to Service Level Agreements, Operational Level Agreements and underpinning contracts. - Monitors service performance and key performance indicators, diagnoses service delivery problems and initiates improvement actions. - Provides accurate and regular performance reporting to NCIA management and customers. - Drives continual service improvement across processes, tools and third-party delivery.
Cost, Resource and Vendor Management
- Manages the operational and transition budget for the location, including cost planning, forecasting, tracking and variance reporting. - Provides inputs to customer budget processes, cost models and service rates, ensuring the full cost of operating transitioned services is identified and funded. - Identifies cost optimisation opportunities without compromising service levels or security. - Manages vendor and contractor performance against contractual obligations, statements of work and service levels, and supports procurement activities as required.
Specific Working Conditions: Occasional travel within NATO nations, including to operational sites, may be required.
Requirements
Skills, Knowledge & Experience:
- The candidate must have a currently active NATO SECRET security clearance - A minimum requirement of a Bachelor's degree at a nationally recognised/certified university in Information Technology, Engineering, Business Administration or a related discipline, and 8 years' post-related experience. - Or exceptionally, the lack of a university degree may be compensated by the demonstration of a candidate's particular abilities or experience that is/are of interest to the NCI Agency, that is, at least 12 years' extensive and progressive expertise in duties related to the function of the post. - Minimum 8 years of combined experience in IT service management and project management, of which at least 3 years in a senior role. - Proven experience (minimum 5 years) in IT service management in a Service Delivery Manager, IT Operations Manager or similar role, including incident, problem, change and service level management. - Proven experience (minimum 5 years) in project management, delivering complex IT/CIS projects to time, cost and quality. - Demonstrable track record of transitioning projects or new capabilities into live operational service. - Proven experience engaging, influencing and briefing senior stakeholders at executive (C-level) or General/Flag Officer level. - Experience managing IT infrastructure (networks, data centres, servers, end-user and communications systems) in an operational environment. - Experience in budget and cost management, including forecasting, cost control and financial reporting. - Proven experience managing vendors and contractors against contractual and service level obligations. - Experience leading multidisciplinary teams in an international environment. - Excellent communication, negotiation and stakeholder management skills. - Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to make data-driven decisions under pressure. - ITIL 4 Foundation (or ITIL v3 Foundation). - Project management certification: PMP (PMI / PMBOK) or PRINCE2 Practitioner.
Desirable Qualifications
- Experience in NATO, military, defence or other international organisations. - Experience with deployable CIS or mission-critical communications services. - ITIL 4 Managing Professional or Strategic Leader; MSP or PgMP; SIAM certification. - Experience with ITSM tools (e.g. ServiceNow, BMC Remedy, Jira Service Management). - Knowledge of NATO procurement and financial processes. - Working knowledge of German.
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