The Backbone & Capacity Delivery Technical Program Manager operates at the intersection of backbone architecture, where multi-year topology and optical evolution decisions are made, and capacity delivery, where those decisions become provisioned, production-ready capacity on a certain date. You will drive the end-to-end backbone capacity delivery program required to support large-scale AI infrastructure as the senior individual contributor anchor for a portfolio spanning multiple engineering teams.
Responsibilities
Drive multi-year backbone architecture programs end-to-end, spanning backbone evolution and cross-backbone initiatives
• Partner with Backbone Engineering, Optical, and Network Planning teams to land architecture roadmaps that hold up against shifting AI capacity demand
• Own the program surface where long-haul transport, optical, and routing decisions intersect, surfacing tradeoffs early enough to change the outcome
• Drive standards and plan of record for backbone reliability and performance
• Drive network capacity delivery programs from demand signal through provision-ready and construction milestones, with named accountability at every gate
• Partner with Network Planning, Supply Chain, and Data Center teams to close on delivery commitments on time and at quality
• Surface and resolve cross-functional blockers across the capacity delivery critical path, from site readiness to hardware availability
• Build the mechanisms that make capacity delivery status legible to leadership
• Operate as the senior individual contributor anchor for a core program lane, setting operating cadence, escalation paths, and definition of done
• Establish program structure in domains that do not yet have it, moving from ambiguity to plan of record
• Mentor and raise the bar for Technical Program Managers across the organization
• Drive transparency through structured program trackers, risk documentation, and stakeholder communication
• Build durable partnerships with Engineering, Network Planning, Supply Chain, Cloud, and Operations teams
• Identify systemic risks early, escalate with clear mitigation proposals, and close on resolutions with named owners
• Translate deep technical tradeoffs into executive-level risk narratives that drive decisions
Minimum Qualifications
• 10+ years of Technical Program Management experience in infrastructure or networking environments
• Experience owning a portfolio spanning multiple engineering teams, where the TPM sets the plan of record
• Subject matter expertise in network fundamentals: routing, backbone topology, transport, and data center interconnection
• Track record of landing multi-quarter infrastructure programs with hardware and supply chain dependencies
• Demonstrated ability to establish program structure in ambiguous or newly formed domains
• Communication skills with ability to translate technical complexity into clear executive updates
Preferred Qualifications
• Experience with data center capacity delivery lifecycle, including provision-ready and break-ground milestone management
• Prior experience mentoring or setting direction for other TPMs
• Background in large-scale distributed systems or hyperscaler networking environments
• Experience standing up program structure in a rapidly growing or reorganizing org
• Experience adhering to and implementing responsible, ethical AI practices (e.g., risk assessment, bias mitigation, quality and accuracy reviews)
• Experience driving network components of large-scale capacity planning cycles: demand forecasting, ordering, and fulfillment
• Demonstrated ongoing AI skill development (e.g., prompt/context engineering, agent orchestration) and staying current with emerging AI technologies
• Background in backbone, optical, or long-haul transport networking
• Demonstrated ability to integrate AI tools to optimize/redesign workflows and drive measurable impact (e.g., efficiency gains, quality improvements)
