Connectivity Programme & Delivery Lead

Firmus Technologies Firmus Technologies is a global leader pioneering the development and operation of efficient AI infrastructure across Asia Pacific. Founded in Australia in 2019, our mission is to create the most efficient AI infrastructure by combining cutting-edge technology with a steadfast commitment to sustainability. At Firmus, we are unique in our approach. We design, build, and operate a new class of digital infrastructure – the AI Factory. Through our model-to-grid technology approach, we have pushed the boundaries of multi-generational liquid cooling systems, energy management, AI software orchestration, and construction. For our customers, this approach allows us to make every watt count and deliver low-cost AI tokens globally. Firmus AI Cloud Our large-scale GPU cloud platform, Firmus AI Cloud, is purpose-built to deliver energy-efficient AI compute at scale to customers. It empowers developers, enterprises, educational institutions, and government users to train and deploy AI models with unmatched efficiency and cost savings. With an ever-growing suite of services and applications, we are committed to delivering a cloud experience that is market-leading, proprietary, and built to scale. Why Firmus? As an NVIDIA Cloud and Engineering partner in Asia Pacific, you will gain skills, experience, and exposure across the AI industry and be part of shaping what this industry looks like for decades to come. We are founder-led, not a big corporate. Decisions happen fast, our leaders are accessible, and there's minimum bureaucracy between you and the work. Ownership comes early. Whatever your role, you will have a direct line to outcomes, helping shape how the business grows as we scale nationally across a long-term, large-scale roadmap. Work alongside founders and experts in AI infrastructure, energy systems and next-generation compute. What we build here has impact beyond the business. Our AI Factories are designed to operate as assets to the energy grid to actively strengthen the communities and regions they operate in rather than drawing from them. Considering applying? You don't need a perfect background to join our team. If you're driven and curious, there's a path for you. We back our people to grow into new domains and take on challenges beyond their previous experience. Role Summary Firmus is building a resilient national and international connectivity platform for its AI infrastructure and customer services. The Connectivity Programme & Delivery Lead turns the approved Connectivity Strategy, Integrated Backbone Plan, architecture and commercial commitments into a coordinated programme delivered safely, predictably and ready for operations. The role owns the integrated plan, governance, dependencies, schedule, cost, risk and reporting across subsea and terrestrial fibre, optical transport, the IP backbone, data-centre interconnection, facility attachments and service handoffs. The General Manager, Connectivity & Commercials retains accountability for connectivity strategy, investment priorities, commercial outcomes and final programme priorities. The Principal Connectivity Architect owns architecture and technical assurance; the Senior Manager, Network owns engineering execution and operations; and the Connectivity Commercial & Partnerships Lead owns sourcing, contracts and partner outcomes. The Programme & Delivery Lead integrates these accountabilities into one controlled delivery system, provides a single evidence-based view and escalates decisions before outcomes are affected. Key Responsibilities 1. Connectivity portfolio and integrated planning • Maintain the integrated connectivity roadmap and master schedule across international and subsea capacity, the domestic backbone, AI Factory attachments and operational enablement. • Translate approved strategy, architecture and contracts into charters, work packages, critical paths, milestones, dependencies, stage gates and acceptance outcomes. • Own the approved scope, schedule, cost and outcome baselines, with traceability from strategic priority to delivered service. • Build achievable plans with Architecture, Network, Commercial, Finance and business sponsors, matched to resource, supplier and funding constraints. • Maintain delivery scenarios and recommend sequencing or recovery options as demand, capacity, lead times or dependencies change. 2. Delivery governance, controls and reporting • Establish proportionate governance supported by integrated schedules, milestone plans, RAID, decision and action logs, change control and financial reporting. • Administer stage gates from mobilisation and design through commitment, implementation, service readiness, acceptance and closure. • Maintain one evidence-based view of status, critical path, forecast, cost, benefits, dependencies and residual risk across the portfolio. • Report concisely to executives, highlighting trends, exceptions, decisions required, options, trade-offs and recommended action. 3. Cross-functional coordination and execution • Establish clear accountabilities and handoffs across Architecture, Network, Commercial, Data Centres, Cloud and GPU platforms, Security, Procurement, Legal and Finance. • Lead mobilisation and delivery forums so every milestone, dependency, decision and action has an owner, due date and completion evidence. • Resolve or escalate blockers involving sites, power, facilities, permits, carriers, equipment, security, customers and operational readiness. • Coordinate resources and sequencing across concurrent initiatives while protecting critical operations and approved strategic priorities. 4. Supplier and partner delivery management • With the Commercial & Partnerships Lead, translate contracts, statements of work and service commitments into delivery plans, milestones, dependencies and acceptance criteria. • Align Firmus and supplier schedules across carriers, cable operators, equipment vendors, data centres, construction and managed services. • Challenge progress using objective evidence, track obligations and recovery actions, and escalate performance issues early. • Coordinate delivery changes, claims, variations and dependencies without assuming the authority of Commercial, Procurement, Legal or Finance. 5. Risk, financial and change control • Maintain an integrated RAID view with clear owners, due dates, mitigations, contingency triggers and escalation thresholds. • Forecast cost and schedule reliably, including commitments, actuals, accruals, estimate at completion and material variance. • Run change control that shows the impact on scope, schedule, cost, architecture, risk, benefits and operations before approval. • Develop contingencies for long-lead dependencies including fibre construction, cable delivery, permits, equipment, facility readiness and customer dates. 6. Commissioning, operational readiness and handover • Coordinate implementation, migration and cutover planning with Network, Architecture, business teams and delivery partners. • Ensure gate evidence covers testing, diversity, as-builts, inventory and CMDB data, monitoring, runbooks, spares, support, training and escalation paths. • Drive readiness reviews and defect closure so accountable owners accept services before production support. • Lead closeout, post-implementation review and benefits tracking, with lessons and unresolved actions carried into future delivery. 7. Programme leadership and continuous improvement • Give the General Manager independent, evidence-based delivery advice and surface emerging consequences before they become executive surprises. • Maintain a practical Connectivity Delivery Playbook covering plans, controls, gates, reporting, acceptance evidence and lessons learned. • Build trusted relationships across Firmus functions and external partners. • Coach workstream leads and project managers while remaining hands-on enough to test plans, challenge evidence and unblock critical work. Skills & Experience Essential • Extensive experience leading multi-year telecommunications, hyperscale, cloud, data-centre or criticalinfrastructure programmes at programme lead or director level. • End-to-end delivery experience across terrestrial or subsea fibre, optical transport, carrier-grade IP, data-centre interconnection and high-capacity connections. • Proven delivery of multi-vendor, capital-intensive programmes with long lead times, complex contracts and concurrent workstreams. • Strong command of integrated scheduling, critical path, RAID, cost forecasting, change control, stage gates, benefits and executive reporting. • Experience managing supplier performance against contracts, statements of work, milestones, service levels, acceptance criteria and variations. • Experience coordinating implementation, migration, commissioning, operational readiness and production handover. • Excellent communication and judgement, with the ability to influence technical, commercial and executive stakeholders and escalate constructively. Desirable • Experience delivering infrastructure for AI, high-performance computing, hyperscale cloud or other environments requiring very high bandwidth, low latency and predictable resilience. • Exposure to subsea cable systems, fibre-pair or IRU arrangements, cable landing stations, terrestrial construction, permitting and data-centre facility delivery. • Experience with planning and reporting tools such as Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, Jira, Smartsheet or Power BI. • Relevant programme-management accreditation or tertiary qualification, such as MSP, PgMP, PMP or PRINCE2. Equivalent practical experience will be considered equally. Location & Reporting • Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia • Reports to: Head of Connectivity Employment Basis Permanent full-time Diversity At Firmus, we are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace. We encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds who are passionate about creating a more sustainable future through innovative engineering solutions. Join us in our mission to revolutionise the AI industry through sustainable practices and cutting-edge engineering. Apply now to be part of shaping the future of sustainable AI infrastructure.