Microsoft Cloud Operations + Innovation (CO+I) is the engine that powers Microsoft’s cloud services and our team is focused on delivering high quality infrastructure to support cloud operations. As Microsoft’s Cloud business continues to mature, our infrastructure expansion accelerates, and Data Centers are central to this growth. To support this, the acquisition and development of our owned, designed, and constructed Data Center facilities will scale to meet the demands of our customers, while we also continue to lease and acquire Data Center capacity at pace, particularly in our high growth markets, working closely with Data Center operators in each region, and across the Globe.
The Lease Program Manager is accountable for driving on-time delivery of lease construction projects for the region. The Lease Program Manager will partner closely with the Construction Project Managers, Lessors, Data Center Engineering team and supporting consultants to ensure that each project is tracked, risk assessed, and the issues are resolved in a timely manner to minimize the business impact. The Lease Program Manager is responsible for triaging project delays to predict Ready for Service (RFS) and apply mitigation action plans, based on Lessons Learned from previous projects and industry best practice.
The Lease Program Manager will coordinate with the Data Center Operations team to ensure that the turned over Data Center has met the Microsoft standards, and the lessor has complied and delivered their technical commitments.
The Lease Program Manager is responsible for ensuring all Technical Open Items (TOIs) and Design Implementation Pending (DIP) items are closed by respective parties prior to RFS certification acceptance by key stakeholders.
The Lease Program Manager will also be actively involved during the site due diligence SOQ stage to ensure that contractual RFS date has incorporated known dependencies and stakeholders sign off and as well as driving process improvements in alignment with our organizations Objectives & Key Results (OKRs).
The role of the Lease Program Manager requires strong interpersonal, communication and organizational skills, ability to self-direct, strong background in data center design, engineering, controls, and operational requirements and an emphasis on project/construction management, and datacenter lease market experience.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Bachelor’s Degree in Construction Project Management, Architecture, Engineering, or related field AND Significant years of related experience OR equivalent experience.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Significant years of experience working on data center projects. Bachelor’s Degree in Construction Project Management, Architecture, Engineering, or related field AND Significant years of related experience OR equivalent experience.
• Degree or Equivalent professional accreditation in Construction Management, Electrical/Mechanical Engineering or Architecture.
• Good years of senior client facing project management experience including on-site construction management experience and demonstrated progressive responsibility managing multiple concurrent DC and/or large (50+MW IT Load, and/or 70M+$) MEP intensive projects.
• Have a Construction Management, Architectural or MEP background.
• Have experience in managing a construction or capital development business unit including being responsible for meeting business KPIs.
• Have in depth experience in investigating proposed construction schedules/programme’ s
• Proven ability to independently manage and drive project safety, schedule and quality, effectively report status, risks and issues and delivery and mitigation plans, work with internal stakeholders and influence cross-discipline teams and proactively support business development.
• Strong construction Health & Safety Knowledge.
• Strong Verbal and Written Communication Skills.
• English required.
• Good years of experience in construction or engineering of data centres/Mission Critical Facilities.
• Technical Skills: Proficiency in project management software like Microsoft Project, Primavera, or similar is often essential.
• Certifications:
• Certifications for Chartered Engineers (CEng) with any of the UK’s professional engineering institutions
• Project Management Professional (PMP) can enhance a candidate’s credentials or
• The Certified Construction Manager (CCM) from the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA)

BACKGROUND CHECK REQUIREMENTS:

Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:

• Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

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Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. Consistent with applicable law, all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Lease Construction Program Manager will support, and represent as required, the EMEA Lease Construction Management Team in overseeing Lease Providers in their planning and safe construction of Contracted Data Centres lease capacity and in the development of the business unit, including strategies and initiatives to drive Safety, Schedule and Quality KPIs, interactions with the Lessor and vendor SL Teams and business reporting.

Responsibilities will include.

• Aligning and driving LCM construction project management process requirements across the region.
• Carry out schedule deep-dives to confirm delivery or mitigation planning.
• Supporting the escalation of project risk and issues to ensure suitable and optimal mitigation planning.
• Support the business unit with process improvements and internal stakeholder alignment and reporting.
• Assisting with the planning the development of the Lease Construction Team to support planned growth. Supporting the budgeting and procurement of consultant PM vendor support
• Being a relentless advocate for safe working practices. It is expected that she/he will demonstrate purposeful presence in every engagement. They will work closely with the Lease Construction Team, MSFT Safety Team and the Lessor SLT and Safety Teams as required to support and drive the safety focus at the site and portfolio level across our diverse cultural and geographical region.
• Assessing and minimizing risks to the business through EMEA wide Lease Construction delivery execution strategy decisions.
• Supporting, and developing, ongoing initiatives to drive quality and schedule predictability within the current constrained supply market including.
• Appling a ‘growth-mindset’ philosophy to the day to day tasks and ensuring that any deficiencies identified within the processes/framework are addressed and improvements are implemented.
• Supporting and developing Lessor Portfolio Meetings with Lessor Construction Delivery LT to carry out project RAGs reviews and drive Lessor delivery organization development to meet current and committed delivery requirements and lessons learned.
• Supporting the development and roll out of Lease Project Controls initiatives to improve schedule predictability and risk mitigation.
• Development of more stringent schedule specification, quantified risk assessment and management.
• Continues improvement in development of relevant reporting metrics.
• Design and Quality compliance initiatives.
• Coordination with internal stakeholders on RFS ready requirements & safety, schedule and quality opportunities.
• Working with the LCM and Fit Out Teams on aligning and developing Integrated Delivery Strategies to enable alignment of IT Fit Out and RFS dates.
• For required Construction Management support, they will be accountable for assessing the Lessor construction capabilities, overseeing construction delivery, managing risk and coordination with internal stakeholders to ensure safe delivery to the agreed RFS dates.

Project Management responsibilities will include:

• Reviewing the submitted Lease RFP/SOQs and working with the Lessor to ensure the inclusion of a compliant realistic schedule and an adequate project delivery organisational structure.
• When the Lease has been executed, setting up and managing, on site and remotely, regular Lessor reporting forums to Microsoft Lease PM and Internal Stakeholders to assess safety compliance, construction and commissioning progress, quality and design compliance, understand and manage risk and change and coordinate with all internal stakeholders including;
• Coordinating with the Site Selection Team on SOQ compliance and Lease Contract Amendments
• Carry out site safety walks and coordinate with the Lessor to ensure adequate competent Lessor oversight is in place, incidents are tracked and RCAs completed. Coordinate with the Microsoft Collaborative Planning & Safety Teams on setting up CP and Lessor site visits.
• Coordinating with the Commissioning Manager to ensure visibility and support for the Independent Commissioning Agents Level 4 and IST testing.
• Coordinating with the Integration Manager and supporting Integration IT fit out.
• Working with the Lessor to define Risk and Lessors risk mitigation plans and advising High Confidence schedule delivery assessments and delivery risks to the End To End Team and other stakeholders.

Embody our Culture and Values

Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:

• Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter