Requirement: Senior Project Transition Manager
Location: Wiesbaden, GERMANY
Full Time On-Site: Yes
Time On-Site: 100%
Not to Exceed Rate: 95 EUR
Total Scope of the request (hours): 350
Required Start Date: 10 November 2026
End Contract Date: 23 December 2026
Required Security Clearance: NATO SECRET
Please do NOT apply for any NATO contract positions unless you meet ALL the following criteria:
- Current National or NATO SECRET clearance
- Nationality of one of the NATO member countries
- Current work visa for the specific location if applying for an in-country position
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
