Project/Program Manager IT 3 - Senior Technical Program Manager - AI/ML

Title: Project/Program Manager IT 3 -- Senior Technical Program Manager AI/ML

Location:Chicago, IL( Hybrid 2 days office)

Pay Rate :$55-$58/hr

Let's create our future together at The AES Group!

About The AES Group
The AES Group is a premier technology and engineering consulting company that has been bringing businesses and talent together for over 20 years to deliver innovative solutions that have the greatest positive impact on society. AES has helped over 40 business enterprises, including Fortune 500 companies, engage their customers, empower their employees, and transform their business operations with the power of cloud, data, AI, engineering, and other emerging technologies.

Position Overview

Our client is seeking an experienced IT Project/Program Manager to lead the delivery of AI initiatives, digital platform capabilities, and large-scale software programs. This role is part of the Platform Organization and requires coordinating multiple engineering and Scrum teams, Product Owners, and cross-functional stakeholders to ensure successful program execution.

The ideal candidate will have strong program management experience, hands-on expertise with Azure DevOps and Confluence, and experience managing AI/ML engineering initiatives or complex software delivery programs within large, matrixed organizations.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage end-to-end program delivery, from requirements gathering and planning through implementation and final delivery.
• Develop and maintain program plans, schedules, milestones, budgets, and success metrics.
• Coordinate multiple engineering teams, Scrum teams, Product Owners, and business stakeholders across the organization.
• Track program progress, deliverables, dependencies, risks, issues, and action items (RAID).
• Drive accountability across teams to ensure milestones are achieved on time and within scope and budget.
• Provide regular program status updates, dashboards, reports, and presentations to senior leadership and stakeholders.
• Maintain program documentation, schedules, tracking, and deliverables using Azure DevOps and Confluence.
• Support the planning and delivery of AI/ML engineering initiatives, digital platforms, and complex software development programs.
• Manage stakeholder communications, expectations, and cross-functional alignment.
• Apply Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, and software development lifecycle (SDLC) practices as appropriate.
• Collaborate with engineering teams on technical dependencies, software implementation, testing, and delivery readiness.
• Identify and resolve program-level issues and implement risk mitigation strategies.
• Support program reporting and dashboard development using Power BI.
• Work with global teams to ensure consistent execution, communication, and delivery of program objectives.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field, with relevant professional experience; a master's degree may be considered in place of a bachelor's-level experience pathway.
• 5+ years of experience in Agile project/program management, with a strong background in software or technology delivery.
• Experience managing large-scale programs involving multiple engineering teams within enterprise or matrixed organizations.
• Experience delivering AI/ML programs or working closely with AI engineering teams.
• Strong hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure DevOps.
• Experience with Confluence for program documentation and collaboration.
• Experience managing program schedules, milestones, risks, issues, dependencies, and deliverables.
• Strong understanding of software development lifecycle (SDLC), Agile methodologies, and software delivery processes.
• Experience coordinating cross-organizational testing and software delivery activities.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, problem-solving, and leadership skills.
• Ability to drive issues to resolution and present program status effectively to senior leadership.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience managing AI engineering initiatives, AI/ML platforms, or enterprise AI product implementations.
• Familiarity with AI/ML foundational concepts and technical dependencies across engineering components.
• Experience with Power BI dashboards, reporting, and program metrics.
• Knowledge of AWS cloud services and cloud-based platforms.
• Familiarity with application development, manual and automated testing, and continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD).
• PMP or Scrum Master certification.
• Technical or engineering background, or experience managing technical engineering teams.
• Experience managing program budgets, financial forecasts, and resource planning.