Program Head (Site Acquisition)

Position Objectives

Lead end-to-end delivery of a 4,000-to 5,000-tower program covering new rollout, make-ready, and upgrade/renovation across multiple tower types. Own the full program from pipeline management through field execution, managing Project Managers, a large field workforce, vendors, contractors, and property owners to hit aggressive tower delivery targets. Serve as the primary accountability holder for program performance, quality, and client satisfaction, ensuring maximum towers are delivered on time, within budget, and passing QC the first time.

Job Description & Responsibilities

• Own and manage the full tower delivery pipeline across 4,000 to 5,000 towers, maintaining real-time visibility of each tower's progress from land acquisition and permitting through to final client acceptance
• Set weekly and monthly throughput targets by workstream, tower type, and region, tracking burn-down against milestones and resolving blockers such as access issues, permit delays, power readiness gaps, and contractor mobilisation failures before they impact delivery
• Lead a team of Project Managers, each owning a geographic cluster or workstream, with tower engineers, supervisors, and surveyors reporting into each across multiple regions
• Cascade KPIs from program level down to individual tower targets, conduct regular performance reviews, and hold every layer of the team strictly accountable
• Build a performance culture with structured escalation paths, clear consequence management for underperformance, and consistent recognition of strong delivery
• Manage the full vendor and contractor ecosystem operating simultaneously across the portfolio, including civil contractors, electrical subcontractors, tower erection and steelwork crews, equipment suppliers, and logistics providers
• Enforce vendor SLAs rigorously, tie all payments to verified milestone delivery per tower, and maintain backup vendors ready to mobilise when primary contractors underperform or hit capacity
• Conduct regular vendor performance reviews, escalate or terminate contracts where standards are not met, and never allow a failing vendor to silently damage the program
• Oversee the full lifecycle of tower land lease and rental agreements, tracking rent schedules, renewal dates, and land access arrangements across the entire portfolio systematically
• Resolve landlord disputes and land access issues swiftly, coordinate with legal and commercial teams on non-standard or escalated cases, and ensure no tower is lost due to lease mismanagement or missed rent obligations
• Ensure all towers meet power and infrastructure specifications before handover, including grid connections, diesel generators, rectifiers, battery backup, and earthing, while maintaining a tower-by-tower power readiness tracker across the portfolio
• Review and approve tower power designs, manage utility coordination for grid connections at scale, and intervene early on any tower at risk of power non-compliance before client inspection
• Enforce client tower construction standards and QC guidelines across all tower types and contractor teams
• Implement a scalable internal QC process that catches structural, electrical, and installation defects before client inspection, maintain high first-time pass rates across the portfolio, and track QC performance by contractor, region, and tower type
• Address root causes of repeat QC failures and ensure full regulatory and safety compliance before tower acceptance
• Maintain structured reporting to the client and senior management, including delivery dashboards, portfolio burn-down, risk registers, and escalation logs, and run weekly operational and monthly executive-level reviews
• Proactively surface delivery risks and drive mitigation before they become program-level problems
• **Manage client expectations with transparency and solution-first communicatio