Senior Project Manager – Route Planning

IREN is hiring a Senior Project Manager – Route Planning to select and validate off-campus fiber routes serving its data center campuses. The role assesses route diversity and commercial options, coordinates early engineering and permitting, and approves route packages before carrier execution.

Responsibilities:

• Develop candidate routes for every campus connection and inter-campus link, from the campus entrance to the target carrier POP or carrier hotel
• Review carrier-provided KMZ and network maps against independent sources; identify where routes share conduit, sheath, bridges, railroad crossings or right-of-way
• Score candidate routes on diversity, distance, cost, delivery schedule, permitting risk and future capacity, and recommend a primary and secondary route for each campus
• Define fiber-strand and capacity requirements per route with Network Engineering and the Senior Project Manager – Network Infrastructure Engineering
• Validate A/B route diversity for each campus and between campuses that share carriers, including no-common-sheath and shared-risk checks
• Audit carrier diversity claims before contract signature and again before acceptance; document findings in a diversity register per campus
• Apply the diversity and shared-risk criteria set by Infrastructure Engineering; escalate routes that cannot meet them with alternatives
• Prepare make-versus-lease and IRU-versus-lit comparisons: construction cost, monthly recurring cost, contract term, ownership, diversity, schedule and long-term portfolio value
• Support Procurement on carrier RFPs, master agreements and the technical scope of carrier contracts
• Aggregate multi-year fiber demand across campuses so routes can be bought centrally rather than campus by campus
• Identify right-of-way, easement, utility, roadway and railroad crossing dependencies on each candidate route, and the permits and approvals they require
• Recommend and manage limited authorizations with carriers for engineering, permitting and construction RFQs ahead of full funding, so the construction clock starts early
• Coordinate landowner, utility and local-government engagement with Development and the campus Project Directors
• Assess carrier availability and route options for prospective campuses with Development before site layout is fixed
• Define the duct-bank and entrance route options each site needs with the Senior Project Manager – Network Infrastructure Engineering
• Run the route approval gate: assemble the route package (route, diversity evidence, cost comparison, permits, risks) for the Director, Network Delivery
• Hand approved routes to the Senior Project Managers – Network Delivery (carrier delivery) for carrier ordering and execution, with the requirements the carrier must meet
• Maintain the portfolio route tracker and contribute to the biweekly carrier connection report with route status, risks and decisions required
• Capture lessons learned from each route and feed them into the campus connectivity standard

Requirements:

• Minimum 10 years of telecommunications, outside-plant fiber or carrier network experience, including long-haul and metro route planning or OSP engineering
• Demonstrated experience validating physical route diversity across multiple carriers: shared conduit, sheath, bridge, railroad and right-of-way conflicts, and shared-risk link groups
• Working knowledge of right-of-way, easement, utility and roadway crossing, and permitting dependencies for fiber construction, and how they drive carrier build schedules
• Experience comparing dark fiber, IRU, wavelength and lit-service options on cost, term, diversity, delivery schedule and long-term value
• Proficiency with GIS and KMZ route data and carrier network maps; able to produce route packages and diversity evidence that stand up to review
• 5+ years of proven project management delivering telecommunications, fiber or critical-infrastructure programs across multiple concurrent sites
• Executive presence and reporting: able to present a route recommendation with its risks and alternatives clearly to senior leadership, in writing and in person
• Experience in a fast-paced growth environment and in solving complex problems with company-wide impact
• OSHA 30
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Suite (Project, Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint)
• Outside-plant fiber and carrier delivery: long-haul and metro routes, carrier POP and carrier-hotel handoffs, diverse campus entrances, splicing and OTDR acceptance
• Carrier and utility coordination in Texas and Oklahoma: TxDOT and county permitting, railroad crossings, electric utility pole and duct attachments, landowner easements
• High-capacity network services: 100G/400G, DWDM and optical transport, and the route constraints that drive them
• Portfolio demand planning: aggregating multi-year fiber demand across campuses and shaping carrier RFPs and master agreements with Procurement
• Infrastructure records: route and diversity documentation in GIS, NetBox or other DCIM platforms
• BICSI OSP, RTPM, FOA CFOT or equivalent outside-plant credentials
• Prior experience at a telecommunications carrier or fiber network operator in route engineering, network planning or construction
• Data center or hyperscale/AI infrastructure experience
• Familiarity with Primavera P6, Procore or Smartsheet