Job Description

The Senior Principal Delivery Director holds full executive accountability for the successful delivery of large, complex, and strategically critical customer program.

The role operates at the intersection of delivery excellence, commercial performance, and executive stakeholder engagement.

In close partnership with the Account Executive, this role co-leads the definition and execution of the overall customer strategy, ensuring seamless alignment between sales, commercial objectives, contractual commitments, and operational delivery.

Together, they drive sustainable growth, customer satisfaction, and long-term strategic positioning of Nokia as a trusted global solutions provider.

Acting as the single senior delivery authority for the account, this executive serves as the primary delivery interface between the customer’s executive stakeholders and Nokia’s leadership. Given the strategic importance and focus, the role reports directly to Regional Leadership. The role leads the account based delivery model through empowered Program Directors, Senior Project Managers, and Project Managers.

How You Will Contribute And What You Will Learn

• Joint Account & Customer Execution
• Partner with the Account Executive to define and continuously refine the overall customer execution strategy.
• Ensure overall alignment between sales strategy, contractual commitments, delivery capability, and financial objectives.
• Translate account growth objectives into executable delivery roadmaps and governance structures.
• Provide delivery insight and risk assessment during strategic planning, bid shaping, and negotiation phases.
• Act as a co-owner of the customer relationship strategy, ensuring coordinated engagement across commercial and operational functions.
• Delivery Ownership & Governance
• Own, define, and execute the delivery strategy across the full customer portfolio in alignment with the agreed account plan.
• Provide executive oversight for very large and complex programs, ensuring feasibility, compliance, and disciplined execution.
• Establish and maintain governance frameworks, performance controls, and risk management mechanisms.
• Lead delivery reviews with the Project Steering Committee and Global PMO.
• Ensure adherence to Nokia policies, financial targets, quality standards, and risk thresholds.
• Lead Account Based Delivery Model
• Provide command level oversight of the account based delivery organisation.
• Lead through empowerment of Program Directors, Senior Project Managers, and Project Managers.
• Drive accountability, performance discipline, and cross-functional alignment with Sales, Finance, and Operations.
• Optimise resource deployment to support both current execution and strategic growth objectives.
• Business Enablement & Growth
• Act as a business enabler throughout execution, strengthening Nokia’s positioning as a long term strategic partner.
• Actively contribute to account expansion and business development initiatives.
• Ensure seamless transition from sales to delivery.
• Protect and enhance Nokia’s reputation, credibility, and executive level influence within the customer organisation.
• Adaptive Delivery Leadership
• Champion an adaptive framework that continuously evolves to meet the customer’s overall delivery objectives, strategic priorities, and business outcomes.
• Ensure outcome driven delivery, proactively anticipate changing customer expectations and adjusting execution models accordingly.
• Own and control the overall delivery narrative with both the customer and internal stakeholders, ensuring clarity, consistency, and executive level alignment at all times.
• Shape executive messaging to reflect progress, risks, and mitigation strategies.
• Intervene decisively when delivery perception, risk exposure, or stakeholder alignment threatens overall account stability.
• Stakeholder & Customer Management
• Serve as the single senior delivery interface for the customer and all program stakeholders.
• Build and maintain trusted relationships with Customer Executives and sponsors.
• Ensure structured executive engagement aligned with the overall account strategy.
• Maintain continuous liaison to anticipate and resolve issues before escalation.
• Secure timely customer inputs, approvals, and decisions to protect delivery timelines.
• Obtain formal sign-off of deliverables and contractual acceptance of project completion.
• Commercial & Financial Performance
• Hold full accountability for delivery profitability and financial performance across the account.
• Proactively manage cost control, margin protection, scope governance, and change management.
• Drive identification and realisation of up scope and cross-sell opportunities in collaboration with the Account Team.
• Serve as a senior partner in negotiations to validate delivery feasibility, resource strategy, commercial exposure, and margin sustainability.
• Escalate and mitigate risks impacting financial or contractual performance.
  
  

Key Skills And Experience

• Must come from telecommunication background, having 10+ years of experience managing and delivering large telco programs preferrably in IP and Optics domain.
• Communication skills: Effective communication with a wide variety of program stakeholders, including program team members, sponsors, customers, vendors, and senior management, whether individually or in groups or in committees.
• Stakeholder engagement skills: Ability to manage the complex issues that often arise as a consequence of stakeholder interactions and recognize the dynamic aspects of managing individual and group expectations. Understanding of matrix program organization & layers of engagements of stakeholders (Directing, Managing, Delivering).
• Change management skills: Ability to engage with individual stakeholders and governance and review committees to gain necessary agreements, alignment, and approvals when program strategies or plans need to be adapted.
• Leadership skills: Ability to guide program teams through the program life cycle, work with component managers and functional managers to gain support, resolve conflicts, and direct individual program team members by providing specific work instructions.
• Analytical skills: Ability to assess whether the outputs and outcomes of program components will contribute as expected to the delivery of program benefits or to assess the potential impact of external events on the program’s strategy or plans. Problem solving skills and providing guidance to the working level team leads to navigating risk and issues as per the internal and external governance frameworks.
• Integration skills: Ability to describe and present a program’s strategic vision and plan holistically, ensure the continuous alignment of the program component plans with the program’s goals and pursuit of organizational benefits, and adapt program components as required to meet the organization’s strategic objectives.
  
  

About Us

Advancing connectivity to secure a brighter world.

Nokia is a global leader in connectivity for the AI era. With expertise across fixed, mobile and transport networks, powered by the innovation of Nokia Bell Labs, we’re advancing connectivity to secure a brighter world.

Learn more about life at Nokia .

Our recruitment process

We act inclusively and respect the uniqueness of people. Our employment decisions are made regardless of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by law. We are committed to a culture of inclusion built upon our core value of respect.

If you’re interested in this role but don’t meet every listed requirement, we still encourage you to apply. Unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences enrich our teams, and you may be just the right candidate for this or another opportunity.

The length of the recruitment process may vary depending on the specific role's requirements. We strive to ensure a smooth and inclusive experience for all candidates. Discover more about the recruitment process at Nokia .