IT Project Manager - Bank-wide Cutover Management
IT Project Manager, Bank-wide Cutover Management
Role Summary
We are seeking an experienced IT Project Manager to lead bank-wide cutover planning and execution for complex banking transformation programmes. The role is responsible for developing and governing the end-to-end cutover strategy, coordinating business, operations, technology and vendor teams, and ensuring a controlled transition to production with minimal operational disruption. The successful candidate will lead cutover readiness activities, establish command-centre governance and drive go-live execution across multiple workstreams and banking platforms.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop and maintain the integrated cutover strategy, cutover runbook, detailed execution plan, governance framework and command-centre operating model.
- Define cutover tasks, sequencing, dependencies, resource requirements, checkpoints, entry and exit criteria, contingency plans and rollback procedures.
- Coordinate application deployment, data migration, reconciliation, infrastructure, interface, operational and business readiness activities across all workstreams.
- Lead cutover readiness assessments, ensuring applications, environments, interfaces, data, operational procedures, support teams and stakeholders are fully prepared for go-live.
- Plan and manage cutover rehearsals, dress rehearsals, production mock runs and go-live execution activities.
- Establish and lead the Cutover Command Centre, managing war-room operations, issue escalation, decision-making, communications and status reporting during migration and go-live.
- Govern go/no-go decisions, production verification, business signoffs and implementation approvals.
- Coordinate hypercare activities, operational handover and transition to BAU support following deployment.
- Monitor and manage cutover risks, issues, dependencies and critical-path activities, escalating where required to programme leadership.
Experience and Qualifications
- 10+ years of banking technology delivery experience, including significant experience leading cutover activities for large-scale banking transformation programmes.
- Proven experience developing and executing cutover runbooks for complex migrations involving multiple applications, vendors and business units.
- Demonstrated experience establishing and operating Cutover Command Centres for large-scale go-live events.
- Strong experience in cutover readiness planning, operational readiness assessments, data migration, reconciliation and production verification.
- Experience delivering Core Banking, Payments, Treasury, Lending, Trade Finance, Digital Banking, Data or Regulatory Reporting transformation programmes.
- Strong understanding of banking operations, transaction processing, settlement, accounting, regulatory reporting and end-of-day processing.
- Strong stakeholder management, risk management, executive reporting and programme governance capabilities.
- PMP, PRINCE2, Agile or equivalent certification preferred.
Key Competencies
- Enterprise Cutover Strategy & Governance
- Cutover Runbook Development & Execution
- Cutover Readiness & Operational Readiness Management
- Command Centre / War Room Leadership
- Data Migration & Reconciliation Oversight
- Release, Deployment & Production Verification
- Risk, Issue & Dependency Management
- Stakeholder & Vendor Management
Ideal Candidate
A senior banking IT Project Manager with a proven track record delivering large-scale banking cutovers, capable of developing detailed cutover runbooks, driving organisation-wide readiness, leading command-centre operations and executing complex go-live activities across multiple business and technology domains.