Ashraf Ahmed

Role Scope:
PMO leadership for enterprise, carrier, and wholesale infrastructure programs covering data centers, telecom exchanges, non-telecom facilities, and sustainability initiatives within a 24x7 operator environment.

Key Contributions & Impact:
• Led end-to-end delivery of AED 100M+ infrastructure and facilities portfolios, spanning data centers, telecom exchanges, and non-telecom infrastructure.
• Governed annual CAPEX/OPEX budgets of AED 20-50M, ensuring financial discipline, forecasting accuracy, and cost optimization.
• Drove engineering and PMO transformation initiatives within CTIO, improving delivery efficiency and governance maturity by 10-15%.
• Acted as primary interface with CTIO leadership, SVPs, and VPs, ensuring scope control, risk visibility, and on-time delivery.
• Established PMO frameworks (charters, baselines, risk & change control), achieving 95% milestone adherence.
• Defined and governed KPIs and SLAs, consistently maintaining 99.9%+ service availability for mission-critical infrastructure.
• Led workforce planning and deployment for 80-100 engineers and technicians, ensuring 24x7 operational readiness and emergency response.
• Oversaw data center capacity expansion and power redundancy projects supporting up to 25 MW of critical IT and telecom loads.
• Managed preventive and corrective maintenance for MEP, HVAC, fire & life safety, and non-telecom assets, reducing incidents by 5-10% and improving MTTR.
• Delivered ESG and energy optimization initiatives (Net Zero, energy efficiency, ozone mitigation), achieving 1-10% YoY energy savings.
• Led vendor selection, contract negotiations, and SLA governance, achieving 7-15% commercial cost savings.
• Delivered executive dashboards and MIS using Power BI and Tableau, enabling data-driven decisions at senior leadership level.
• Served as SME for critical infrastructure, advising leadership on capacity planning, risk mitigation, and technology adoption.
• Successfully delivered flagship initiatives including telecom exchange modernization, data center upgrades, and “Zebra 2020” energy optimization program.

Role Scope:
Led planning, deployment, and commissioning of high-capacity optical and transmission networks for national and international telecom operators, supporting core and metro backbone programs in operator environments.

Key Contributions & Impact:
• Led end-to-end deployment of optical and transmission networks (100G / 500G NLD Core) using Ciena and Nokia (Alcatel-Lucent) OTN/DWDM platforms.
• Delivered major Etisalat backbone and access programs including Migration, Express Layer, Dubai Ring, and Metro projects, ensuring seamless integration and service continuity.
• Executed international backbone initiatives such as SMW-4, TE-North, and Tata Gulf projects across Middle East and global routes.
• Managed installation, configuration, commissioning, and ATP/acceptance testing of transmission equipment in multi-vendor environments.
• Produced detailed network designs, implementation plans, and as-built documentation, ensuring compliance with operator standards.
• Provided advanced troubleshooting and performance optimization support using network management and monitoring tools.
• Coordinated with customers, OEMs, and field teams across multiple geographies to ensure on-time delivery and high customer satisfaction.
• Supported cross-border deployments across GCC countries, maintaining quality, schedule, and technical compliance.

Role Scope:
Managed end-to-end service delivery programs for enterprise and carrier customers, overseeing planning, execution, governance, and customer engagement across national wireline and wireless networks.

Key Contributions & Impact:
• Led end-to-end program and project management across the service delivery lifecycle, from planning and design through implementation, closure, and post-sales support.
• Governed national wireline and wireless service delivery for enterprise telecom products including NLD, IPLC, MPLS, VPN, Internet, data center cross-connects, and managed services.
• Managed multi-vendor environments covering hardware installation, fiber/copper rollout, link testing, and provisioning while ensuring compliance with Airtel policies and regulatory requirements.
• Owned project planning, scheduling, tracking, and resource allocation, ensuring milestone adherence and timely delivery against committed SLAs.
• Drove stakeholder coordination across customers, sales, regional delivery teams, and vendors to resolve delivery challenges and accelerate timelines.
• Designed customer solutions in collaboration with pre-sales teams, translating business requirements into executable delivery plans.
• Led Agile/SCRUM ceremonies including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, backlog refinement, and retrospectives to improve delivery transparency and team accountability.
• Utilized enterprise PM tools including EPM, Oracle E-Business Suite (IB2B/ECRM), and Metasolv-M6 for execution tracking, change management, and reporting.

Role Scope:
Led network planning, engineering, and deployment support for large-scale national and international optical backbone programs, supporting telecom operators and enterprise customers in high-availability environments.

Key Contributions & Impact:
• Planned and engineered 100G NLD core optical networks on fiber, supporting nationwide backbone deployments.
• Delivered detailed network designs (DND/NDD) and engineering documentation for 1, 500+ nodes using Ciena 6500 and 5430 OTN/DWDM platforms.
• Developed complete physical and logical design artifacts including RFVs, signal flow diagrams, project network diagrams, and link engineering reports.
• Designed and implemented DWDM/OTN DCN architectures on common photonic layers (10G / 100G) for packet optical transport.
• Supported end-to-end commissioning, provisioning, ATP, and stability testing, ensuring fault-free network readiness.
• Provided advanced field and NOC coordination, including alarm monitoring, troubleshooting, and performance optimization.
• Contributed to high-profile programs including Reliance Jio 4G (India) and international customers such as Sprint, Facebook, CenturyLink (USA) and Embratel (Brazil).

Role Scope:
Supported implementation, integration, and maintenance of core, backhaul, and access networks, ensuring reliable service delivery across multi-vendor telecom environments.

Key Contributions & Impact:
• Implemented and maintained core and access networks supporting bandwidths from 2 Mbps to 10 Gbps.
• Installed, commissioned, and supported SDH and DWDM transport equipment (STM-1 to STM-64) across multiple vendor platforms.
• Executed integration, testing, and acceptance activities, including BER, stability, and Rx sensitivity testing.
• Supported IPTV and access network operations, including ring management and loop telecom devices.
• Utilized optical and transmission test equipment to troubleshoot, validate, and ensure network performance and service reliability.