Program Manager | Datacenter Academy (APAC)
Location Australia (Remote)
Contract until June 2027 | Extension Potential
Regional APAC Scope
Make a Lasting Impact Across Asia Pacific
Join one of the world's leading technology organisations as it continues to invest in digital infrastructure, workforce development, and community impact across Asia Pacific. This globally recognised organisation is committed to creating pathways into technology careers by partnering with educational institutions, communities, and industry stakeholders to develop the next generation of talent.
As Program Manager, Datacenter Academy (APAC), you'll play a key role in connecting education with employment, helping students and emerging talent gain access to meaningful careers within the rapidly growing data centre industry. Working across multiple countries and cultures, you'll lead regional internship programs, build strategic partnerships, and help shape a scalable workforce-development model that delivers lasting impact for communities throughout APAC.
This is a rare opportunity to combine program leadership, stakeholder engagement, workforce development, and social impact in a highly visible regional role with global exposure.
About the Role
The Datacenter Academy is a workforce development initiative that creates pathways into technical careers by partnering with educational institutions and communities. As the APAC Program Manager, you will drive regional internship delivery, coordinate diverse stakeholder groups, and help scale the program across multiple countries and communities throughout Asia Pacific.
Working closely with Community Affairs teams, recruiters, hiring managers, educational partners, and regional leadership, you will ensure a consistent, inclusive, and high-quality experience for students, interns, and partners while supporting the continued growth of the programme.
This role requires someone who can balance strategic thinking with operational execution, influence without direct authority, and thrive in an evolving environment where not every process has already been established.
Why This Role Exists
The organisation is continuing to expand its Datacenter Academy presence across APAC and requires a regional leader who can:
- Support existing Datacenter Academy partnerships across Asia Pacific.
- Help establish new academy partnerships in priority markets.
- Align regional delivery with global standards and objectives.
- Adapt global frameworks to local educational systems and market needs.
- Connect education and skilling initiatives with real workforce demand.
- Provide strategic regional insights to global stakeholders.
- Strengthen community engagement and workforce development outcomes.
- Create meaningful local employment pathways in communities where digital infrastructure is growing.
Program Pillars
The Datacenter Academy focuses on five key pillars:
- Curriculum Alignment – ensuring educational content aligns to data-centre industry requirements.
- Scholarships & Bursaries – supporting access to education and training.
- Technology & Learning Labs – enabling practical learning experiences.
- Mentorship – connecting students with industry professionals.
- Work Placements – driving internships, apprenticeships and employment pathways.
Key Responsibilities
Internship Program Leadership
- Lead the end-to-end internship programme across APAC communities.
- Oversee annual planning, readiness activities, candidate attraction, onboarding, internship delivery, and programme evaluations.
- Coordinate recruiters, hiring managers, educational institutions, community partners, vendors and internal stakeholders.
- Ensure a positive, inclusive and consistent participant experience.
- Establish a regional operating model with clearly defined roles, responsibilities and governance.
- Manage programme risks, dependencies and delivery challenges.
- Implement feedback mechanisms and continuous improvement initiatives.
Program Strategy & Regional Growth
- Translate global workforce development strategy into a regional roadmap.
- Develop scalable growth plans across multiple APAC markets.
- Adapt programme content, curriculum approaches and engagement models to local educational systems and workforce needs.
- Evaluate and pilot new programme models.
- Develop repeatable frameworks, standards, toolkits and playbooks for regional expansion.
Governance & Delivery
- Own the integrated APAC programme plan across communities and workstreams.
- Establish governance structures, reporting rhythms and stakeholder forums.
- Coordinate delivery across different countries, cultures and time zones.
- Ensure alignment of resources, milestones and stakeholder commitments.
- Support planning for training environments, equipment and enablement needs.
Data & Insights
- Maintain visibility over programme performance and participant journeys.
- Analyse programme metrics and workforce outcomes.
- Generate actionable insights and recommendations for leaders and stakeholders.
- Support regional and global reporting requirements.
Communications & Stakeholder Engagement
- Prepare programme updates, presentations and executive briefings.
- Support internal communications and leadership reporting.
- Build strong relationships across education, community, industry and business stakeholders.
Programme Excellence & Continuous Improvement
- Evaluate programme success against participation, completion and employability outcomes.
- Identify opportunities to improve quality, scalability and efficiency.
- Develop reusable processes, SOPs, templates and governance frameworks.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives and embed best practices across the region.
What You'll Bring
Essential Experience
- 4-5+ years of experience within a multinational organisation managing regional programmes.
- Demonstrated success delivering internship, apprenticeship, graduate, education, workforce development or skilling programmes.
- Experience managing complex initiatives across multiple workstreams and stakeholder groups.
- Strong stakeholder engagement skills with the ability to influence without direct authority.
- Experience partnering with recruiters, hiring managers and talent acquisition functions.
- Strong programme management expertise including governance, planning, risk management and reporting.
- Exceptional communication and presentation skills.
- Advanced experience with Microsoft 365 tools including Excel, Teams, Power BI and SharePoint.
- Ability to operate independently and effectively within evolving and ambiguous environments.
Highly Desirable Experience
- Internship, apprenticeship or graduate programme management.
- APAC education and vocational training systems.
- University, college or technical institution partnerships.
- Curriculum development or competency framework alignment.
- Scholarship, bursary, mentorship or placement programmes.
- Workforce demand planning.
- Data centre, infrastructure, technology or cloud industry exposure.
- Community affairs, social impact or corporate responsibility initiatives.
- Development of operating models, SOPs, governance frameworks and playbooks.
What Success Looks Like
You are a strategic thinker and natural relationship builder who can connect diverse stakeholders, navigate complexity, and create scalable solutions. You enjoy building structure where none exists, improving ways of working, and delivering programmes that create measurable outcomes for both organisations and communities.
