Toptal

Delivery Manager

Toptal

full-time

Posted on:

Location Type: Remote

Location: United States

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Job Level

SeniorLead

About the role

  • Own the end-to-end delivery lifecycle to ensure consistent client satisfaction and revenue retention.
  • Own end-to-end delivery execution for assigned projects and managed services, from kickoff through closure or transition to steady state, ensuring scope, schedule, and quality commitments are met.
  • Build and maintain detailed delivery plans, milestones, and work breakdown structures, proactively managing risks, issues, and dependencies across distributed teams.
  • Enforce standardized delivery methodologies, SLAs, and best practices defined by the Delivery Director and Practices, ensuring consistent execution across all engagements.
  • Run recurring delivery ceremonies (stand-ups, sprint reviews, status calls, service reviews) and drive clear action ownership and follow-through.
  • Monitor delivery KPIs (defects, rework, SLA adherence, CSAT, incident trends) and implement corrective actions and continuous improvement initiatives.
  • Serve as the primary day-to-day delivery contact for client stakeholders for assigned engagements, fostering trusted relationships through clear, proactive communication.
  • Prepare and lead regular client status and service review meetings, providing concise views of progress, risks, issues, financials, and improvement actions.
  • Manage expectations and escalations in partnership with Delivery Directors and Account/Sales counterparts, ensuring transparent handling of challenges and trade-offs.
  • Capture client feedback and translate it into concrete delivery improvements and opportunities for expanded value.
  • Manage engagement-level financials within portfolio guardrails, including revenue realization, margin performance, and accurate forecasting for assigned projects and services.
  • Track effort, burn, and utilization against plan; proactively adjust staffing, scope, and delivery approach to protect margins while maintaining quality.
  • Ensure proper scope control and change management, identifying out-of-scope work and partnering with Sales and Delivery Directors to structure change orders.
  • Support accurate and timely billing by validating deliverable sign-offs, timesheets, and milestone completions.
  • Apply AI-enabled tools and automation (e.g., for planning, estimation, testing, monitoring, reporting) in daily execution, following standards and guardrails set by Delivery Directors and AI/Operations teams.
  • Use data and analytics to inform delivery decisions, including forecasting, capacity planning, and early risk identification.
  • Champion adoption of standardized playbooks, templates, and tooling to reduce variability, improve productivity, and enhance client outcomes.
  • Provide feedback on AI-enabled and standardized processes to help refine and improve delivery practices over time.
  • Coordinate and lead cross-functional teams (talent placement, consultants, engineers, SMEs) across multiple time zones to deliver against commitments.
  • Provide day-to-day direction, prioritization, and coaching to team members, creating clarity on goals, roles, and expectations.
  • Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement through retrospectives and data-driven learning.
  • Partner with Sales, Presales, and Delivery Directors to provide delivery inputs to proposals, SOWs, and account plans, ensuring commitments are realistic and executable.
  • Contribute to solution design with practical delivery approaches, plans, estimates, and risk assessments for new and expanding engagements.
  • Participate in select client pre-sales discussions to represent delivery feasibility, delivery model options (project vs managed services), and implementation considerations.
  • Monitor on-time delivery and milestone adherence for assigned engagements.

Requirements

  • Bachelor’s degree is required.
  • 7–10+ years of experience in Professional Services delivery, consulting, or related roles.
  • 3–5+ years managing projects or services for multiple clients or workstreams, ideally in a global or distributed delivery environment.
  • Proven track record delivering complex technology or professional services engagements with strong client satisfaction and predictable outcomes.
  • Solid understanding of both project-based and managed services delivery models, including governance and SLAs.
  • Hands-on experience with project/engagement financials (forecasting, revenue recognition basics, margin drivers, utilization, change control).
  • Experience working with or implementing technology- and automation-led improvements in delivery; exposure to AI-enabled tools is a strong plus.
  • Strong understanding of Professional Services fundamentals (SOWs, deliverables, risk management, change management, and commercial models).
  • Excellent client-facing communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to simplify complex delivery topics.
  • Detail-oriented, data-driven, and outcome-focused, with strong problem-solving and decision-making skills.
  • Collaborative, empathetic team player who builds trust while driving accountability and clear ownership.
  • Comfortable working through change and ambiguity while maintaining composure and client confidence.
  • Outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
  • Ability to work in a fast-paced, rapidly growing company and handle a wide variety of challenges, deadlines, and a diverse array of contacts.
  • You must be a world-class individual contributor to thrive at Toptal. You will not be here just to tell other people what to do.
Benefits
  • Participation in a 401(k) retirement plan
  • Medical, dental, and vision health insurance plans
  • Basic life insurance coverage
  • Short-term and long-term disability coverage
  • Access to flexible spending, dependent care, and health savings accounts
  • Access to telehealth virtual doctors
  • An employee assistance program
  • Flexible paid time off

Applicant Tracking System Keywords

Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.

Hard skills
project managementservice deliveryfinancial forecastingchange managementrisk managementdata analyticsautomationAI-enabled toolsSOWsutilization tracking
Soft skills
client-facing communicationstakeholder managementproblem-solvingdecision-makingcollaborationempathytrust-buildingaccountabilityadaptabilityclarity in communication
Certifications
Bachelor's degreeProject Management Professional (PMP)Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)ITIL certificationLean Six Sigma certificationAgile certificationCertified Professional in Management (CPM)Change Management certificationAI and Machine Learning certificationFinancial Management certification