Manager Project
Resume:
AMER KASTI
**********@*****.***
USA: +1-561-***-****
Naturalized US Citizen
OBJECTIVE A challenging and rewarding position in the project/program management field which best utilizes my extended
experience, education, management and communication skills.
EXPERIENCE
11/07- Present
ZAIN Telecom (GSM Operator)- 40 Millions Subscribers base in 10 Countries
GSM Infrastructure NW Department: Saudi Arabia (Middle East).
Wireless PMO Manager/Rollout Manager
• Responsible for following up on GSM Network 2G/3G/LTE rollout implementation for all project aspects including
financial and project requirements.
• Played a pivotal role between technical Rollout, Marketing, Sales and Strategy departments in order to collect,
implement radio handset features, GSM offer packages with Network requirements as far as subscriber capacities,
physical network coverage and RF quality map coverage.
• Responsible to initiate vendor change request (CRs) based on vendor deviation from original contractual project plans
and Scope of Work (Sow) and enforce recovery plans accordingly.
• Worked with procurement department on contract management issues related to vendor adhering and implementation
technical contractual Bill of Quantities (BoQ) during Project Life Cycle and Project Closeout.
• Provide weekly progress status updates and escalation to the upper management for ongoing rollout projects: LTE and
HSPA+ features implementation, Core and Radio BTS capacity expansions and National Roaming Reduction to
minimize company BTS site dependencies on competitors outside current geographical carpet coverage.
• Create project schedules (PIP) based on contracted projects, NW Planning designs, bill of quantities (BOQ) and
prepare daily status reports for upper management presentations and zoom-in reviews.
• Leading on weekly basis our technical status meetings throughout the project life cycle for several infrastructure
vendors: Huawei, ZTE, NSN and NEC for Transmission implementation project rollout.
• Establishes timelines, develops project strategies and manages company rollout and expansion expectations for timely
successful completion of budgeted projects.
• Prepares project authorizations, establishes budget costs and schedules for each project.
• Maintains profitability through fiscal control of projects for which the Project Manager is responsible.
• Fosters cooperation on projects that entail joint efforts between various operating groups (NW Planning, RF,
Implementation and Vendors), divisions and offices within the company.
• Managed ZAIN PMO Office (8 PMs) responsible for initial GSM operation launch (3000 BTS sites) in ‘08for the
Third GSM entrant operator in Saudi Arabia. Currently, wireless NW capacity has been expanded to 5000 BTS sites
and dimensioned to support 12 Mio Subscribers (8 Mio Active subscribers).
• Manage day to day business activity (Initiate/follow up on Purchase Order), negotiate pricing for RFP with vendors.
• Responsible for working with Commercial team to define critical problems, create action plans, lead implementation
with development and other field support organizations to resolve carrier issues.
• Maintained and regularly updates accounting system reports and periodically reviews the fiscal status and schedule of
projects with appropriate staff.
.
02/99- 10/07 Motorola Inc.,
iDEN International Subscriber Division: Jordan (Middle East).
5/2005-10/07 – International Field Engineering Group.
Field Engineering/Interim Business Manager, Principal Member of Technical Staff
• Manage day to day iDEN handset business activity (Initiate/follow up on Purchase Order (PO), negotiate pricing for
Product/Accessory with customer, closing PO’s.
• Provide technical iDEN handset product support to Xpress Wireless Carrier teams, Operational managers and
Infrastructure teams. Work closely with the customer and iDEN development teams to systematically close all
technical issues reported by carrier.
• Act as an interface between Motorola iDEN development engineering and local Carrier groups handling network
deployment issues and subscriber product issues for resolution.
• Responsible for working with Xpress carrier and end-user customers to define critical problems, create action plans,
lead implementation with development and other field support organizations to resolve carrier issues.
• Work as an interface of US product quality analysis team communicating field issues and feeding Carriers with proper
action plans to improve quality standards.
• Provide earlier visibility to potential issues based on Xpress carrier customer return metrics collected on Monthly
basis.
• Support local XPress Business Technical team before and during product trials and launch. Work with Carrier Sales
team on major accounts support providing technology consultancy. Support local data application developers which
will result in new revenue generating opportunities.
• Provide iDEN technical training for XPress Sales team to enhance their knowledge/competency in product sold.
Mobile Devices: WLAN SEAMSLESS MOBILITY: Plantation Florida USA.
12/03-5/2005 - System Test Manager.
Principal Member of Technical Staff
• Manage and Lead Rainier (CN620) GSM/WLAN Dual-Mode subscriber Software System Test effort for a market launch Q4 ‘04.
• Design, develop and execute integration test plan/design specification (TPS/TDS) for WLAN Rainier Seamless Mobility
Dual-band WLAN/GSM Subscriber product.
• Test Subscriber Software Requirements (Ergonomically and Mobility Management) on WLAN/GSM networks.
• Create software test plans that are comprehensive and are traceable to WLAN Software Architecture Document (SAD) and feature
Software Requirement Specifications (SRS) for Alpha2, Alpha3 and Beta features delivery.
• Support and Develop WLAN/GSM drive test plans (Walk Test for WLAN/GSM HandOut/HandIn Protocol).
• Manage Rainier GSM Drive Test Plantation activities throughout Product life cycle.
• Mapped a Cingular GSM Drive Test route in South East Florida Q1/2004.
• Interact with Motorola PCS Data Team to understand field, features, data logging and tool processing requirements need for the
team.
• Provide weekly Rainier field progress reports versus known robust product, identified critical defects. Action items were driven or
escalated in order to meet SQA drive and walk test requirements.
• Work with Rainier Release Manager to have all defects “severity 1” & “severity 2” opened issues to have committed fixes into
upcoming software release builds.
Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN): Plantation, Florida USA.
12/01-12/03 Drive Test Manager
• Manage Drive Test team day-to-day activities ranging from product test scheduling, coordinating Motorola-Nextel testing, shared
resources to delivering qualitative rolled up data to internal customers (Release/Program Managers). Elicit feedback from
internal/external customers to improve testing processes, reporting and product features test coverage.
• Interfaced with Motorola iDEN Development Teams on handling subscriber product, field RF coverage issues. Responsible for
working with Nextel/SO-CO carriers to define critical problems, create action plans and lead implementation with development and
other field support organizations to resolve carrier issues
• Provide weekly updates for product under test to PM/RM, Upper Management and interested parties.
• Attend product status meetings and update attendees with current product progress and discuss specific blocking items.
• Schedule weekly assignments for both teams in Reston/Plantation. Plan products testing schedule for all iDEN roadmap products to
meet SQA date.
• Ensure Drive Test procedures are being fully implemented in the field to meet feature software requirements.
• Schedule weekly Reston conference call to discuss general issues and keep team synchronized with main office.
02/99- 12/01 Software System Test Engineer.
• Design, develop and execute integration test plan/design specification (TPS/TDS) for Motorola iDEN Subscriber
Wireless Technology in a Mobility Management (MM) and Over-the-Air (OTA) environment.
• Testing Subscriber Software (Ergonomically and Mobility Management) on TDMA/GSM Digital Enhanced Cellular phones for
Circuit Data and Packet Data features.
• Mobility Management stress testing between Subscriber (iDEN products) and Switch Infrastructure in the System Test RF Lab
(ReSeclection, Handovers, Reconnect and Roaming) on Interconnect, Circuit Data, Dispatch and Packet Data calls.
• Stress Testing various iDEN products for proper operation and conformity with Marketing, Customer and Software Requirement
Specifications.
• Responsible for software integration, development of test cases against software requirements, defect generation and analysis,
problem tracking and status reporting.
• Interaction with internal and external customers for product operation, field returns software requirement conformity and overall
product software quality issues.
1997-1999 Siemens Telecom Networks, Boca Raton, Florida 33487.
Member of Technical Staff.
• Responsible for software testing, debugging and test cases execution for Single Line Variety package Feature.
• Responsible for execution, software debugging and regression testing of Call Processing Feature (Voice Assisted
Dialing).
• Responsible for load and stress test coordination, test cases generation, Hardware and Software upgrades relevant
to testbed configurations.
• Evaluation of new features (Office Data Generation without Recovery, Threshold and Alerting), perform stress
testing in an on-line environment for general availability recommendation.
1996-1997Ericsson Network Systems, Richardson, Texas 75081
Field Engineer
• Tested both Hardware and Software of various AXE-10 Switches at customer sites.
• Performed various expansions on live switches such as :
- Central Processor Upgrade to APZ 212-20 (WorldCom sites).
- Regional Processor Bus and Group Switch Expansions (SWBT sites).
- Class Features testing and upgrades (US West sites).
• Involved in intensive troubleshooting of all APZ, APT and IOG-11 hardware of the AXE.
• Interface with customer and contractors at technical meetings and update customer on the project progress on a
daily basis.
• Modified, loaded and created Data Translations for Subsystems and Subscribers.
• Site Supervisor for several projects from initial installation to final testing including site preparation, test and
cutover work performed by the installation technicians.
• Extensive customer interaction for total product satisfaction
Certifications
- Testing and Installation Techniques for Ericsson AXE-10 Switch.
- Power Installations Techniques for AXE-10 Switch.
10/93-10/96 Ultratech Stepper, Inc. San Jose, California 95054
System Test/Field Service
• Maintain and technically support advanced precision Electro-Mechanical photolithography semiconductor
equipment’s used in the fabrication of Integrated Circuits chips.
• Responsible for the manufacturing in-house and installation of the Stepper at customer site.
• Evaluate the system performance and recommend technical modifications to meet customer specifications.
• Act as a liaison during customer acceptance and testing of the product, maintain close communication with
customers to assure maximum utilization of customer’s equipment.
8/90-8/92 University of Arizona.Tucson, Arizona 85721.
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Electrical Engineering.
• Worked half time as an instructor for a junior level electrical engineering design lab. Responsible for
assisting students in different design projects and measurements involving circuit parameters testing, as well as
limitations of the equipment. Experiments dealt primarily with direct application of basic circuit, electronic
concepts and design techniques.
EDUCATION University of Arizona. Tucson, AZ 85721.
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering. May 93
Fulfilled all requirements for candidacy.
University of Arizona. Tucson, AZ 85721.
Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. May 90
SKILLSFluent in Arabic and French.
Computer Languages: Pascal, HPL and Basic.
Operating System: MS-DOS, VAX/VMS, Win95, Win98 and NT 4.0.
Software: Frame Maker, Latex, Spice, OrCad and HPL.
iDEN Wireless Software: Ethernet Analyzer, iFTA, PDAT, RSS.
• Volunteered as a Press Translator in Arabic and French for the USA 1994 World Cup Soccer
Championship, San Francisco Venue.
• Interested in Technological Breakthrough, Financial News and Cultural Geography.
• Naturalized Citizen of the United States of America.
• Willing to travel on short notice/ relocate overseas.
References available upon request.
Contact this candidate