U.S. DAS Project Manager - Recruiter Guidelines

RSRF | Internal Recruiting Use

Use this guide for first-round recruiter screens for the U.S.-based Project Manager opening. The goal is to identify candidates with real, hands-on U.S. indoor cellular DAS project-management experience and the ownership, communication, and judgment needed to lead projects at RSRF.

1. About Staircase 3

Staircase 3, Inc. was founded 16 years ago with a single mission: reliable cellular connectivity, everywhere.

What started as a focused goal has grown into something much bigger - we're now at the forefront of solving one of modern life's most frustrating problems, helping thousands of people and businesses stay connected when it matters most.

Today, we operate two thriving divisions: Waveform.com, the leading online D2C seller of 4G and 5G antennas and signal boosters, and RSRF.com, a turnkey installer of in-building cell signal systems for enterprises. Together, these divisions ensure individuals, families, and businesses never lose connection when it matters most.

We believe that who you work with is just as important as where you work, and we're exceptionally proud of the caliber of team we've built. With over 50 employees across multiple states and countries, we maintain a culture of collaboration and innovation where every voice matters.

2. Role Overview

This is a remote U.S.-based Project Manager role focused on indoor cellular DAS / in-building wireless project delivery. The PM is expected to own schedule, budget, profitability, technical and construction coordination, stakeholder communication, risk management, and project documentation from handoff through closeout.

a. Key Role Requirements

· Must reside within the United States.

· Direct project-management experience delivering indoor cellular DAS / in-building wireless projects in the United States.

· Working knowledge of the DAS lifecycle from design coordination and construction through testing/commissioning and closeout.

· Ability to manage schedules, budgets, profitability, risks, vendors, subcontractors, field teams, and multiple concurrent projects.

· Estimating/proposal-development experience and practical experience with AI tools are strong pluses, but are not required.

b. Compensation and Benefits

· Salary range: $75,000-$90,000 annually, based on experience.

· Health insurance plans with company contribution.

· Vision & dental insurance.

· 401(k) plan with 3% match.

· 26 days PTO per year.

3. Ideal Candidate Profile

a. Real DAS Project Ownership

The candidate has personally managed indoor cellular DAS / in-building wireless projects in the United States and can explain what they owned from handoff or kickoff through installation, commissioning, turnover, and closeout.

b. Technical and Construction Fluency

They are not expected to be the RF designer, but they can read plans, understand DAS deliverables, coordinate RF/design teams with field construction, and recognize when a technical or site issue threatens execution.

c. Schedule and Financial Discipline

They manage milestones, dependencies, budgets, forecasts, change control, and project risks proactively rather than discovering problems after a deadline or margin has already been missed.

d. Clear, Proactive Communication

They give concise updates, document decisions and action items, escalate early, and maintain client confidence even when a project has a problem.

4. Interview Strategy

Ask for specific examples. Strong candidates should naturally talk in terms of scope, schedule, cost, dependencies, stakeholders, decisions, and outcomes - not just tasks they were assigned.

a. DAS Experience and Project Ownership

Question: Give me an overview of your DAS project-management experience. What types of systems and projects have you personally managed?

Listen for: Direct indoor cellular DAS / in-building wireless experience and specific U.S. project examples. Useful detail can include off-air/repeater systems, active or fiber-fed DAS, small-cell-fed systems, carrier signal sources, or other commercial cellular coverage solutions.

Red flag: Vague use of "DAS" with no specific projects; experience is mainly Wi-Fi, structured cabling, macro/tower work, sales, engineering, or administrative coordination.

Note: If most of the candidate's experience is public-safety DAS/ERRCS, capture that clearly. Do not assume public-safety and commercial cellular DAS are interchangeable.

Question: Pick a recent DAS project you managed and walk me through it from handoff or kickoff through closeout.

Listen for: A logical lifecycle: site readiness/survey, design coordination, scope/BOM review, procurement, access and construction planning, installation, testing/commissioning/optimization, client turnover, punch list, and closeout. Listen carefully for what the candidate personally owned.

Red flag: They only discuss one phase, repeatedly say "the team handled that" without explaining their role, or cannot explain what had to happen before installation or how the project was closed out.

b. Commercial Cellular DAS vs. Public Safety

Question: Of your U.S. DAS experience, how much has been commercial cellular / in-building wireless versus public-safety DAS or ERRCS?

Listen for: Meaningful commercial cellular DAS experience. Strong candidates can distinguish carrier/cellular coverage projects from public-safety systems and explain the types of commercial solutions they delivered.

Red flag: Experience is exclusively public safety/ERRCS, Wi-Fi, structured cabling, macro/tower work, or another adjacent field. If otherwise strong, capture the experience mix precisely.

c. Technical and Construction Coordination

Question: How do you coordinate RF engineering or design teams with construction teams, field technicians, vendors, and subcontractors?

Listen for: They act as the bridge between design intent and field execution: confirming drawings/scopes, equipment readiness, access/pathways, construction constraints, technical dependencies, field questions, design changes, owners, and deadlines.

Red flag: They treat engineering and construction as separate silos, simply forward emails, or do not verify that field conditions and design assumptions match.

Question: What DAS drawings, files, or technical deliverables are you comfortable reviewing or coordinating?

Listen for: Floor plans, DAS design drawings, BOMs, scopes of work, riser/pathway information, equipment and antenna locations, iBwave files/outputs, Area Reports or similar planning documents, testing/commissioning documentation, punch lists, and closeout packages.

Red flag: They cannot read floor plans or identify basic project information, or believe all technical documents are exclusively the engineer's responsibility.

Question: Tell me about a DAS project that ran into a major technical, construction, or site problem. What happened and what did you do?

Listen for: A specific issue, early identification, ownership, root-cause thinking, options considered, coordination with the right parties, clear communication, mitigation, and follow-through. Strong candidates explain both schedule and cost impact.

Red flag: They mainly blame the customer, engineer, subcontractor, or field team; they delayed escalation; or they cannot explain how the issue was resolved.

d. Schedule, Budget, Risk, and Change Control

Question: How do you keep a DAS project on schedule and financially on track?

Listen for: A baseline schedule, milestones, dependencies, regular forecast/cost review, committed versus actual costs, cost-to-complete thinking, vendor/subcontractor tracking, early identification of overruns, and disciplined change control.

Red flag: Their system is mainly meetings, reminders, or a task list; they have little budget responsibility; they react to overruns after they occur; or they cannot explain how scope changes are controlled.

Question: Tell me about a change order or scope change you identified or managed. How did you determine it was outside the original scope?

Listen for: They compare the new condition/request against the contracted scope and assumptions, document cause and impact, evaluate schedule/cost implications, communicate before extra work proceeds, obtain approval, and update the baseline.

Red flag: They handle changes informally, allow extra work first and try to recover cost later, or cannot clearly describe the original scope baseline.

e. Communication, Organization, and Multiple Projects

Question: How many projects have you managed at one time, and how do you keep priorities, decisions, risks, and follow-ups organized?

Listen for: A repeatable system for schedules, action items, risks/issues, client commitments, budgets, documentation, and follow-up. Prioritization should be based on impact and dependencies, not simply who emailed most recently.

Red flag: No system beyond inbox/calendar, heavy dependence on memory, or difficulty explaining how they prioritize multiple active projects.

Question: Imagine an installation will miss a committed milestone because a required pathway, approval, or site condition is not ready. How would you communicate that to the client?

Listen for: A clear, calm update: what changed, why it matters, what work is affected, what has already been done, what is needed from whom, schedule/cost impact, and when the next update or decision will occur.

Red flag: An overly technical explanation with no action; accusatory tone; avoidance of the impact; or promising a new date without understanding the dependency.

f. U.S. Deployment and Construction Experience

Question: What U.S.-specific project conditions have you had to manage on DAS deployments?

Listen for: Real examples involving building owners/venues, general contractors, access and work-hour restrictions, COIs/site requirements, subcontractors, carrier coordination, permitting/AHJ requirements where applicable, rooftop/pathway constraints, safety/compliance, or similar U.S. construction processes.

Red flag: A generic answer that could apply anywhere, or inability to identify U.S.-specific stakeholders/processes despite claiming direct U.S. DAS PM experience.

g. Estimating, Proposals, and Change Orders

Question: What experience do you have creating estimates, ROM budgets, proposals, scopes of work, or change orders for DAS projects?

Listen for: Hands-on involvement with equipment/materials, labor, subcontractor/vendor costs, schedule assumptions, scope narratives, exclusions/assumptions, contingency, margin/markup, proposal assembly, or change-order pricing. Strong answers connect the estimate to an executable project scope.

Red flag: They only received finished pricing from sales/estimating, cannot explain how quantities/labor/assumptions affect cost, or have never had to connect a scope to pricing.

Note: This experience is preferred, not required. A strong U.S. DAS PM should not be rejected solely because estimating/proposal work was handled by another team.

Question: If you were given floor plans and asked to help prepare an early ROM estimate for an in-building DAS project, what information would you want before you felt comfortable with the estimate?

Listen for: They ask about building size/coverage areas, carriers, existing signal or signal-source approach, system type, floor-plan quality, construction/pathway assumptions, equipment and labor quantities, access/work-hour constraints, site survey/design status, subcontractor needs, risk/contingency, and clearly stated assumptions.

Red flag: They jump directly to a dollar number, rely only on square footage, or fail to identify assumptions and missing information that materially affect cost.

h. AI Tools

Question: What AI tools have you used in your work, and what have you actually used them for?

Listen for: Concrete uses such as meeting/action-item summaries, proposal or scope drafting, document comparison, estimate support, status updates, risk identification, spreadsheet/data work, or workflow automation. Strong candidates verify outputs and understand appropriate handling of sensitive client information.

Red flag: They only say "ChatGPT" or "AI" without a real workflow, blindly trust generated content, or suggest AI replaces project judgment or technical validation.

Note: AI experience is a plus, not a requirement.

5. Overall Evaluation

a. Strong Candidates Will Demonstrate

· Specific U.S. cellular DAS project examples with clear personal ownership - what they personally decided, escalated, coordinated, and delivered.

· Meaningful commercial cellular / in-building wireless experience, not only adjacent telecom work.

· A practical understanding of how design, procurement, construction, testing/commissioning, client coordination, and closeout fit together.

· Comfort reading plans and coordinating technical deliverables without pretending to be the RF engineer.

· Proactive schedule, cost, risk, and change management rather than reactive follow-up.

· Clear communication that makes complicated project situations easy to understand.

· A repeatable system for handling multiple projects, action items, documentation, and deadlines.

· Comfort working in a smaller organization where a PM may need to solve problems across several functions.

b. Be Cautious of Candidates Who

· Use "DAS" broadly but cannot describe real indoor cellular projects or the systems they managed.

· Have only public-safety/ERRCS or adjacent telecom experience and cannot demonstrate meaningful commercial cellular DAS knowledge.

· Talk almost entirely in "we" and cannot explain their own ownership or decisions.

· Have coordinated meetings and schedules but have not owned budget, risk, scope, or project outcomes.

· Cannot read floor plans or comfortably discuss basic design/construction deliverables.

· Blame clients, engineers, or field teams instead of explaining how they managed the issue.

· Wait for issues to become urgent instead of identifying dependencies and escalating early.

· Struggle to communicate clearly, organize an answer, or state a concrete next step.
 

RSRF | Project Management

Location: Remote - United States Focus: Indoor DAS Project Delivery

Position Overview

RSRF is seeking an experienced Project Manager with direct U.S. in-building Distributed Antenna System (DAS) experience to lead projects from internal handoff through closeout. This role owns schedule, budget, profitability, technical and construction coordination, stakeholder communication, risk management, and project documentation.

Key Responsibilities

Project Delivery & Financial Management

· Own assigned projects from handoff through closeout, coordinating site surveys, design, procurement, installation, commissioning, turnover, access, dependencies, and field readiness.

· Manage project budgets, forecasts, cost tracking, and profitability; identify variances and change-order needs early and support ROM/detailed estimates and proposal development when needed.

DAS Technical & Construction Coordination

· Coordinate RF engineering, Solution Architects, construction teams, field technicians, vendors, and subcontractors so approved DAS designs translate into executable project plans.

· Coordinate Area Reports, iBwave inputs/reviews, equipment readiness, testing, optimization, and closeout; resolve field, design, and equipment issues while minimizing delay and rework.

Client, Risk & Quality Management

· Serve as a primary project contact, providing clear status updates and maintaining alignment on schedule, scope, responsibilities, decisions, risks, and next steps.

· Identify and mitigate project risks, maintain organized records and approvals, and ensure work meets project requirements, company processes, and quality expectations.

Required Qualifications

· Must reside within the United States.

· Direct project management experience delivering indoor cellular DAS / in-building wireless projects in the United States.

· Working knowledge of the DAS lifecycle from design coordination and construction through testing/commissioning and closeout; able to read floor plans, technical drawings, and scopes of work.

· Proven ability to manage schedules, budgets, profitability, risks, vendors, subcontractors, field teams, and multiple concurrent projects.

· Strong written/verbal communication, organization, attention to detail, ownership, and follow-through.

Preferred Qualifications

· Experience developing DAS estimates, ROM/detailed pricing, proposals, scope narratives, and change orders.

· Experience preparing or reviewing iBwave files and coordinating technical deliverables with RF engineers or Solution Architects.

· Working knowledge of AI tools and practical use of AI for project management, estimating, proposal creation, documentation, or workflow automation.

· Experience with in-building wireless construction, carrier coordination, and project-management, spreadsheet, and cloud collaboration tools.