Project Manager, Project & Program Management

Project Manager – Lead Consultancy / Design Management

Reports to:

Director

Level: Project Manager – with opportunity to grow into the position and wider leadership responsibilities

Paying up to AED 40,000 per month

We are looking to appoint an experienced and commercially aware Project Manager to strengthen our delivery leadership team.

The successful candidate will take responsibility for the management and delivery of large-scale, complex design projects where we are appointed as Lead Consultant. These projects typically involve Interior Design being delivered by our in-house team, with a wider multidisciplinary consultant team sitting beneath our Lead Consultant appointment, potentially including Architecture, AOR, MEP, Structural Engineering, Lighting Design, Façade, Landscape, Signage & Wayfinding and other specialist disciplines.

This is not intended to be a traditional creative Design Director position. We are looking for someone with a strong design management, technical coordination and project leadership background who understands how to take a multidisciplinary design project from brief through design, approvals, tender and construction.

The ideal candidate is likely to be currently working within an established Lead Consultancy or multidisciplinary design consultancy.

We are looking for someone experienced, technically credible and confident enough to take control of a project when required.

They should be a strong and authoritative project leader without being unnecessarily corporate or abrasive. They need to be comfortable chairing meetings with senior clients, contractors and consultants; challenging information when required; making decisions; holding consultants accountable; and escalating issues appropriately.

They should have the presence and experience to pull rank when necessary, particularly where programme, quality, coordination or contractual responsibilities are at risk, while remaining personable, pragmatic and well-liked by clients and project teams.

The right personality is important. We are looking for someone who is:

• Experienced, mature and credible
• Direct and no-nonsense in their approach
• Personable, approachable and collaborative
• Calm and controlled under pressure
• Confident dealing with senior stakeholders
• Comfortable challenging clients, consultants and contractors constructively
• Decisive and prepared to take ownership
• Organized and able to see both the detail and the bigger picture
• Solutions-focused rather than process-driven for the sake of process
• They should naturally become someone that both clients and internal teams trust to get a project delivered.

Responsibilities will include:

• Take day-to-day leadership of major Lead Consultant commissions.
• Establish and maintain the overall project delivery strategy, responsibilities, programme and communication structure.
• Maintain oversight of multiple projects running in parallel, identifying risks and priorities before they become critical.
• Drive projects against agreed deliverables, milestones and client expectations.
• Take ownership of issues requiring senior intervention and ensure they are driven through to resolution.

• Manage and coordinate the wider consultant team appointed beneath us.
• Ensure Interior Design, Architecture, AOR, MEP, Structural, Lighting and other specialist disciplines are properly coordinated.
• Establish clear responsibilities and deliverables across the consultant team.
• Identify scope gaps, coordination issues and interface risks.
• Challenge consultants where information, quality or performance is not meeting project requirements.
• Ensure technical information is coordinated before being…