Project Management Lead; PML; Scotland & Northern Ireland

Are you ready to shape the future of project delivery across the UK Water sector? At Stantec, we are tackling some of the most critical water and infrastructure challenges facing the UK today.

Following the historic announcement that Stantec has been named a Primary Designer for the multibillion-pound Scottish Water Enterprise
, we are embarking on the largest investment program in Scottish Water’s history. This landmark partnership, which potentially extends to 2039, places Stantec at the heart of modernising Scotland’s water and wastewater networks-from improving drinking water quality to enhancing nationwide water resilience.

As our Project Management Lead (PML) in Scotland and Northern Ireland, you’ll be the driving force behind our project management community—empowering a high-performing team, inspiring excellence, and fostering a culture built on collaboration and resilience.

Stepping into a high-visibility role alongside our senior commercial and client leaders, you won't just oversee strategy from afar; you’ll be actively on the front line, shaping key water frameworks and taking real ownership of game-changing engineering projects from day one.

Reporting directly to the Project Management Discipline Lead (PMDL), this is a hybrid leadership and delivery role. Alongside your leadership duties, you will remain active on the front line—supporting key project delivery, framework management, and business development initiatives.

You will act as the operational anchor for project execution, partnering closely with our Operations Directors and Commercial Leads to align project performance with overarching business strategy.

• Operational Leadership: Lead, coach, and mentor a team of Project Managers. Maintain team competency matrices and maturity assessments to ensure the right talent is deployed to the right projects and proposals.
• Commercial & Governance Management: Drive compliance with Stantec’s Project Management Framework (PMF) and Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) controls. Lead monthly project review processes (ETC, EAC, revenue recognition) and oversee contract administration (NEC/early warnings, compensation events, and payment applications).
• Project Support & Turnaround: Monitor project commercial, quality, and risk positions. Take ownership of distressed or underperforming projects, implementing effective corrective action plans alongside commercial leadership.
• Global & Technical
  
  Collaboration:
  
  Champion strong PM–PTL (Project Technical Lead) relationships to balance technical and commercial goals. Integrate teams with our Global Delivery Centre to optimize resourcing and global working targets.
• Health, Safety & Environment: Lead HSSE audits and actively champion our Safer Together culture across all project delivery teams.

In this role, your influence will extend far beyond project bottom lines-you will directly elevate our people, client relationships, and operational efficiency. You will hold direct accountability for key financial metrics, driving accurate forecasting, minimizing margin erosion, and delivering against Gross Margin, DSO, and IGW targets.

Through regular face-to-face engagement, you will build trusted relationships with key client commercial leaders, directly influencing client satisfaction KPIs and securing follow-on business. Furthermore, as a mentor and Independent Reviewer, you will empower the project management community, set teams up for success from project setup to completion, and continually refine our work processes to enhance overall project execution.

To thrive as a Project Management Lead, you bring a strong commercial focus, natural leadership, and deep expertise in complex infrastructure delivery.

• Exper…