Projects Director

There are plenty of senior construction roles where the next move means a bigger project - this one means a bigger remit and progression to board level! Mandala Group has been exclusively retained by a fast‑growing UK main contractor to appoint the senior operational lead for its Education delivery portfolio. The business already has a significant track record with the Department for Education, has delivered through CF21 and has secured its position for the next generation of DfE work through CF25.

They are looking for somebody capable of sitting above the individual Project Leads and taking an overarching view of the Education portfolio: multiple projects, multiple teams and overall responsibility for how those projects perform. Programme. Commercial. Design. Construction. Client. People. The Project Leads own their projects. You lead the portfolio.

This is an opportunity to join a contractor at a particularly exciting point in its growth. The business is challenging the traditional construction model by bringing design, off‑site manufacturing and on‑site delivery much closer together. Rather than treating manufacturing as an add‑on to conventional construction, it forms part of how projects are designed, planned and delivered. For an experienced main contractor leader, that creates an interesting challenge: taking everything you know about delivering complex projects and applying it within a business continually looking for a better, faster and more integrated way of doing it.

And this is not a newly created Education proposition looking for somebody to find it some work. There is an established DfE track record, live delivery, experienced teams beneath the role and a future pipeline. The appointment is about making sure that as the portfolio grows, the quality of operational leadership grows with it. The longer‑term opportunity matters too. The intention is for the person joining at this level to grow with the business, with a potential route towards Regional Director and ultimately Board‑level responsibility as the organisation continues to expand.

This is a business that wants to develop future leaders rather than simply recruit against today’s vacancy. That philosophy is reflected in its wider approach to leadership development, succession and internal progression.

Pasted markdown

Someone who has spent their career actually delivering construction projects for a main contractor. You may be a Senior Contracts Manager, Operations Manager, Project Director, Construction Director or already operating at sector leadership level. What matters is that you can walk into a room with several Project Leads and quickly understand where every project really is.

• Where is the commercial exposure?
• What’s holding design up?
• Which programme needs challenging?
• Where does the client need senior engagement?
• Which team needs support and which simply needs holding to account?
• And importantly, you know when to intervene without becoming the Project Manager yourself.

Our search of the DfE contractor market has shown that this combination is relatively unusual. There are plenty of excellent individual Project Managers and plenty of people operating around frameworks, bids, pre‑construction and design. We are looking specifically for the operational leader who can sit above several live construction projects and lead through the people delivering them.

This isn’t a generic construction leadership appointment where Education happens to be one of the sectors. We want somebody who understands schools. Ideally, you will have significant experience delivering projects through the Department for Education and exposure to CF21, CF25…