Project Controls Director - Program Governance

Project Controls Director
- Program Governance Job Snapshot Role:
Project Controls Director
- Program Governance

Location:

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Industry: Construction Function:
Project-Program Management

Experience:

25 years in project controls, including 15 years in senior leadership roles Job Type: Full-time

Country:
Saudi Arabia City:
Riyadh Industry: Construction Function:
Project-Program Management Salary:  Estimated salary range based on similar jobs in the job city; please confirm the final offer with the employer. Gender: Any Candidate Nationality:
Any Job Type: Full-time

The Project Controls Director will own the controls framework that connects schedule, cost, risk, change, contracts, and executive reporting across a major multi-contractor development program. The position will establish common standards and systems while ensuring individual project packages produce consistent, auditable, and forward-looking information. A central objective is to identify emerging cost and schedule exposure early enough for leadership to take corrective action before issues affect contractual milestones, contingency, cash flow, or overall program outcomes.

• Establish the program-wide project controls strategy, governance framework, systems, procedures, and reporting requirements.
• Develop project control plans and performance measurement structures aligned with Client and program objectives.
• Integrate planning, scheduling, cost management, risk, change control, and performance reporting across the complete project lifecycle.
• Standardize project controls policies and methodologies across multiple packages, contractors, consultants, and delivery teams.
• Direct preparation and governance of the integrated master schedule.
• Ensure engineering, procurement, construction, testing, commissioning, operational readiness, and handover activities are logically integrated.
• Review contractor schedules for contractual compliance, realistic logic, appropriate resources, and alignment with program milestones.
• Monitor critical and near-critical paths and identify emerging threats to schedule certainty.
• Lead critical path analysis, schedule risk assessment, and resource-loaded scheduling strategies.
• Develop schedule forecasts and direct preparation of mitigation and recovery plans where performance deviates from baseline.
• Challenge unrealistic sequencing, productivity assumptions, constraints, and recovery proposals.
• Direct cost engineering activities covering estimating, budgeting, cost control, expenditure tracking, and cash flow forecasting.
• Establish approved project cost baselines and maintain visibility of commitments, actual expenditure, forecasts, and remaining liabilities.
• Lead monthly cost reporting, variance analysis, estimate-at-completion reviews, and financial performance forecasting.
• Analyze cost trends and initiate corrective measures where projected performance threatens approved budgets.
• Maintain alignment between cost and schedule information through integrated performance measurement.
• Apply Earned Value Management principles where appropriate to evaluate physical progress and cost efficiency.
• Establish and maintain comprehensive program risk management processes.
• Lead risk identification workshops involving project leadership and relevant delivery functions.
• Direct qualitative and quantitative risk assessments covering cost and schedule uncertainty.
• Oversee schedule and cost risk modeling to support contingency assessment and management decisions.
• Maintain program risk registers and monitor exposure, mitigation actions, ownership, and residual risk.
• Escalate significant threats and opportunities to senior leadership with clear recommendations.
• Direct the evaluation and control of project changes, variations, and emerging trends.
• Establish formal change governance covering identification, assessment, approval, baseline integration, and implementation.
• Facilitate Change Control Board meetings and ensure decisions are supported by adequate cost, schedule, risk, and contractual analysis.
• Coordinate with Commercial and Contracts teams on claims, entitlement assessments, variations, and negotiation strategies.
• Maintain accurate visibility of early warnings, potential changes, pending decisions, and claims exposure.
• Ensure approved changes are incorporated into the appropriate schedule and cost baselines.
• Lead development of executive dashboards, performance reports, KPIs, and management presentations.
• Convert complex project data into concise…