Senior Project Director

PURPOSE

The Project Director will lead the planning, execution, and successful delivery of a high-profile strategic initiative of significant importance to the organization.

This is a senior leadership role responsible for driving complex, cross-functional projects involving multiple internal and external stakeholders, ensuring delivery against ambitious timelines, quality standards, governance requirements, and strategic objectives.

The successful candidate will combine outstanding project leadership with exceptional stakeholder management, commercial awareness, and the ability to operate effectively in fast-paced, high-profile international environments where discretion and confidentiality are essential.

CONTEXT

The Project Director will report to the Executive Leadership Team and work closely with senior internal stakeholders, external partners, government representatives, suppliers, consultants, and executive sponsors.

The project will involve coordination across multiple workstreams, requiring strong governance, risk management, financial oversight, and executive reporting.

Given the confidential nature of the programme, the individual must demonstrate the highest levels of professionalism, integrity, and judgement while leading multidisciplinary teams towards successful delivery.

The role requires an experienced leader who is comfortable operating with limited direction, making strategic decisions, resolving complex challenges, and representing the organization at senior levels.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Leadership

• Lead the end-to-end delivery of a strategically important international project.
• Develop and execute comprehensive project plans, governance structures, and delivery frameworks.
• Ensure alignment between project objectives and organizational strategy.
• Provide strategic advice and recommendations to Executive Leadership throughout the project lifecycle.
• Drive decision-making through clear analysis, business cases, and risk assessments.

Programme & Project Management

• Establish and manage detailed project plans, milestones, budgets, and resource allocation.
• Monitor project performance against agreed objectives, timelines, and KPIs.
• Identify project risks, develop mitigation strategies, and proactively resolve issues.
• Manage multiple parallel workstreams while maintaining overall programme coordination.
• Ensure project governance standards are consistently applied.

Stakeholder Management

• Build trusted relationships with senior executives, partners, government representatives, industry leaders, and other key stakeholders.
• Lead high-level meetings, steering committees, and executive briefings.
• Manage expectations across diverse stakeholder groups.
• Negotiate complex agreements and facilitate consensus among competing interests.
• Represent the organization professionally at confidential meetings and strategic discussions.

Financial & Commercial Management

• Develop and manage project budgets.
• Monitor expenditure and ensure appropriate financial governance.
• Oversee procurement activities where required.
• Evaluate commercial opportunities and manage supplier relationships.
• Ensure value for money and effective resource utilization.

Leadership

• Lead multidisciplinary project teams across different functions and geographies.
• Foster collaboration, accountability, and high performance.
• Provide direction, coaching, and support to project team members.
• Build effective working relationships across the organization.
• Promote continuous improvement and best practice in project delivery.

Reporting & Governance

• Produce executive-level reports, dashboards, and presentations.
• Provide regular updates to senior leadership and governance bodies.
• Ensure appropriate documentation, reporting, and audit trails.
• Maintain effective project controls and quality assurance processes.

Risk & Compliance

• Ensure project activities comply with organizational policies and relevant regulations.
• Maintain comprehensive project risk registers.
• Manage issues, dependencies, and change requests.
• Protect confidential information and maintain strict information security standards.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Experience

• Significant experience leading large-scale strategic programmes or complex international projects.
• Proven track record delivering high-profile initiatives involving multiple stakeholders.
• Experience managing executive-level relationships.
• Experience managing substantial project budgets.
• Demonstrated success leading multidisciplinary teams.
• Experience operating in international or global organizations.
• Experience working with confidential or politically sensitive projects is highly desirable.

Knowledge

• Advanced knowledge of programme and project management methodologies.
• Strong understanding of governance frameworks and risk management.
• Financial management and budgeting experience.
• Commercial negotiation and supplier management.
• Strategic planning and organizational change.
• Excellent understanding of executive reporting and performance management.

Professional project management certifications (such as PMP, PRINCE2 Practitioner, MSP, or equivalent) would be advantageous.

SKILLS

• Outstanding leadership and people management skills.
• Exceptional project and programme management capability.
• Excellent strategic thinking and problem-solving ability.
• Outstanding communication and presentation skills.
• Strong influencing and negotiation skills.
• Excellent organizational and planning abilities.
• Ability to manage competing priorities under pressure.
• Strong commercial awareness.
• High attention to detail.
• Excellent written and spoken English.