What this job actually is
You will be given one project, a named team, and the authority to protect the date. You will not be given a second layer of management to hide behind — your name goes on the contract as project director, and when the programme slips you are the person in the room explaining why and what changes.
That is the trade. Real authority, real exposure.
The first ninety days
Mobilization. You will inherit a signed contract and a site that is probably not as described. Your first job is to read the ground before you commit to anything: geotech, utilities, access, and the gap between the record drawings and reality.
We would rather you spend six weeks producing a programme you believe in than four days producing one that looks good in a kickoff deck.
How you will be measured
Not on progress against the master programme — that is reporting, not management. We look at percent plan complete against what your own team committed to, at whether your constraint log has owners and dates, and at whether your reasons-for-variance say something specific enough to act on.
And at the handover: snag count, documentation completeness, and whether the client calls you again.
Who you will work with
You will report to the COO and sit alongside the technical director on design review, the commercial director on the cost plan, and the HSE director on everything that touches the workface. All three carry live projects themselves, so expect informed questions rather than status requests.