Project Controls Director

Company Overview

Our client is a global construction firm known for delivering complex, high-value projects to prestigious clients worldwide. They specialize in technically demanding sectors where precision, scheduling certainty, and cost control are fundamental to success. With years of experience in regulated and highly engineered settings, they have built strong, repeat client relationships and long-term frameworks, demonstrating their trusted delivery capabilities.

The company maintains a substantial and growing project pipeline across Ireland and mainland Europe. Its leadership continues to invest in skilled management and robust systems to ensure dependable project delivery. This new role supports that growth strategy and represents a pivotal leadership hire.

Work Environment & Projects

Based in Dublin, you will lead the project controls division managing a portfolio of projects within life sciences, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and advanced technology sectors across Ireland and Europe. These projects are large-scale and technically intricate, often executed in live or strictly regulated environments where precise forecasting and detailed reporting underpin client trust.

As part of the senior leadership team, you will collaborate closely with project directors, commercial leaders, and operations heads. Your role is to be a trusted advisor on performance metrics, risk management, and forecasting at both project and organizational levels. The workplace culture values collaboration, accountability, transparency, and continuous enhancement.

This position offers the chance to define and elevate project controls standards company-wide: creating uniform processes, enhancing systems, and building a high-caliber team that includes planners, cost controllers, and project controls experts. Travel across European sites is expected based on project needs, complemented by a Dublin base.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the project controls function across multiple projects in Ireland and Europe, covering planning, scheduling, cost control, forecasting, and reporting.
• Develop and implement standardized project control practices, processes, and systems across all portfolio projects.
• Deliver clear, accurate programme, cost, earned value, and risk performance reports to senior leadership and clients.
• Manage integrated cost and schedule controls including baseline setting, change management, and forecast-to-completion reporting.
• Promote proactive risk and opportunity management, identify early warning signs, and support mitigation plans.
• Collaborate with project directors and commercial leaders to support informed decision-making, ensuring margin protection and schedule reliability.
• Recruit, mentor, and grow a skilled project controls team composed of planners and cost controllers.
• Represent project controls at client governance meetings and senior stakeholder forums.
• Advocate for digital tools, data-driven reporting, and ongoing continuous improvement within project controls.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• Substantial leadership experience in project controls within construction, engineering, or infrastructure sectors, ideally at head or director level.
• Demonstrated success managing complex, large-scale multi-project controls portfolios.
• Experience in life sciences, pharmaceuticals, or similarly critical industries is highly advantageous, though candidates from other complex, high-value sectors will be considered.
• Expertise in planning, cost control, earned value management, and forecasting with advanced skills in Primavera P6 and related reporting tools.
• Knowledgeable in contract types such as NEC and FIDIC and their effects on change and schedule management.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, quantity surveying, construction management, or a related field; professional certifications such as MRICS, MSCSI, APM, or AACE are a plus.
• Outstanding communication and stakeholder management capabilities with influence at executive and client levels.

Compensation & Benefits

This senior role offers an annual salary of €175,000, reflecting its strategic importance. The package includes comprehensive benefits and reimbursement for travel related to European projects. This position provides significant leadership influence, a path toward board-level roles, and potential long-term equity opportunities as the company expands. The role offers a stable career platform with the opportunity to define and lead a critical function within the business.