Senior Project Manager – Data Centres - (PM-L9.17) at Zutari

Role overview

• We are looking for a Senior Project Manager to join Zutari’s Project Management Unit and lead the delivery of our Data Centre projects. The Senior Project Manager is the single point of accountability within Zutari for project delivery performance, commercial outcomes, programme achievement and client satisfaction.
• The role works in close partnership with the Design Manager, who owns the design delivery process and is accountable for design coordination, integration, technical quality and technical decisions. The Senior Project Manager leads the project as a whole: scope, programme, fees, resources, risk, commercial performance, contract and client management. Together they make sure the project team has clear priorities, the right resources and timely decisions.
• The role does not require the Senior Project Manager to be the technical authority in every discipline. It does require a sound working understanding of how data centres are designed, procured, built and commissioned, so that the Senior Project Manager can challenge the programme, spot interface risks early and hold the project team to its commitments.

Role responsibilities

Project delivery and controls

• Lead Zutari’s delivery of Data Centre projects from pursuit and appointment through mobilisation, design, construction support, commissioning, handover and close-out.
• Lead project mobilisation, including kick-off, stakeholder mapping, setting up governance and communication protocols, developing the commercial baseline and putting project controls in place.
• Establish the project execution plan, work breakdown structure, programme, budget, resource plan, risk register and reporting routines.
• Develop and maintain an integrated project programme covering design, procurement, statutory approvals, construction support, commissioning and handover. Identify the critical path and key dependencies, and align the programme with the client’s master programme, long-lead equipment procurement and the contractor’s construction sequence.
• Manage scope, change control, variations and additional services. Identify deviations early, then assess, substantiate and negotiate them so that they become approved additional fees where applicable.
• Own project commercial performance, including fees, expenditure, invoicing, work in progress, forecast to complete, revenue forecasts, cash collection and margin.
• Manage the professional services appointment and sub-consultant agreements and track contractual obligations and deliverables.
• Manage project close-out, including client acceptance, commercial reconciliation, lessons learnt, final reporting and transition to operations.
• Apply Zutari’s project management, governance, quality and commercial requirements consistently.

Project team leadership and resourcing

• Lead the multidisciplinary project team, including civil, structural, electrical, mechanical, fire, building services and controls disciplines, on resourcing, budgets and programme commitments. Hold each discipline accountable for delivering its agreed scope within its allocated fee and programme.
• Agree information release and stage-gate approval dates with the client and build them into the project programme.
• Resolve delivery conflicts between programme, resources and technical requirements, working with the Design Manager and discipline leads.
• Forecast resource needs across all project phases, secure the right multidisciplinary capability, identify resource constraints early and resolve resource conflicts with discipline leads and line managers.
• Track progress against approved baselines, analyse deviations, put recovery plans in place, and manage the impact of programme changes on procurement, construction and commissioning.
• Coordinate programme, information exchange and commercial interfaces with architects, equipment vendors and other consultants on the client’s team.

Stage governance and construction-stage services

• Manage stage gates from a contractual and commercial perspective: confirm stage deliverables against the appointment, obtain client sign-off and authority to proceed, and align fee drawdown with each stage.
• Plan and manage Zutari’s tender-stage service, including programme, resourcing and client communication, and support the client’s procurement of contractors and long-lead equipment.
• Manage Zutari’s construction-stage service, including registers for requests for information (RFIs) and submittals, response times, site inspection schedules, resourcing and progress reporting.
• Make sure the commissioning strategy and sequence, integrated systems testing and operational readiness are planned from the start of the project and built into the overall programme. Coordinate Zutari’s role in testing, commissioning and handover, including as-built information and operation and maintenance (O&M) documentation.

Client and stakeholder management

• Act as Zutari’s senior point of contact for the client’s project manager and project team on delivery, programme and commercial matters.
• Prepare clear progress reports, dashboards and decision papers. Lead project governance forums, drive timely decisions on scope, programme, commercial and technical matters, and record decisions and their impacts in the project decision register.
• Manage the contractual interface with contractors, and the process, programme and correspondence for utility applications and statutory approvals, including bulk power and water.
• Report to the Project Director monthly, and at key project milestones, on progress against programme, forecast fee and margin, invoicing and debtors, key risks and issues, client relationship health and resourcing needs.
• Escalate to the Project Director promptly, with options and a recommendation, when a threshold set in the project execution plan is, or is likely to be, exceeded. Typical triggers include forecast margin falling below the bid margin, a delay to a contractual or critical-path milestone, scope growth the client has not agreed to pay for, a client complaint, dispute or potential claim, a significant health and safety or professional liability risk, and resource shortfalls that put delivery at risk.
• Record each escalation, the decision taken and the follow-up actions in the project decision register and confirm closure with the Project Director.

Risk, quality and health and safety

• Own the project risk register and manage commercial, contractual, programme and site risks, including power availability and grid connection, long-lead equipment, compressed programmes and live-site constraints.
• Make sure the project quality plan is in place, and that Zutari’s review, checking and approval procedures are followed and recorded before deliverables are issued.
• Make sure Zutari’s designer obligations under the Construction Regulations are planned, resourced and recorded on each project.
• Keep project records, approvals, decisions, actions and deliverables controlled and auditable.

Business development and team leadership

• Lead proposals for new Data Centre opportunities, including delivery approach, fee estimates, programme, resourcing and commercial terms.
• Develop trusted client relationships, identify future opportunities, support account growth strategies, and secure follow-on phases, expansions and additional services during delivery.
• Contribute to bid strategy, client presentations and go/no-go decisions on Data Centre pursuits.
• Mentor and develop junior project managers and project controllers and help build the PMU’s data centre delivery capability.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of data centre delivery methods, templates and project controls across Zutari.

Minimum requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering (electrical, mechanical or civil), Construction Management, Quantity Surveying, Built Environment or a related discipline.
• 10–15 years’ relevant experience, including at least seven years as the accountable Project Manager on multidisciplinary engineering projects.
• Demonstrated experience managing projects delivered by multidisciplinary design teams in a consulting engineering environment.
• Experience delivering multidisciplinary engineering projects in data centres or other mission-critical environments. Direct data centre experience is preferred, but experience in hospitals, pharmaceutical facilities, laboratories, substations, industrial plants or similar complex facilities will also be considered.
• Strong command of project planning, financial management, risk, change control, quality and reporting.
• Working knowledge of professional services appointments and construction contracts such as NEC, FIDIC, JBCC or PROCSA, and of stage frameworks such as the RIBA stages.
• Proficiency in Microsoft 365 and planning tools such as Microsoft Project or Primavera P6.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to explain technical matters clearly to clients and senior stakeholders.
• Ability to manage several concurrent projects and maintain disciplined follow-through on actions, decisions, deliverables and commercial matters.

Preferred qualifications and experience

• Recognised project management qualification or certification, such as PMP, PRINCE2 or equivalent.
• Professional registration with ECSA (Pr.Eng or Pr.Tech Eng) or SACPCMP (Pr.CPM), or membership of PMI or PMSA (Project Management South Africa).
• Data centre-specific training or certification, such as the Uptime Institute Accredited Tier Designer or Certified Data Centre Design Professional (CDCDP) would be advantageous.
• Experience delivering for hyperscale or colocation clients, including working to client design standards and global programme requirements.
• Experience managing project delivery across multiple Zutari offices or with international project teams.