Program Manager at Contemporary Group Limited

Role Overview

• Contemporary Group Ltd is seeking a highly competent and experienced Project Manager to strengthen its project delivery structure and support the management of an expanding portfolio of complex architectural, construction, hospitality, healthcare, residential, commercial, and institutional projects.
• The Project Manager will coordinate project activities from planning through delivery, ensuring that consultants, contractors, design teams, and other project stakeholders remain aligned with approved scope, programme, cost, and quality expectations.
• The successful candidate must possess strong construction and architectural knowledge and be able to understand and interpret architectural drawings, project documentation, consultant inputs, and site-related issues.
• This role is intended for a decisive and highly organised professional who can independently manage day-to-day project issues, drive accountability across project teams, and escalate only matters requiring strategic or Managing Director-level intervention.

Responsibilities
Project Planning and Delivery:

• Develop, maintain, and monitor project implementation plans, project schedules, key milestones, and delivery targets.
• Coordinate projects from inception, design development, procurement, construction, commissioning, and project close-out.
• Monitor project progress against agreed programme, budget, scope, and deliverables.
• Identify potential delays, project risks, and delivery constraints before they materially affect project performance.
• Ensure clear corrective actions are agreed, assigned, documented, and followed through.
• Maintain a clear understanding of the overall status of each assigned project.

Project Coordination:

• Coordinate architects, structural engineers, mechanical and electrical consultants, quantity surveyors, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, and other project stakeholders.
• Ensure timely communication and coordination between design consultants and site teams.
• Identify and escalate conflicts between architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, and other project information.
• Organise and lead project coordination meetings, progress meetings, consultant meetings, and contractor review meetings.
• Ensure meeting actions, decisions, and responsibilities are clearly documented.
• Follow up professionally and persistently on outstanding actions and project deliverables.
• Ensure consultants and contractors meet agreed submission and response deadlines.

Architectural and Technical Understanding:

• Review and understand architectural drawings, plans, sections, elevations, schedules, specifications, and revisions.
• Understand the relationship between architectural, structural, and MEP documentation.
• Support the identification of design coordination issues and construction conflicts.
• Ensure construction activities are based on current and approved drawings.
• Track Requests for Information, drawing revisions, material submissions, shop drawings, consultant responses, and technical approvals.
•  Work closely with the Head of Architecture and relevant consultants on design-related project issues.
• Ensure technical issues are assigned to the responsible professional rather than unnecessarily escalated to the Managing Director.

Project Reporting and Executive Visibility:

• Prepare concise weekly and monthly project status reports.
• Maintain a project dashboard showing the status of each project as Green, Amber, or Red.
• Clearly report current project status, key issues, responsible party, required action, deadline, programme impact, cost implication, client decisions required, and matters requiring Managing Director intervention.
• Provide management with accurate, concise, and decision-focused project information.
• Ensure the Managing Director has visibility across projects without becoming involved in every routine operational matter.

Programme and Delay Management:

• Monitor approved project schedules and milestones.
• Identify activities affecting or potentially affecting the critical path.
• Track delays attributable to clients, consultants, contractors, suppliers, or internal project teams.
• Ensure delay risks are formally recorded and communicated.
• Work with relevant parties to develop recovery plans and corrective actions.
• Monitor implementation of agreed recovery strategies.

Cost, Change, and Commercial Coordination:

• Work closely with Quantity Surveyors and commercial teams to monitor variations and change requests.
• Ensure proposed project changes are properly documented before implementation where required.
• Track client instructions, consultant instructions, variation requests, and potential cost implications.
• Support management in identifying project decisions that may materially affect cost or programme.
• Ensure commercial and technical teams remain aligned on project changes.

Contractor and Consultant Performance:

• Monitor contractor and consultant performance against agreed obligations and deliverables.
• Ensure underperformance, missed deadlines, and outstanding deliverables are formally recorded.
• Lead professional follow-up and escalation on unresolved project matters.
• Support management in conducting contractor and consultant performance reviews.
• Maintain accountability across the project delivery team.
• Client and Stakeholder Management
• Maintain professional communication with clients and client representatives.
• Provide clear and accurate project updates.
• Understand client priorities, concerns, and pending decisions.
• Ensure client decisions required for project progress are clearly identified and followed up.
• Represent Contemporary Group professionally during project meetings, site visits, and stakeholder engagements.
• Manage challenging stakeholder conversations calmly and professionally.
  Site and Quality Oversight
• Conduct regular project site visits.
• Review actual site progress against reported progress and project programme.
• Work with technical professionals to identify quality, coordination, and workmanship concerns.
• Ensure identified defects and non-compliant works are documented and assigned for corrective action.
• Support snagging, project completion, commissioning, and handover activities.
  Risk and Issue Management
• Maintain project risk and issue registers.
• Identify emerging project risks.
• Assess the potential impact of identified issues on cost, programme, scope, quality, and client expectations.
• Assign issue ownership.
• Track issues through to closure.
• Ensure strategic risks are escalated early enough for management intervention.

Key Performance Indicators
Performance in this role may be assessed against:

• Project milestone achievement.
• Reduction in unresolved project issues.
• Timeliness of project reporting.
• Consultant and contractor action closure rates.
• Reduction in routine project matters escalated to the Managing Director.
• Accuracy of project status reporting.
• Project programme performance.
• Risk identification and resolution.Client satisfaction.
• Effectiveness of multidisciplinary project coordination.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Architecture, Construction Management, Project Management, Building, Engineering, or a related built-environment discipline.
• A strong architectural background or substantial architectural project exposure is highly preferred.
• 8-15 years of relevant project delivery experience.
• Demonstrable experience managing complex building or construction projects.
• Experience coordinating multidisciplinary consultants.
• Experience managing contractors and project stakeholders.
• Strong knowledge of project management principles and construction delivery processes.
• PMP, PRINCE2, PMI-CP, or other recognised project management certification is an advantage.
• Membership of a recognised professional body is an advantage.
• Strong knowledge of project scheduling and reporting systems.
• Experience in hospitality, healthcare, high-rise, institutional, commercial, or major residential projects will be an advantage.

Technical Knowledge / Skills:

• Architectural drawings.
• Structural drawings.
• MEP coordination.
• Project programmes and critical paths.
• Material submittals.
• Consultant instructions.
• Variations and change management.
• Interim valuations and payment processes.
• Project risk registers.
• Snagging.
• Practical completion.
• Project handover.
• Construction documentation.
• Contract administration.

Core Competencies:

• Strong project ownership.
• Decisive and solutions-oriented.
• Excellent coordination skills.
• Strong written and verbal communication.
• Ability to manage multiple complex projects.
• Ability to  work under pressure.
• Strong stakeholder management.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Professional confidence.
• Ability to challenge consultants and contractors professionally.
• Strong follow-through.
• Ability to distinguish routine project matters from matters requiring executive intervention.