Project Director (Construction)

AA Euro Recruitment Group has been retained by one of our clients to recruit a Project Director for the Data Centre Project in the Netherlands. This role presents a fantastic opportunity for the successful candidate to progress their career with a highly respected employer. Our client is a leading international technical engineering and construction partner operating across the UK, EMEA, the Americas and APAC, specialising in the Food, Pharmaceutical, Logistics, Data Centre and Advanced Manufacturing sectors. This is a long term, permanent job opportunity.

The Project Director provides executive leadership, strategic direction, and operational oversight for major construction projects in the Netherlands, particularly large-scale hyperscale, colocation, and enterprise data centre facilities, as well as complex technical engineering projects. This senior role oversees the full lifecycle of high-value, multidisciplinary design-and-build projects, including Civil, Structural, Architectural (CSA) and MEP delivery & commissioning. The Project Director serves as the primary liaison between the client, company leadership, design managers and consultants, and key subcontractors, ensuring project excellence, commercial integrity, and strict adherence to Dutch safety and regulatory requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Project Leadership
  • Lead the full delivery of complex data centre construction projects and large-scale technical engineering projects.
  • Oversee master planning, design coordination, preconstruction, procurement, construction, commissioning, IST/FAT/SAT stages, and project handover.
  • Define project execution strategies that support availability, redundancy, resilience, and uptime standards required for mission-critical environments.
  • Ensure integration of CSA, MEP, and specialist data centre systems (cooling, electrical, controls, MV/LV, UPS, generators, BMS).
  • Drive schedule performance and proactively resolve design, delivery, or commissioning challenges.
• Financial & Commercial Management
  • Establish project budgets and manage cost reporting, forecasting, cash flow, and financial controls.
  • Oversee commercial management of high-value contracts, claims, variations, change orders, and commercial risk.
  • Ensure profitability and financial compliance across multi-phase or multi-building data centre campuses.
  • Support business development and proposals for new data centre and advanced technical infrastructure projects.
• Team Leadership & Development
  • Lead and mentor multidisciplinary teams: project managers, construction managers, commissioning managers, planners, QS/commercial teams, and engineers.
  • Champion a culture of operational excellence, accountability, and performance.
  • Build high-performing teams capable of delivering complex technical construction environments.
• Risk, Quality & Safety Management
  • Implement robust risk management frameworks specific to data centre and mission-critical construction environments.
  • Ensure compliance with Dutch construction legislation (Baurecht, Arbeitnehmerschutzgesetz) and data centre quality standards (Tier ratings, Uptime Institute principles).
  • Oversee quality assurance, commissioning strategy, integrated systems testing, and validation.
  • Drive high standards of safety, environmental performance, and regulatory compliance.
• Client & Stakeholder Management
  • Act as the senior point of contact for hyperscale clients, colocation providers, and major industrial operators.
  • Build strong long-term relationships with clients, consultants, specialist subcontractors, and regulatory authorities.
  • Lead executive-level meetings, progress reviews, commissioning updates, and project governance sessions.
  • Negotiate commercial terms, scope adjustments, and project-critical decisions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Architecture, or similar (Master’s preferred).
• Minimum 15+ years of construction management experience, including significant experience in:

• Data centre construction (hyperscale, colocation, enterprise)
• Large technical / industrial construction projects (€100M+)
• Complex MEP-heavy environments

Core Competencies

• Strategic program leadership
• Data centre and technical project delivery expertise
• Commercial and contract management
• Stakeholder and client relationship excellence
• Team leadership and talent development
• Problem-solving, risk management, and resilience
• Professional presence, integrity, and accountability

As part of our recruitment process, reference checks will be conducted at the job offer stage. By applying for this position, you consent to these checks as a condition of employment.