Senior Project Construction Manager in Woking

We are seeking a Senior Project Construction Manager to play a pivotal leadership role from the earliest stages of a major project, offering a unique opportunity to influence delivery from concept through to completion. Unlike traditional construction roles, this position is embedded at the front end of the project lifecycle, adopting a “right-to-left” execution approach. Based initially in Woking for the first 12–18 months, you will work closely with engineering, supply chain, and project management teams to ensure the project is fully constructable, shaping construction strategy, optimising sequencing, and resolving potential issues early.

During this phase, you will play a key role in defining how the project will be built, contributing to core design decisions and ensuring alignment with execution plans, including the future site location (TCF). You will lead constructability efforts, oversee Path of Construction and Advanced Work Packaging, and manage a specialist team, while also overseeing the Site Construction Manager responsible for early works on site. This is a role with genuine influence, where you will help shape the project rather than inherit decisions made by others.

As the project progresses into later engineering stages, the role will transition internationally, relocating to Saudi Arabia (around month 19), where you will take overall responsibility for the construction phase. Maintaining a strategic leadership focus, you will drive coordination, performance, and stakeholder alignment, while site teams manage day-to-day execution. This is a long-term 50-month project offering continuity, senior leadership exposure, and the opportunity to see a complex brownfield development through from concept to completion, alongside the added benefit of tax-free earnings during the overseas phase.

Skills & Responsibilities:

• Strong leadership capability in managing large-scale EPC greenfield and brownfield projects
• Extensive experience in construction management within live operating environments
• Deep understanding of construction, completions, commissioning, and operability integration
• Ability to apply a “right-to-left” delivery approach (backward planning from handover to design)
• Strong knowledge of engineering, procurement, and project controls alignment
• Expertise in Saudi Aramco standards, procedures, and specifications, including Construction Safety Manual and CSI scoring requirements
• Strategic planning and execution oversight capability across full project lifecycle
• Strong stakeholder management and interface coordination skills
• Ability to lead multidisciplinary construction teams and oversee contractor performance
• Experience with shutdown planning, execution, and brownfield modifications
• Strong focus on safety, quality, cost, and schedule delivery

In addition to the responsibilities listed herein, the employee may be required to perform other ad-hoc tasks as needed or directed by the supervisor or management. These tasks will be within the reasonable scope of the employee's skills, capabilities, and role within the organization. The intent of this provision is to allow for flexibility and adaptability in meeting the dynamic needs of the organization, ensuring that operational requirements can be met efficiently. All such tasks will be assigned considering the employee's current workload and with respect to their professional development.

Your knowledge/skills, education, and experience:

• Provides strategic direction across all construction activities from early engineering through to full field execution, ensuring constructability, AWP and sequencing are embedded from the outset
• Leads mobilisation of the construction organisation, including recruitment and deployment of the Site Construction Manager, Area Construction Managers, AWP team, Shutdown Manager, Constructability Manager, Pre Commissioning and Handover Manager, and discipline leads
• Holds overall accountability for safe and predictable construction delivery in line with HSSE, schedule, cost and quality objectives across both home office and site phases
• Champions a zero accident culture, ensuring HSE in design, SIMOPS planning and control, SSMS deployment and full compliance with Saudi Aramco standards, procedures, Construction Safety Manual and CSI requirements
• Builds and maintains strong senior level relationships with client PMT and operations, representing the company at executive forums, management reviews and progress meetings
• Acts as the primary construction authority within the project, advising engineering, procurement and project controls on sequencing, constructability, IFC prioritisation and site execution constraints using a right to left delivery approach
• Leads development and implementation of the Construction Execution Strategy, Path of Construction and AWP program, aligned with the project schedule, contractual milestones and execution framework
• Maintains accountability for delivery across all execution phases, including shutdown planning, outage coordination, SIMOPS management, pre commissioning and handover readiness
• Provides leadership to the construction management team, setting clear objectives, performance expectations and accountability against project KPIs
• Oversees contractor and subcontractor performance across multiple work fronts, ensuring effective interface management within a live brownfield operating environment
• Coordinates execution across multiple locations and work areas, managing subcontractors and construction work fronts within a complex operating facility
• Identifies and resolves construction constraints, schedule conflicts, brownfield interfaces and SIMOPS challenges, escalating key issues to the Project Director with clear recommendations
• Accountable for construction cost performance, including productivity, earned value and change control, and supports commercial evaluation of variations and claims
• Ensures construction methodologies, procedures, lifting plans, shutdown plans and work packs are compliant with project requirements and Saudi Aramco standards
• Ensures all construction governance systems are implemented and consistently applied, including permit to work, SIMOPS, AWP, quality control, document control and materials management
• Plans and manages the full construction lifecycle from early set up through mobilisation, execution and demobilisation, aligned with manpower plans and workface requirements
• Maintains close alignment with the Project Director and functional leads across engineering, procurement and project controls to ensure an integrated delivery approach
• Leads construction input into commissioning, completions and handover, ensuring systems are delivered in line with turnover and operational readiness requirements.
• Reports regularly on construction performance, including HSSE, schedule, resources and commercial status, providing structured input to client and internal reviews
• Acts in alignment with Project Director authority, escalating decisions where required in a timely and structured manner
• Maintains current knowledge of Saudi Aramco standards, regulatory requirements and EPC construction best practice, including developments in AWP and execution methodologies
• Demonstrates leadership behaviours aligned with company values, setting clear expectations for performance and professionalism across the construction organisation
• Accountable for implementation of HSSEQ management systems and full compliance with Saudi Aramco safety and regulatory requirements across the project

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Construction Management or related discipline; Chartered or Professional Engineering status preferred (CEng, PEng or equivalent)
• Demonstrated strong experience in oil & gas EPC construction experience, with at least 5 years in a Senior Project Construction Manager or equivalent executive role on comparable large-scale brownfield EPC projects
• Prior direct experience managing EPC / EPCM projects of comparable scale and complexity for major National Oil Companies; Saudi Aramco brownfield project experience strongly preferred
• Demonstrated ability to embed HSE leadership into every level of the construction team and translate safety requirements into daily action
• AWP knowledge and practitioner-level experience across the full AWP lifecycle from CWA definition through IWP release and workface execution
• Expert knowledge of brownfield construction SIMOPS, PTW, shutdown and train outage management in a live hydrocarbon processing environment
• Excellent oral, written, presentation, and interpersonal communication skills; able to engage effectively from craft workforce to Saudi Aramco executive level
• MS Office proficiency (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) and working knowledge of Primavera P6, AVEVA Workpack, and associated AWP and digital project management platforms
• Works autonomously and with sound judgement under the pressure of a complex, multi-phase EPC project; creates an environment of trust, accountability, and high performance across all construction disciplines

Communication:

• Excellent command of the English language in both oral and written communication and skills

Behaviour/ Core Competencies:

At Kent, you will be trusted to lead independently and exercise sound judgement in the delivery of a major EPC project. You will bring strong practical knowledge of construction execution, advanced work packaging, brownfield delivery and Saudi Aramco standards, and apply that experience to achieve safe, predictable and high-quality outcomes across all project phases. You will take ownership of the construction organisation, not only leading but developing the team, ensuring experience and good practice are shared and that right to left thinking is understood and applied in day-to-day delivery. You will create a culture where people are clear on expectations, accountable for performance, and focused on getting the job done properly. You will work closely with engineering, procurement, commissioning, client and operations teams, building effective working relationships across all interfaces and maintaining a strong, credible presence with stakeholders at all levels.

HSSEQ:

The Employee shall observe the Health, Safety, Sustainability, Environment and Quality rules of the Company; its clients and the governing authorities of the host country. The Senior Construction Manager is accountable for the HSSE performance of the entire construction workforce, including direct staff, subcontractors and vendors, from early engineering through to final demobilisation.