Head of Project Management

Description

The role is the single senior point of accountability that bridges construction, operations and the customer during the build and handover phases.

It owns the customer relationship through delivery, protects and grows revenue from customer works, and builds the capability to deliver Pure DC’s own lifecycle capital programmes.

Where projects sit outside the UK, the Head of Project Management leverages the regional team and approved third parties to award and manage delivery consistently to Pure DC standards.

The role is built around three core pillars of responsibility

1. Construction-to-operations bridge –

Acting as the customer’s relationship manager through the build phase, handling variations and change requests, and ensuring a controlled transition into operations.

This removes the friction Operations experiences from limited customer connectivity during construction and provides continuity of ownership up to handover.

2. Customer growth and additional revenue –

Engaging with customers early enough to identify and win works that would otherwise be lost to third parties – for example white-space cabling, structured cabling and fit-out – intercepting activity ahead of competitors where commercially viable.

3. Lifecycle capex delivery –

Building and leading the capability to plan and deliver Pure DC’s own lifecycle capital works, including repair, replacement and end-of-life upgrade programmes as the portfolio scales.

Strategic customer ownership

The role provides each key hyperscaler tenant with a consistent, single point of contact across their Pure DC estate – for example acting as the relationship lead for Microsoft across Amsterdam, Finland and London – and coordinating with the regional team to maintain equivalent ownership for customers across the Middle East and Asia.

Responsibilities

The Head of Project Management must carry out the following diligently, following industry guidelines and best-practice techniques:

• Delivery & project ownership
• Take end-to-end ownership of customer technical fit-out and internal operational projects – defining scope, business cases, project plans, programmes, schedules, risk registers and budget forecasts.
• Own project budgets, ensuring budgets are sought and agreed by the appropriate budget holder before any work is instructed, and track costs against forecast throughout delivery.
• Lead the review and sign-off of all submissions from customers and contractors, ensuring alignment of scope, design (including all levels of drawings) and expectations, with all elements witnessed, signed off and documented.
• Ensure compliance of all internal and external stakeholders with Health, Safety and Environmental regulations and Pure DC company standards.
• Customer relationship & growth
• Act as the primary relationship owner for the customer through the construction-to-operations phase, providing regular project updates and managing variations and change requests through to handover.
• Identify and secure additional customer works (NRCs) by engaging early in the delivery lifecycle, developing viable scopes, obtaining quotes and converting opportunities that would otherwise be lost to third parties.
• Provide each key customer with a consistent single point of contact across their Pure DC estate, coordinating delivery across multiple sites and regions.
• Commercial & contractor management
• Lead negotiations with contractors, ensuring full scope coverage with no required elements excluded, and collaborate with Procurement and Finance on supplier contracts, cost tracking and approvals.
• Correctly award and manage approved third-party delivery partners (e. g. CBRE, JLL) on projects outside the UK, ensuring delivery to Pure DC standards and value for money.
• Apply value engineering to reduce cost through creative solutions with no impact on quality or reliability.
• Lifecycle & internal projects
• Support and, where complexity requires, lead site engineering teams on in-house operational projects – e. g. office/space redesign, end-of-life-cycle replacements and building H&S upgrades.
• Anticipate, plan and deliver lifecycle capital replacement programmes across the portfolio.
• Leadership
• Lead and develop the project delivery function, including line management of the Regional Project Manager (Middle East & Asia) and coordination of third-party delivery partners.
• Develop and embed repeatable processes, templates and governance to ensure transparent information flow between contractors, datacentre management and customers, and to scale the function without reliance on individual expertise.

Ongoing liaison is required with all seniority levels of customer, construction, operations and security management, including:

• Customer project, construction, operations and security management
• Pure DC senior management and Operations leadership
• Pure DC datacentre management and site engineering teams
• Pure DC construction / GC team
• Pure DC Finance and Procurement
• Regional Project Manager (Middle East & Asia) and third-party delivery partners (e. g. CBRE, JLL)

Qualifications

• Qualified in an Electrical or Mechanical capacity within the data centre industry, ideally to degree level.
• Substantial experience leading and delivering large, complex projects involving mechanical and electrical (MEP) systems, ideally within live datacentre or critical environments.
• Proven track record of managing project delivery at a senior / head-of level, including line management of teams and/or third-party delivery partners.
• Strong commercial and contractor management experience – RFPs, bidding, change orders, contract negotiation and budget ownership.
• Demonstrated ability to own and grow customer relationships during delivery, and to identify and convert additional works.
• Understanding of data centre system-level architecture, performance/equipment specification, conceptual design and project documentation.
• HSE / CDM management experience.
• Value engineering: proven ability to reduce cost through creative solutions with no impact on quality and reliability.
• Experience in controls and commissioning of complex projects.

Desirable

• Prince2 Practitioner or PMP certification; CNET Data Centre Professional qualifications in Project Management and Data Centre Design.
• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Mechanical or Civil Engineering, Construction Management or equivalent (or 4+ years related construction management experience in lieu).
• NEBOSH qualification in Health and Safety Management.
• Experience anticipating and planning/delivering lifecycle replacement projects.
• Experience with power management and power monitoring systems.
• Certifications such as Professional Engineer (PE) and/or Certified Construction Manager (CCM).
• Full driving licence.