Project Manager (Hospitality / F&B Fit-Out & Openings)

DEAL Holdings; Dubai; On-site; AED 335,000 - 580,000; Full time

Job summary

DEAL Holdings seeks a proactive Project Manager to drive multiple hospitality and F&B fit-out projects from design through handover and opening. You will coordinate design development, procurement, construction, and commissioning while aligning with programme and budget, leveraging strong MS Project/Smartsheet capabilities and Excel tracking.

The role emphasizes structured delivery, stakeholder coordination, and hands-on site oversight to ensure opening readiness and operational transition.

Qualifications

• 3-6 years’ experience in project management, project coordination, fit-out delivery, or construction-related roles
• Proven experience supporting or managing fit-out, hospitality, restaurant, retail, or store opening projects
• Exposure to construction, interior fit-out, and site coordination
• Good understanding of project delivery stages from design through handover
• Strong programme and reporting skills, including experience with MS Project, Smartsheet, or similar planning tools
• Strong Excel skills, including trackers, cost monitoring, and reporting
• Organised, detail-oriented, and able to manage multiple moving parts across live projects
• Clear communication skills and confidence in coordinating with consultants, contractors, and internal teams
• Able to work in a structured way while remaining practical and hands-on

Responsibilities

• Support and manage the day-to-day delivery of multiple fit-out and opening projects across hospitality and F&B sites
• Coordinate project activities from design development through procurement, construction, handover, and opening
• Work closely with internal stakeholders, designers, consultants, contractors, suppliers, and operations teams to keep projects moving in line with programme and budget
• Assist in driving projects through all stages of delivery, ensuring that actions, approvals, and dependencies are followed up on proactively
• Support senior project leadership in maintaining delivery standards, timelines, and reporting requirements
• Monitor on-site progress during fit-out and construction phases
• Track contractor performance, key milestones, design issue resolution, and site readiness
• Coordinate with consultants and contractors to ensure works are aligned with approved drawings, project requirements, and delivery dates
• Identify programme risks, construction delays, incomplete information, or coordination issues and elevate them appropriately
• Support site inspections, snagging, testing, commissioning, and handover processes
• Develop and maintain project programmes, trackers, and progress reports
• Monitor key stages including design deliverables, statutory approvals, procurement, site mobilisation, fit-out progress, testing, handover, and opening readiness
• Prepare weekly and monthly project updates for PMO and management review
• Maintain action logs, risk registers, issue trackers, and project reporting dashboards
• Ensure project information is accurate, organised, and current
• Track approved budgets, committed costs, variations, and forecast spend against project progress
• Support the monitoring of consultant fees, contractor payments, and project cash flow milestones
• Flag potential budget overruns, discrepancies, and cost risks to the PMO or senior project team
• Assist in maintaining CapEx summaries and payment tracking across live projects
• Support pre-opening coordination, ensuring project delivery aligns with operational launch requirements
• Work with operations and brand teams to track opening-critical items including FF&E, equipment, utilities readiness, authority sign-offs, training coordination, and final handover requirements
• Assist in ensuring that the transition from project completion to live operations is properly managed
• Support project close-out documentation and post-opening follow-up where required
• Maintain structured project files, logs, reporting templates, and document control processes
• Ensure project records are complete and properly filed across drawings, approvals, contracts, trackers, and handover documents
• Support continuous improvement of project reporting, templates, and PMO controls

Skills

Stakeholder coordination

Communication

Structured approach

Education

Degree in Construction Management

BSc in Architecture/Engineering

Tools

MS Project

Smartsheet

Excel

Job description

We are seeking multiple Project Managers to support the delivery of hospitality and F&B fit-out projects, with a particular focus on restaurant openings, site delivery, and project coordination from design through to handover and launch.

This role is suited to someone who has gained solid early project management experience and is ready to take more ownership of live projects, while still developing under a structured PMO or senior project leadership environment. The ideal candidate will have experience in restaurant, hospitality, retail, or store opening projects, with direct exposure to fit-out, construction coordination, programme tracking, and operational readiness.

Candidates with an understanding of F&B environments, particularly the practical delivery of restaurant fit-outs and openings, will be strongly preferred.

Key Responsibilities

• Support and manage the day-to-day delivery of multiple fit-out and opening projects across hospitality and F&B sites
• Coordinate project activities from design development through procurement, construction, handover, and opening
• Work closely with internal stakeholders, designers, consultants, contractors, suppliers, and operations teams to keep projects moving in line with programme and budget
• Assist in driving projects through all stages of delivery, ensuring that actions, approvals, and dependencies are followed up on proactively
• Support senior project leadership in maintaining delivery standards, timelines, and reporting requirements

Fit-Out & Construction Management

• Monitor on-site progress during fit-out and construction phases
• Track contractor performance, key milestones, design issue resolution, and site readiness
• Coordinate with consultants and contractors to ensure works are aligned with approved drawings, project requirements, and delivery dates
• Identify programme risks, construction delays, incomplete information, or coordination issues and elevate them appropriately
• Support site inspections, snagging, testing, commissioning, and handover processes

Programme & Reporting

• Develop and maintain project programmes, trackers, and progress reports
• Monitor key stages including:
• Design deliverables
• Statutory and authority approvals
• Procurement and long-lead items
• Site mobilisation
• Fit-out progress
• Testing, handover, and opening readiness
• Prepare weekly and monthly project updates for PMO and management review
• Maintain action logs, risk registers, issue trackers, and project reporting dashboards
• Ensure project information is accurate, organised, and current

Budget & Commercial Support

• Track approved budgets, committed costs, variations, and forecast spend against project progress
• Support the monitoring of consultant fees, contractor payments, and project cash flow milestones
• Flag potential budget overruns, discrepancies, and cost risks to the PMO or senior project team
• Assist in maintaining CapEx summaries and payment tracking across live projects

Openings & Operational Readiness

• Support pre-opening coordination, ensuring project delivery aligns with operational launch requirements
• Work with operations and brand teams to track opening-critical items including FF&E, equipment, utilities readiness, authority sign-offs, training coordination, and final handover requirements
• Assist in ensuring that the transition from project completion to live operations is properly managed
• Support project close-out documentation and post-opening follow-up where required

Documentation & Systems

• Maintain structured project files, logs, reporting templates, and document control processes
• Ensure project records are complete and properly filed across drawings, approvals, contracts, trackers, and handover documents
• Support continuous improvement of project reporting, templates, and PMO controls

Candidate Requirements

• 3-6 years’ experience in project management, project coordination, fit-out delivery, or construction-related roles
• Proven experience supporting or managing fit-out, hospitality, restaurant, retail, or store opening projects
• Exposure to construction, interior fit-out, and site coordination
• Good understanding of project delivery stages from design through handover
• Strong programme and reporting skills, including experience with MS Project, Smartsheet, or similar planning tools
• Strong Excel skills, including trackers, cost monitoring, and reporting
• Organised, detail-oriented, and able to manage multiple moving parts across live projects
• Clear communication skills and confidence in coordinating with consultants, contractors, and internal teams
• Able to work in a structured way while remaining practical and hands-on

Preferred / Advantageous

• Experience in F&B or hospitality projects, especially restaurant fit-outs and openings
• Experience in retail rollouts, multi-site openings, or programme-based delivery
• PMP, PRINCE2, or similar project management certification
• Degree in Construction Management, Civil Engineering, Architecture, Interior Design, Project Management, or a related field
• Exposure to UAE approvals, landlord coordination, and handover processes
• Familiarity with pre-opening coordination and operational readiness for hospitality sites

Profile We Are Looking For

• A practical and organised project manager with the confidence to coordinate live projects and push actions forward
• Someone who understands that restaurant and hospitality delivery requires both construction discipline and opening readiness
• Comfortable working across consultants, contractors, procurement, operations, and PMO reporting
• Keen to develop further into a stronger standalone project manager over time
• Ideally someone who has worked on restaurant, café, hospitality, or retail fit-out projects, rather than purely office or generic construction environments