Project Manager - Port & Terminal Infrastructure

Gulftainer; Sharjah; On-site; AED 300,000 - 540,000; Full time

Job summary

Gulftainer is seeking a capable Project Manager with deep experience in ports, terminals, logistics, or related infrastructure. You will own capital projects from feasibility through handover, challenging consultants and contractors while protecting programme, cost, and operational needs.

The role sits in a lean projects team and requires independent ownership, stakeholder management, and risk escalation when necessary. A strong client-side focus is essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in civil or construction engineering or related field.
• 8–12 years of relevant project delivery experience on capital projects.
• Experience leading client-side projects in port/terminal or logistics environments.
• Ability to coordinate multi-disciplinary teams and consultants.
• Knowledge of risk, cost control, schedule, and change management.

Responsibilities

• Take day-to-day ownership of projects from development to handover.
• Lead design management, procurement, and construction coordination.
• Coordinate stakeholders including authorities and operators.
• Prepare and review project schedules, budgets, and risk registers.
• Ensure compliance with safety, quality, and contractual requirements.

Skills

Project management

Stakeholder management

Commercial awareness

Contract administration

Risk management

Team leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering / Construction Management

Master’s degree (advantageous)

PMP / PRINCE2 / PMI-SP (advantageous)

Tools

Primavera P6

MS Project

Excel

AutoCAD

Power BI

BIM/Revit

Job description

We are seeking a capable and commercially aware Project Manager with experience in ports, terminals, logistics, industrial, or related infrastructure to manage capital projects from initial assessment through design, procurement, construction, commissioning, and handover.

The role sits within a lean projects team and requires an individual who can take genuine ownership of projects rather than simply administer them. The successful candidate will work across technical, operational, commercial, and stakeholder interfaces and will be expected to independently drive projects while escalating key decisions, risks, and strategic issues when required.

This is a client-side project management role. It requires sufficient technical depth to challenge consultants, contractors, and proposed solutions, while maintaining focus on programme, cost, risk, constructability, operational requirements, and business objectives.

Key Responsibilities

Project Development & Feasibility

• Support the assessment of new port, terminal, logistics, warehouse, depot, and infrastructure development opportunities.
• Review available site information, operational requirements, surveys, existing infrastructure, utilities, access, marine constraints, and authority requirements.
• Participate in site investigations and identify missing information, constraints, risks, and potential project blockers.
• Develop or coordinate preliminary layouts, scope definitions, development concepts, and implementation strategies.
• Prepare or review preliminary quantities, ROM CAPEX estimates, project schedules, and development assumptions.
• Challenge proposed layouts and technical solutions from the perspectives of constructability, operations, cost, phasing, and future expansion.
• Contribute technical and project-delivery input to feasibility studies, business-development proposals, concessions, leases, and investment evaluations.

Design Management

• Prepare consultant scopes of work, technical briefs, and design deliverable requirements.
• Manage multidisciplinary consultants across relevant disciplines including civil, structural, architectural, MEP, marine, utilities, traffic, fire and life safety, and specialist systems.
• Coordinate design inputs from operations, commercial, IT, equipment, HSE, maintenance, finance, and other internal stakeholders.
• Review drawings, specifications, calculations, BOQs, reports, and design submissions.
• Identify design gaps, interface risks, constructability issues, unnecessary cost, and scope ambiguity.
• Manage design development from concept through tender and IFC stages.
• Ensure designs reflect operational requirements and minimize disruption to existing port or logistics operations.

Procurement & Commercial Support

• Prepare and coordinate tender packages for consultants, contractors, and specialist suppliers.
• Participate in tender clarification meetings, technical evaluations, bid normalization, and recommendation reports.
• Review contractor methodologies, programmes, qualifications, exclusions, and technical proposals.
• Support commercial teams with scope clarification, variation assessment, change management, and contractual correspondence.
• Assist with CAPEX control, commitments, forecasts, and evaluation of project cost impacts.
• Maintain awareness of contractual obligations, deliverables, milestones, and project risks.

Project Execution

• Take day-to-day ownership of assigned projects from award through completion.
• Establish project execution plans, programmes, deliverable schedules, reporting structures, and responsibility matrices.
• Coordinate consultants, contractors, suppliers, internal departments, authorities, landlords, and other stakeholders.
• Monitor construction progress against approved programme, budget, scope, quality, and HSE requirements.
• Lead regular project and progress meetings and drive closure of actions.
• Identify delays and emerging risks early and develop mitigation or recovery measures.
• Review contractor programmes, progress claims, variations, RFIs, technical submissions, and change requests.
• Ensure technical decisions are made with consideration of programme, cost, operational impact, and whole-life performance.
• Conduct regular site inspections and verify that the works are progressing in accordance with contractual and technical requirements.
• Maintain project momentum and actively resolve issues rather than relying solely on consultants or contractors to drive resolution.

Stakeholder & Authority Management

• Act as a key project interface between internal stakeholders, consultants, contractors, operators, and external organizations.
• Coordinate requirements with port authorities, municipalities, utility providers, civil defence, customs, landlords, and other relevant government or regulatory entities.
• Translate competing stakeholder requirements into practical project decisions.
• Prepare clear technical papers, recommendations, presentations, and decision briefs for senior management.
• Escalate issues with a clear explanation of the problem, available options, implications, and recommended course of action.

Project Controls & Governance

• Maintain accurate project schedules, budgets, risk registers, change logs, action trackers, and project dashboards.
• Produce concise and decision-oriented weekly and monthly project reports.
• Monitor progress, critical milestones, expenditure, commitments, forecast cost, and key risks.
• Maintain appropriate project documentation and ensure decisions and changes are properly recorded.
• Support the continuous improvement of project-management procedures, templates, lessons learned, cost databases, and delivery standards.
• Coordinate testing, commissioning, inspections, snagging, statutory approvals, and operational readiness.
• Manage project handover to operations and maintenance teams.
• Ensure completion of as-built drawings, O&M manuals, warranties, training records, asset information, and other closeout documentation.
• Track defects and outstanding obligations through final completion.
• Conduct project closeout reviews and capture lessons learned for future developments.

Candidate Profile

Experience

• Approximately 8–12 years of relevant professional experience, with meaningful responsibility for project delivery.
• Demonstrated experience managing infrastructure or capital projects through multiple stages of the project lifecycle.Experience in one or more of the following is required:
• Ports and container terminals
• Inland container depots and dry ports
• Logistics facilities and freight terminals
• Warehouses and industrial developments
• Marine and heavy civil infrastructure
• Transport infrastructure
• Exposure to brownfield or operational environments where construction must be coordinated around ongoing operations is highly desirable.
• Client-side, developer, port-operator, consultant, or strong main-contractor experience will be considered provided the candidate demonstrates genuine project ownership.

Education & Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering, Construction Management, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or another relevant engineering discipline.
• Master’s degree in a relevant field is advantageous.
• Industry specific certifications are advantageous.
• PMP, PRINCE2, PMI-SP, or equivalent project-management qualification is advantageous but not mandatory.
• Knowledge of FIDIC or similar international forms of contract is advantageous.

The candidate is not expected to personally design every discipline but must have enough engineering judgment to understand, interrogate, and coordinate multidisciplinary projects.

The successful candidate should be comfortable with:

• Civil and infrastructure works
• Pavements and container-yard development
• Drainage and utilities
• Buildings and warehouses
• MEP and fire/life-safety systems
• Port and logistics operational layouts
• Marine works and dredging at a working-knowledge level
• Material quantities and preliminary cost estimation
• Construction methodology and constructability
• Project scheduling and critical-path analysis
• Tendering and technical bid evaluation
• Contract administration and change management
• CAPEX development and cost control
• Risk identification and mitigation

Competence in tools such as Primavera P6, MS Project, Excel, AutoCAD, Power BI, BIM/Revit, or equivalent systems is advantageous.