Director - Design & Project Delivery

GWG Recruitment; Newcastle City Council; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

GWG Recruitment presents a leadership opportunity for a Construction Operational Leader in Newcastle. Lead Design & Delivery teams, drive continuous improvement, and scale a high-performing organisation through people-focused strategies.

You will own the strategy, remove bottlenecks, and implement scalable processes to support aspirational growth. Lead in coordination with the Executive team and partners to deliver safely and profitably.

Qualifications

• Extensive leadership experience in construction/design and project delivery
• Proven ability to scale operations and drive continuous improvement
• Executive-level communication with diverse stakeholders
• Strong commercial acumen with profitability improvement track record
• Experience leading organisational change and leadership development
• Ability to coach and uplift multidisciplinary teams

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor and develop multidisciplinary Design & Delivery teams.
• Drive operational excellence through continuous improvement initiatives.
• Identify bottlenecks and implement scalable systems and processes.
• Foster a collaborative, high-performance culture focused on accountability and trust.
• Partner with Project Managers to ensure safe, profitable and high-standard delivery.
• Strengthen capability through coaching and leadership development.
• Collaborate with the Executive Leadership Team on strategic objectives.
• Maintain strong client, consultant and stakeholder relationships.
• Champion innovation and simplification across the organisation.
• Ensure safety, quality and commercial outcomes across projects.

Skills

Leadership

People development

Strategic thinking

Stakeholder management

Change management

Commercial acumen

Education

Tertiary Qualifications in Construction, Civil Engineering or Architecture

Job description

A legacy oportunity for a Construction Operational Leader! Lead People. Drive Change. Scale a High-Performing D&C Organisation!

GWG Recruitment is proud to be partnering with a highly regarded Newcastle-based Design & Construct organisation. With continued growth and a strong pipeline of work comes new opportunity, and they're looking for an operational leader who can ensure their people, systems and processes continue to evolve alongside the business.

• Join the Executive Leadership Team of a respected and growing Design & Construct business.
• Lead high-performing Design & Delivery teams through the next stage of growth.
• Own continuous improvement, innovation and operational excellence across the business.

While you'll bring a strong understanding of construction and project delivery, your greatest strength will be your ability to lead people, build capability and create an environment where high-performing teams can execute and deliver.

Your mandate? Lead the strategy, remove the bottlenecks, implement the processes and systems to make room for the business to scale and grow to aspirational heights.

You’ll lead teams across design and construction while taking ownership of continuous improvement, operational excellence and leadership development across the business.

About You

You're an experienced operational leader in the construction industry – this is crucial.

You understand that your role isn't to be the smartest technical person in the room, but to create an environment where others can perform at their very best. With that said, your must have credibility and time walking in their shoes – or at least adjacent to them!

Essential Requirements

• Tertiary Qualifications in relevant fields (Construction, Civil Engineering, Architecture)
• Extensive leadership experience within the construction industry, with a focus on design and project delivery/turn-key operators (Tier 2 or Tier 3 preferred)
• Strong understanding of construction and design principles, with the credibility to lead technical professionals
• Executive-level communication skills with experience influencing diverse stakeholders
• Strong commercial acumen with demonstrable experience improving operational performance and profitability
• Demonstrated success leading organisational change, process improvement and business transformation
• The ability to lead and build high-performing teams through coaching, mentoring and capability uplift
• A collaborative leadership style built on trust, accountability and respect
• High EQ, humble and no ego – you build trust and credibility quickly,
• You would take a considered approach to decision-making – but are confident to be decisive and make the call when all the facts are not available in the moment

Highly Regarded

• In addition to the essential tertiary qualifications, additional qualifications in leadership, design, project management or business
• Demonstrated experience scaling a design & construct business successfully

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor and develop multidisciplinary Design & Delivery teams.
• Drive operational excellence through continuous improvement initiatives.
• Identify bottlenecks and implement scalable systems and processes.
• Foster a collaborative, high-performance culture focused on accountability and trust.
• Partner with Project Managers to ensure projects are delivered safely, profitably and to exceptional standards.
• Strengthen capability across the business through coaching, mentoring and leadership development.
• Work closely with the Executive Leadership Team to support strategic business objectives.
• Maintain strong relationships with clients, consultants and key stakeholders.
• Champion innovation, simplicity and continuous improvement across the organisation.
• Ensure commercial, quality and safety outcomes remain front of mind across all projects.

Why this role?

This is a genuine leadership role with a focus on people – and ensuring as the business embarks on this path of scaling, growth and change – that their people are taken on the journey and not left behind.

• Genuine ownership and top-down support to enable and shape a clear path for technical teams to thrive, achieve and deliver results
• Success will be measured by the capability uplift, culture you build on and the bottlenecks you remove - not by how many problems you solve personally
• As a key member of the Executive Leadership Team, you get the variety of strategic planning & execution, people leadership and legacy work – an instrumental player in their exciting growth trajectory

As an equal opportunity employer, we are committed to building inclusive and respectful workplaces, strengthened by diversity and encourage applications from First Nations Peoples, all genders, those from culturally diverse backgrounds, LGBTIQA+ community and people with disability, of all ages and backgrounds. We strive to provide a barrier free and equitable recruitment experience. If you do require an adjustment during the recruitment process, please contact your consultant via the phone number or email above.