Project Manager – Hydraulics | Sunshine Coast
Peak Group
Turn this role into an interview — a resume and cover letter built around what this employer wants.
Job summary
Peak Group on the Sunshine Coast seeks a senior Project Manager with proven capability to run multiple commercial plumbing projects. You will own delivery, margins and client relationships, supported by a dedicated estimator and admin team. Autonomy and strategic input are core, with a focus on safe, well-built outcomes.
The role requires deep hydraulic services knowledge, a genuine delivery track record, and the ability to review designs, challenge estimates and drive buildability on site.
Qualifications
- Deep commercial hydraulic services knowledge with delivery track record.
- Proven experience delivering large commercial projects with plumbing scope.
- Ability to review hydraulic designs and flag buildability issues.
- Autonomous, prioritises and closes loops without direction.
- Strong commercial acumen to protect margin and justify variations.
- Confident in front of clients and cross-functional teams.
- Excellent communication with site teams and management.
- Current driver’s license, White Card and Queensland construction requirements.
Responsibilities
- Run multiple commercial plumbing projects across scope, cost, quality and safety.
- Attend tender reviews, assess estimates, methodology, and buildability.
- Front client interactions with builders, consultants and certifiers.
- Own margins: budgets, forecasting, procurement, variations and progress claims.
- Lead a Project Administrator and mentor junior staff.
- Develop teams of supervisors, tradespeople and apprentices.
- Plan ahead to avoid firefighting and close risks early.
- Improve operations by applying better processes and ideas.
- Manage projects through Practical Completion and handover.
Skills
Education
Tools
Job description
We're looking for someone who's already run commercial plumbing projects properly — and can prove it.
We're genuinely open-minded about how you got here. There are two paths into this role that work equally well.
Maybe you came up through the trade.
You've cut and rolled grooves, stood in a wet trench, dealt with services that aren't where the drawing says they are and know what a realistic day's production actually looks like because you've done it yourself.
At some point you moved from building the job to running it — and found you were pretty bloody good at that too.
Or maybe you came through construction management.
You've got a degree in construction management, project management or building, followed by genuine experience delivering commercial projects with substantial hydraulic services packages.
You've learnt the trade side properly along the way. You can sit with a consultant and challenge a design, then walk onto site and have the same conversation with the plumber who actually has to build it.
What matters to us is what you can do now — not which road got you here.
Either way, you're someone who can run multiple sites without needing to be chased.
You see the variation coming before it becomes an argument.
You look at a drawing and can tell when something isn't going to work in the field.
You understand that a good project isn't just one that gets finished — it's one that's safe, well-built, commercially successful and leaves the client wanting to work with us again.
And when a job gets difficult, you're the person everyone is glad to have in the room.
If that sounds familiar, keep reading.
We're looking for someone who's already run commercial plumbing projects properly — and can prove it.
We're genuinely open-minded about how you got here. There are two paths into this role that work equally well.
Maybe you came up through the trade.
You've cut and rolled grooves, stood in a wet trench, dealt with services that aren't where the drawing says they are and know what a realistic day's production actually looks like because you've done it yourself.
At some point you moved from building the job to running it — and found you were pretty bloody good at that too.
Or maybe you came through construction management.
You've got a degree in construction management, project management or building, followed by genuine experience delivering commercial projects with substantial hydraulic services packages.
You've learnt the trade side properly along the way. You can sit with a consultant and challenge a design, then walk onto site and have the same conversation with the plumber who actually has to build it.
What matters to us is what you can do now — not which road got you here.
Either way, you're someone who can run multiple sites without needing to be chased.
You see the variation coming before it becomes an argument.
You look at a drawing and can tell when something isn't going to work in the field.
You understand that a good project isn't just one that gets finished — it's one that's safe, well-built, commercially successful and leaves the client wanting to work with us again.
And when a job gets difficult, you're the person everyone is glad to have in the room.
If that sounds familiar, keep reading.
There comes a point in a good Project Manager's career where simply "managing the job" isn't enough.
You're handed a number someone else built, a programme someone else agreed to, and a contract you had no say in — then you're expected to somehow make it all work.
The wins aren't really yours. The problems always are.
We're offering something different.
This is a senior seat with genuine authority behind it.
Multiple commercial projects. Your own crews. Your own clients. Responsibility for the commercial result. And, importantly, a seat at the table before we ever sign the contract.
If you've been waiting for a role where your judgement actually carries some weight — and where you're trusted to run the job properly — this could be it.
We'll be upfront about what this role requires, because the right person should read this and think:
"Yep. That's how I want to work."
You’ll work shoulder‑to‑shoulder with plumbers, builders, consultants and certifiers. You need enough technical knowledge to hold those conversations confidently and challenge something when it doesn’t stack up.
Nobody is going to spend their day looking over your shoulder. We’ll agree on the result, give you the resources and expect you to drive it.
You’ll have a say in the number before we commit to it — and once we’ve agreed on it, you’ll own the delivery against it.
Revenue is nice. Margin pays the bills.
You’ll know where your projects sit financially, what’s coming, what’s at risk and what needs to happen next.
Our systems are good. They’re not finished — and hopefully they never are.
We’re looking for someone who naturally asks:
"Why do we do it this way?"
And more importantly:
"Is there a better way?"
You're involved before the job becomes your problem.
We have a dedicated estimator, so we’re not hiring you to spend your nights measuring drawings and pricing tenders.
But before we sign a contract, you’ll review the job with us.
Look at the estimate.
Look at the programme.
Look at access, staging, labour, methodology, procurement and buildability.
Tell us what we’ve missed.
And if you’re not prepared to own the number as it’s been priced, say so.
We’ll listen.
Because once we shake hands on it, you’re the one responsible for building it.
After that?
Your programme. Your crews. Your client. Your number. Your job.
Running multiple commercial plumbing projects simultaneously across programme, cost, quality and safety.
Sitting at the tender table before award — reviewing estimates, methodology, programme, access and buildability before we commit.
Fronting our clients — builders, superintendents, consultants and certifiers. You’ll represent Peak on the job.
Owning the margin — budgets, forecasting, procurement, variations and progress claims. Properly priced, properly documented and submitted on time.
Leading a Project Administrator who works alongside you day‑to‑day. You’ve got support — use it well and help develop them along the way.
Building the next layer of the team — supervisors, tradespeople and apprentices. We want someone who enjoys developing good people, not just getting through this week's programme.
Planning ahead rather than firefighting behind.
Identifying risks early and closing loops before they become problems.
Improving the way we operate. If you’ve seen something work better elsewhere, bring it with you.
Taking projects right through to Practical Completion and beyond — commissioning, handover documentation, as‑builts and defects closed properly.
We don't want someone who can just keep a project moving.
We want someone who knows how to finish one properly.
Deep commercial hydraulic services knowledge — either as a trade-qualified plumber or through substantial hands‑on delivery of commercial projects with significant plumbing scope.
A genuine track record delivering commercial projects, with references we can call.
Enough technical depth to review hydraulic designs, question an estimate and identify buildability issues before they’re installed.
Comfortable working autonomously, setting priorities and closing your own loops.
Strong commercial nous — you can understand a contract, protect margin and substantiate a variation on merit.
Confident and credible in front of clients.
Strong communication with both site teams and management.
Current driver’s licence, White Card and relevant Queensland construction requirements.
Queensland plumbing licence / QBCC licensing, or a construction management / building qualification. Either is a strong advantage, but neither replaces a proven delivery record.
Strong knowledge of AS/NZS 3500 and commercial hydraulic systems.
Experience delivering projects across healthcare, education, aged care, hospitality, multi‑residential and industrial sectors.
You've led direct reports before and genuinely enjoy developing people.
You're comfortable using job‑management, project‑management and estimating software.
Local industry knowledge and relationships — you know the subcontractors who actually turn up and the suppliers who actually deliver.
That last one is an advantage, not a deal breaker.
If you're currently running major projects in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne or elsewhere and you're ready to swap the capital‑city grind for the Sunshine Coast, we'd still like to hear from you.
Not a senior title with a leash attached. You’ll make decisions and we’ll back you to make them.
Tender sign-off isn’t a box‑ticking exercise. If you don’t believe we can deliver a job for the number, we want that conversation before we sign — not six months later.
A dedicated estimator prices the work. A dedicated Project Administrator supports delivery. You should be spending your time managing projects and people — not your evenings chasing delivery dockets.
We’re not hiring someone to protect “the way we’ve always done it.”
If you’ve got a better system, process, methodology or idea, bring it.
We’re ambitious about where we’re going, but we’re equally serious about how we get there — quality work, good people, strong systems and clients who want us back.
Negotiated based on experience, plus vehicle, phone and laptop.
And importantly:
Serious commercial projects without spending your life in a capital‑city commute.
Good.
If the right person is currently somewhere else, we don’t want geography to be the reason we don’t have a conversation.
Raise it with us early and we’ll work through what that could look like.
Applicants must have the right to work in Australia. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
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