Project Director

CIH International Housing Group; Wythenshawe; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Costain seeks a Project Director with highways maintenance and operations expertise to shape and deliver strategic road maintenance solutions, secure opportunities, and drive safe, efficient operations across complex programmes.

You will lead high-performing teams, manage client relationships with National Highways and local authorities, and ensure delivery excellence, commercial oversight, and continuous improvement in safety and performance.

Qualifications

• Extensive operational, delivery and customer-facing leadership experience.
• Proven track record delivering roads maintenance frameworks.
• Ability to build trusted client stakeholder relationships across teams.
• Strong NEC contract management, cost control and change management knowledge.
• Champion for safety, health, environment and quality in all activities.
• Excellent problem solving and direction-giving abilities.
• Flexible and adaptable to respond rapidly to unexpected events.

Responsibilities

• Shape solutions to secure opportunities with innovative, value-adding approaches.
• Lead contract mobilisation, performance, financials, programme delivery and customer relationships.
• Drive a proactive safety culture with CDM, SHEQ compliance and continuous improvement.
• Manage client and stakeholder relationships, representing the business at governance forums.
• Provide robust commercial leadership including cost control, change management and risk mitigation.
• Develop and lead high-performing delivery and support teams with strong resource planning.
• Lead continuous improvement, digital adoption and sustainability initiatives across operations.
• Champion data and digital tools to drive operational decisions and performance.

Skills

Leadership

Delivery experience

Client relationships

Commercial management

Safety & quality

Problem solving

Adaptability

Education

HNC/HND or degree in a relevant discipline or equivalent

Job description

Job Description

We seek a Project Director, with experience in highways roads maintenance and operations background to lead the successful shaping of solutions to secure roads maintenance opportunities and lead the successful delivery ensuring safe and efficient operations.

#LI-JK1

Responsibilities

• Shaping solutions to secure opportunities incorporating innovative and value adding solutions
• Lead contract mobilisation, performance management, financial performance, programme delivery, and customer relationships.
• Drive a proactive safety culture, ensuring compliance with CDM regulations, SHEQ standards, and continuous improvement in safe working practices.
• Manage client and stakeholder relationships, acting as the senior point of contact with National Highways/local authorities and representing the business at governance forums.
• Provide robust commercial leadership, ensuring effective cost control, change management, forecasting, and commercial risk mitigation.
• Develop and lead high-performing teams, ensuring capability, resource planning, succession, and performance management across delivery and support functions.
• Lead continuous improvement and innovation, driving efficiencies, digital adoption, sustainability initiatives, and operational best practice.
• Champion the use of our performance and operational data and digital tools available to drive operational decisions and performance

Knowledge

Essential

• Experienced operational, delivery and customer focused leader with strong people and leadership skills
• Generous amount of practical experience where you have successfully managed and delivered roads maintenance frameworks
• Ability to build trusted relationships with key client stakeholders, within your team and across the Costain group
• Strong commercial and contractual understanding, including NEC contract management, cost control and change management
• A champion for safety, health, environment and quality by putting safety and wellbeing and the heart of everything we do
• Good problem-solving skills, able to provide solutions and direction
• Flexibility and adaptability to be able to respond rapidly to unexpected events, having the ability to shape our response appropriately

Qualifications

Essential

• HNC/HND or degree in a relevant discipline or equivalent
• Member of relevant professional body

About Us

Costain helps to improve people's lives with integrated, leading edge, smart infrastructure solutions across the UK's energy, water, transportation and defence markets. We help our clients improve their business performance by increasing capacity, improving customer service, safeguarding security, enhancing resilience, decarbonising and delivering increased efficiency. Our vision is to be the UK's leading smart infrastructure solutions company. We will achieve this by focusing on blue chip clients whose major spending plans are underpinned by strategic national needs, regulatory commitments, legislation or essential performance requirements. We offer our clients leading edge solutions that are digitally optimised through the following five services which cover the whole lifecycle of their assets: future-shaping strategic consultancy; consultancy and advisory; digital technology solutions; asset optimisation and complex programme delivery. Our culture and values underpin everything we do.

Costain appreciate the time and effort taken when applying for one of our positions but, due to the high volume of responses, we are unable to provide individual feedback on candidates at application phase.

We do share individual feedback following an interview.

A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that disclose they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer.

It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people.

For more details please go to the Disability Confident website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/disability-confident-campaign