Senior Director, Global Project Controls

TAIT; Pontefract; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

TAIT seeks a Senior Director, Global Project Controls to lead and unify the project controls function across markets. You will establish standards for cost, schedule, risk, and governance, delivering timely insights to senior leadership and ensuring financial discipline across a portfolio of complex live events and installations.

You will partner with Finance, Commercial, and Operations to enable proactive decision-making, improve predictability, and strengthen margins while maintaining TAIT's

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in a relevant field; Master’s degree preferred.
• Proven ability to lead large, complex project portfolios with forecasting, cost control and governance.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management at executive level.

Responsibilities

• Lead and evolve the enterprise Project Controls function across markets, regions, and project types.
• Define and maintain standards for cost management, forecasting, scheduling, risk management, change control, governance, and reporting.
• Develop scalable controls frameworks, tools, templates, and processes for consistent delivery.
• Ensure project controls practices align with company strategy, financial objectives, and delivery expectations.
• Establish portfolio-level reporting and governance processes for timely, actionable performance information.
• Maintain visibility into project financial performance, schedule status, risk exposure, and key decisions.
• Escalate significant risks and issues to stakeholders and drive corrective actions.
• Oversee enterprise cost-control and forecasting practices, baselines, and variance analysis.
• Support delivery teams with tools, reviews, and controls to improve readiness and accountability.

Skills

Leadership

Executive communication

Stakeholder management

Cross-functional collaboration

Forecasting

Cost management

Scheduling

Risk management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Project Management, Engineering, Construction Management, Business, Arts Management, or related field

Job description

TAIT partners with artists, brands, IP holders and place makers to bring culture-defining, never-before-seen experiences to life. With a legacy of innovation spanning over 45 years, TAIT has grown from pioneering in rock ‘n’ roll concert staging to setting the global standard for extraordinary live events and experiences through cutting‑edge technology, precision engineering, and creative design. TAIT’s 20 global offices have developed iconic productions and experiences in over 30 countries, all seven continents, and even outer space for renowned performers, theme parks, exhibits, and venues across the globe, including partnerships with Taylor Swift, Cirque Du Soleil, Royal Opera House, Nike, NASA, Bloomberg, Google, Beyoncé, and The Olympics.

Position Purpose

The Senior Director, Global Project Controls is a senior enterprise leadership role responsible for establishing, leading, and continuously improving the project controls function across the business. Working in partnership with the VPs of Projects and VPs of Project Delivery, this leader develops and governs the standards, systems, processes, and reporting frameworks that support successful project delivery across all markets and submarkets. The Senior Director, Global Project Controls serves as an enterprise enabling partner to the VP, Projects, each of whom remains accountable for project execution, staffing strategy, stakeholder engagement, customer outcomes, and delivery performance within their market or submarket. This role provides the project controls infrastructure necessary to enhance predictability, strengthen financial performance, improve schedule reliability, and support effective portfolio oversight. This strategic and operational executive leadership position oversees project controls, cost management, scheduling, portfolio reporting, project administration, governance, forecasting, and performance analytics. The role ensures that project teams, market leadership, capability leadership, and executive leadership have timely, accurate, and actionable insights into project performance, financial health, schedule status, key risks, opportunities, and decisions. The Senior Director, Global Project Controls helps protect project margins, improve delivery discipline, reduce avoidable surprises, and strengthen alignment across functions and markets. Rather than serving as an after‑fact audit function, this role enables proactive decision‑making by providing the tools, processes, and visibility needed to identify issues early and take corrective action before they impact project outcomes. In doing so, the role supports the company’s mission to Create Moments That Move People by enabling the delivery of innovative, safe, reliable, and financially disciplined permanent attractions for global audiences.

Essential Responsibilities & Accountabilities

Enterprise Project Controls Leadership

• Lead and evolve the enterprise Project Controls function across all markets, regions, and project types.
• Define and maintain standards for cost management, forecasting, scheduling, risk management, change control, governance, project administration, and performance reporting.
• Develop scalable project controls frameworks, tools, templates, and processes that support consistent delivery while maintaining flexibility for varying project requirements.
• Ensure project controls practices align with company strategy, financial objectives, and delivery expectations.

Portfolio Visibility & Governance

• Establish portfolio‑level reporting and governance processes that provide leadership with accurate, timely, and actionable project performance information.
• Maintain visibility into project financial performance, schedule status, risk exposure, resource constraints, and key decision requirements.
• Drive consistency and integrity of project data across business units, regions, and delivery teams.
• Escalate significant risks, variances, and performance issues to the appropriate stakeholders.

Cost, Schedule & Risk Management

• Oversee enterprise cost‑control and forecasting practices, including budgets, forecasts, contingencies, margin analysis, and cost‑to‑complete reporting.
• Ensure projects are appropriately baselined and managed against approved scope, schedule, budget, and key assumptions.
• Support proactive identification, assessment, and mitigation of project risks and emerging issues.
• Improve project predictability through disciplined management of changes, assumptions, dependencies, and variances.

Lifecycle Delivery Support

• Maintain visibility from proposal and estimating through design, engineering, procurement, fabrication, installation, commissioning, and closeout.
• Support delivery teams with tools, reporting, reviews, and controls that improve readiness, accountability, and decision‑making throughout the project lifecycle.
• Partner with cross‑functional leaders to strengthen handoffs, reduce rework, improve planning quality, and increase operational efficiency.
• Capture and institutionalize lessons learned to improve future project performance and organisational effectiveness.

Cross‑Functional Partnership

• Partner with Finance, Commercial, Legal, Operations, Production, Creative, Technical, Engineering, Procurement, and Field teams to align controls practices with business and operational needs.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to executive leadership on project performance, portfolio health, risk exposure, and improvement opportunities.
• Foster broad adoption of project controls practices through collaboration, coaching, communication, and change leadership.

People Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and develop the Project Controls organization, including planners, schedulers, cost controllers, project administrators, analysts, and related support functions.
• Establish clear expectations, career development pathways, and service standards for the team.
• Build a culture focused on transparency, accountability, continuous improvement, and partnership with project delivery teams.
• Develop project controls capabilities across the broader organization through training, coaching, and best‑practice sharing.
• Model a leadership approach that balances enterprise discipline with respect for TAIT’s creative, technical, and craft‑based culture.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Project Management, Engineering, Construction Management, Business, Arts Management, or related field, or equivalent work experience; Master's degree preferred.
• Expert in leading large‑scale permanent installation, theme park, entertainment, construction, engineering, or complex project delivery portfolios.
• Demonstrated success managing large‑scale project portfolios with responsibility for forecasting, cost management, governance, reporting, and risk management.
• Strong understanding of project controls disciplines, including scheduling, forecasting, earned value concepts, cost control, change management, and portfolio reporting.
• Proven ability to develop and implement scalable controls frameworks within complex, matrixed, and fast‑paced environments.
• Strong financial acumen, including portfolio forecasting, margin management, contingency planning, and commercial risk assessment.
• Exceptional communication, executive presentation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Proven ability to influence cross‑functional leaders and drive organizational change without direct authority.

TAIT is an equal opportunity employer fully committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran or any other protected characteristic as outlined by international, national, state, or local laws.