Senior Project Manager

Korn Ferry; Williamsburg (VA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Korn Ferry is assisting in recruiting a Senior Project Manager to lead a portfolio of complex, high-value customer projects across international operations. The role requires accountability for scope, schedule, cost, quality, and safety, while developing and guiding a team of Project Managers across multiple sites.

You will interact with Engineering, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Commercial, and Finance, ensuring projects are delivered on time and within budget.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of project-management experience in industrial, engineering, manufacturing, construction, infrastructure, or engineered-product environments.
• Proven experience leading complex, high-value customer projects from handover through planning, execution, delivery, and closeout.
• Experience managing or leading Project Managers responsible for multiple concurrent projects.
• Strong customer-facing experience, including senior stakeholder engagement, project reviews, issue resolution, negotiation, and escalation management.
• Demonstrated ownership of project financial reporting, including budgeting, forecasting, cost control, cost-to-complete, cash flow, margin, profitability, and change impacts.
• Strong understanding of project governance, scheduling, risk management, change control, contract management, and performance reporting.
• Commercially astute, balancing customer requirements, technical considerations, delivery constraints, and financial objectives.
• Excellent leadership and people-development skills for a project team.
• Excellent communication, problem-solving, negotiation, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to operate effectively with senior management, customers, and cross-functional teams across multiple sites or regions.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Project Management, Construction Management, Business, or related discipline, or equivalent experience.
• Fluent English with strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Willingness to travel between sites and customer locations as required.
• Experience in power systems, electrical infrastructure, switchgear, data centers, pharmaceuticals, or comparable engineered sector.
• Experience delivering projects across multiple sites or international operations.
• Knowledge of engineer-to-order or manufacturing project delivery.
• Experience with customer contracts, claims, variations, and commercial negotiations.
• Knowledge of U.S. electrical industry practices, UL standards, NEC codes.
• Recognized project-management certification such as PMP, PRINCE2, or equivalent.
• Experience using project controls, ERP, reporting, or data-analysis tools to improve visibility and forecasting.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end delivery of complex, high-value customer projects, ensuring scope, schedule, cost, quality, safety, and customer expectations are met.
• Provide oversight across multiple concurrent projects, monitoring dependencies, priorities, risks, resources, and overall delivery performance.
• Coach and develop a team of Project Managers, setting expectations and enabling high-quality execution.
• Act as a senior point of contact for customers, leading project reviews, escalations, negotiations, and key delivery discussions.
• Engage with senior leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to provide updates, recommendations, and issue escalation for business decisions.
• Establish and maintain project plans, schedules, milestones, governance routines, and success criteria aligned with commitments.
• Own and report on project and portfolio financial performance, including budgets, forecasts, cash flow, cost-to-complete, margin, and profitability.
• Identify variances and risks early, implementing recovery actions to protect commitments and commercial outcomes.
• Lead contract, scope, and change management with documented variations reflecting in forecasts.
• Coordinate with Engineering, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Commercial, and Finance to align readiness and delivery plans.
• Ensure risks/issues/actions are managed with robust contingency planning and timely escalation.
• Oversee subcontractor, supplier, and external delivery performance with quality, cost, schedule compliance.
• Lead executive and customer project-performance reviews with clear reporting and recommendations.
• Drive project-management standards, reporting discipline, lessons learned, and continuous improvement across the team.
• Ensure compliance with technical, quality, safety, regulatory, contractual, and customer requirements.

Skills

Project management

Leadership

Stakeholder engagement

Financial reporting

Risk management

Contract management

Cross-functional leadership

Vendor management

Communication

Travel readiness

PM certifications

Engineering background

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in Engineering / PM or related field

Tools

ERP systems

MS Project / Primavera

Data analysis tools

Job description

Our client is an Irish-based manufacturer, distributor, and exporter of electrical switchgear, controls, and related products and services. With a 40-year track record, the business is focused on supplying the global data center industry. Operating from Ireland and supporting 400,000 square feet of manufacturing capacity in Williamsburg, Virginia, the organization aims to double in size each year for the next three years. As part of this growth journey, our client is seeking an experienced Senior Project Manager to lead complex, high value customer projects across international operations while managing and developing a team of Project Managers responsible for multiple concurrent projects.

About the Role

This is a senior, customer-facing delivery role with responsibility for a portfolio of projects, senior stakeholder relationships, financial performance, and the leadership of Project Managers. You will provide oversight across multiple projects while retaining direct accountability for major or strategically important customer engagements. Working across Engineering, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Commercial, Finance, and Project Management teams, you will ensure projects are delivered safely, on time, within scope and budget, and to the required quality standards. You will provide clear financial and performance reporting, proactively manage risk and change, and ensure strong governance across the project portfolio. Working closely with teams in Ireland and the United States, you will support consistent project delivery, strengthen customer relationships, and develop the capability and performance of the Project Management team.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end delivery of complex, high-value customer projects, ensuring commitments are achieved across scope, schedule, cost, quality, safety, and customer expectations.
• Provide oversight across multiple concurrent projects, monitoring dependencies, priorities, risks, resources, and overall delivery performance.
• Manage, coach, and develop a team of Project Managers, setting clear expectations and supporting consistent, high-quality project execution.
• Act as a senior point of contact for customers, building trusted relationships and leading project reviews, escalations, negotiations, and key delivery discussions.
• Engage with senior leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to provide clear project updates, recommendations, and escalation of issues requiring business decisions.
• Establish and maintain project plans, schedules, milestones, governance routines, and success criteria aligned with customer commitments and organizational objectives.
• Own and report on project and portfolio financial performance, including budgets, forecasts, cash flow, cost-to-complete, change impacts, margin, and profitability.
• Identify financial variances and delivery risks early, implementing recovery actions to protect customer commitments and commercial outcomes.
• Lead contract, scope, and change management, ensuring variations are assessed, approved, documented, and reflected in project cost and schedule forecasts.
• Partner with Engineering, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Commercial, and Finance to align design readiness, material availability, production capacity, commercial requirements, and delivery plans.
• Ensure project risks, issues, actions, and decisions are actively managed, with robust contingency planning and timely escalation where required.
• Oversee subcontractor, supplier, and external delivery performance where relevant, ensuring quality, cost, schedule, and compliance requirements are met.
• Lead executive and customer project-performance reviews, providing accurate reporting, clear insights, and practical recommendations.
• Drive consistent project-management standards, reporting discipline, lessons learned, and continuous improvement across the team.
• Ensure projects comply with applicable technical, quality, safety, regulatory, contractual, and customer requirements.

Skills, Experience & Qualifications

• 10+ years of project-management experience within industrial, engineering, manufacturing, construction, infrastructure, or engineered-product environments.
• Proven experience leading complex, high-value customer projects from initial handover through planning, execution, delivery, and closeout.
• Experience managing or leading Project Managers responsible for multiple concurrent projects.
• Strong customer-facing experience, including senior stakeholder engagement, project reviews, issue resolution, negotiation, and escalation management.
• Demonstrated ownership of project financial reporting, including budgeting, forecasting, cost control, cost-to-complete, cash flow, margin, profitability, and change impacts.
• Strong understanding of project governance, scheduling, risk management, change control, contract management, and performance reporting.
• Commercially astute, with the ability to balance customer requirements, technical considerations, delivery constraints, and financial objectives.
• Excellent leadership and people-development skills, with the ability to build accountability and consistent performance across a project team.
• Excellent communication, problem-solving, negotiation, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to operate e ectively with senior management, customers, and crossfunctional teams across multiple sites or regions.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Project Management, Construction Management, Business, or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.
• Fluent English, with strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Willingness to travel between company sites and customer locations as required.
• Experience in power systems, electrical infrastructure, switchgear, data centers, pharmaceuticals, industrial operations, modular solutions, or a comparable engineered sector.
• Experience delivering projects across multiple sites or international operations.
• Knowledge of project delivery in an engineer-to-order or manufacturing environment.
• Experience with customer contracts, claims, variations, and commercial negotiations.
• Knowledge of U.S. electrical industry practices, including UL standards and NEC codes.
• Recognized project-management certification, such as PMP, PRINCE2, or equivalent.
• Experience using project controls, ERP, reporting, or data-analysis tools to improve visibility and forecasting.