Places Leisure - Central Project Manager

Places for People; Empangeni; On-site; ZAR 600,000 - 840,000; Full time

Job summary

Places for People in South Africa is seeking an organised project professional to lead refurbishment, modernisation and new facility projects from planning to handover. You will develop project plans, coordinate across operational teams, clients, consultants and contractors, and monitor milestones, budgets and risks to ensure activities stay on track and facilities operate effectively.

You will act as the main point of contact for key stakeholders, lead project meetings, maintain governance and

Qualifications

• Demonstrable experience of managing complex projects or programmes from planning through to delivery and operational handover.
• Experience of maintaining project plans, milestones and critical paths while managing risks, dependencies and competing priorities.
• Demonstratable experience of taking ownership of projects, managing delivery against agreed timescales, budgets and outcomes with a complex, multi-stakeholder environment
• Experience of facilitating project meetings and producing reports, governance documents and progress updates for senior stakeholders.
• Working knowledge of recognised project management principles or methodologies, supported by experience of analysing project information and recommending corrective action.

Responsibilities

• You'll manage refurbishment, modernisation and new facility projects from initial planning through to operational handover.
• You'll develop project plans, manage critical paths and coordinate activity across operational teams, clients, consultants, contractors and internal specialists.
• By monitoring milestones, budgets, risks and dependencies, you'll help ensure projects remain on track and facilities are ready to operate effectively.
• As the main point of contact for key stakeholders, you'll lead project meetings, maintain effective project governance, provide clear progress reporting and proactively manage risks, issues and escalations to support timely decision-making.
• You'll also support launches and reopenings, track the benefits achieved following investment and work with operational teams to maximise customer participation, satisfaction and commercial performance.

Skills

Project management

Stakeholder coordination

Schedule & budget tracking

Risk management

Governance reporting

Job description

More About Your Role

You'll manage the delivery of refurbishment, modernisation and new facility projects from initial planning through to operational handover. You'll develop project plans, manage critical paths and coordinate activity across operational teams, clients, consultants, contractors and internal specialists. By monitoring milestones, budgets, risks and dependencies, you'll help ensure projects remain on track and facilities are ready to operate effectively. As the main point of contact for key stakeholders, you'll lead project meetings, maintain effective project governance, provide clear progress reporting and proactively manage risks, issues and escalations to support timely decision-making. You'll also support launches and reopenings, track the benefits achieved following investment and work with operational teams to maximise customer participation, satisfaction and commercial performance.

Essential Criteria

• Demonstrable experience of managing complex projects or programmes from planning through to delivery and operational handover.


• Experience of maintaining project plans, milestones and critical paths while managing risks, dependencies and competing priorities.


• Demonstratable experience of taking ownership of projects, managing delivery against agreed timescales, budgets and outcomes with a complex, multi-stakeholder environment


• Experience of facilitating project meetings and producing reports, governance documents and progress updates for senior stakeholders.


• Working knowledge of recognised project management principles or methodologies, supported by experience of analysing project information and recommending corrective action.

More about you

You're an organised and collaborative project professional who can build effective relationships and influence people across different teams and levels of an organisation. You understand how to balance operational, customer and commercial priorities, and you're comfortable making sense of complex project information to identify practical solutions. You'll be adaptable and resilient, with the ability to remain focused when priorities change or delivery challenges arise. A formal project management qualification and experience of organisational change, service transformation or operational restructuring would be beneficial. Confidence using digital project management and reporting tools would also be an advantage.

Safeguarding

At Places for People, safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. We are committed to creating safe communities for our customers and colleagues by protecting children, young people, and adults at risk from harm, abuse, and neglect. We follow robust safeguarding policies and procedures, ensuring all employees, volunteers, and contractors uphold the highest standards of safeguarding and accountability. Our recruitment process includes pre-employment checks, including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks where applicable, to promote a safe and secure working environment. By joining Places for People, you are expected to contribute to our safeguarding culture, following our policies and reporting concerns to protect those in our communities

Armed Forces

We are proud to support the Armed Forces Covenant. Places for People will guarantee an interview for any candidate who is serving or has formerly served in the Armed Forces, as a reservist, armed forces veteran (including the wounded, injured and sick), cadet instructor and military spouse/partner and who meets the essential criteria for the vacancy.

Disability Confident

We are proud to be a member of the Disability Confident scheme certified as Level 2 Disability Confident Employer. This helps us to successfully employ and retain people with disabilities and health conditions. Disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for a vacancy will be guaranteed an interview. The Equality Act 2010 (Disability Discrimination Act 1995 for NI) defines a disabled person as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has sa substantial and long-term negative effect on their ability to do daily activities.

Neurodivergent

Neurodiverse individuals have highly valuable skills, and we recognise that a traditional interview process sometimes works against them and doesn’t allow them to self-advocate. Neurodiverse applicants who meet the criteria for a vacancy will be guaranteed an interview.