Senior Project Manager – Digital Advisory

Engineering is more than design and delivery at Zutari; it is the craft of shaping possibility.

As a leading buildings, infrastructure engineering, and advisory practice with over 90 years of heritage across Africa and the Middle East, we work across the full infrastructure lifecycle to deliver innovative, digitally enabled solutions. From bridges and dams to energy systems and smart infrastructure, our work connects communities and unlocks long-term value.

We are looking for technical minds who see beyond constraints and are driven to engineer solutions that matter, today and for generations to come.

Role overview

We are looking for a Senior Project Manager to join Zutari’s Project Management Unit and work primarily on Digital Advisory projects. The role is responsible for the structured delivery of multidisciplinary advisory assignments that combine engineering, asset information, digital delivery, enterprise systems and operational requirements into a single, reliable information environment.

The Senior Project Manager will manage scope, programme, commercial performance, risk, quality, resources and stakeholder interfaces across the asset lifecycle. The role does not require the Senior Project Manager to be the technical expert in every digital discipline. It does require a practical working knowledge and understanding of the infrastructure and asset lifecycle, information flows, information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) environments to coordinate specialists, identify dependencies, spot integration risks early and manage interfaces effectively.

The Senior Project Manager will typically lead several concurrent projects or multi-phase programmes, lead delivery teams drawn from across Zutari and external partners, and play an active role in growing Digital Advisory client relationships and new work.

Role responsibilities

Project delivery and controls

• Lead the day-to-day management of Digital Advisory projects from initiation and planning through delivery, close-out and handover.
• Select and set up the right delivery approach for each project (stage-gated, Agile or hybrid), with the governance, plans, budgets, forecasts, RAID logs and reporting that go with it.
• Plan and manage technology delivery activities, including requirements and backlog management, sprint and release planning, solution design reviews, configuration and build, data migration, environment and deployment planning (cloud, SaaS and on-premise), cut-over and go-live.
• Plan service transition and hypercare so that solutions are handed over to client IT operations with agreed support models, service-level agreements and ITIL-aligned service management processes in place.
• Manage scope, change, dependencies, assumptions, technical and organisational interfaces, and ensure that deviations are identified and addressed early.
• Own project commercial performance, including fees, expenditure, invoicing, work-in-progress, forecast-to-complete and margin.
• Manage software vendors, system integrators and technology suppliers, including statements of work, licensing, contractual deliverables, service levels and change requests.
• Apply Zutari’s project management, governance, quality and commercial requirements consistently.

Multidisciplinary coordination

• Coordinate specialist workstreams such as engineering, BIM and information management, GIS and geospatial, reality capture, data and analytics, enterprise architecture, systems integration, asset management, IT, OT, holding each accountable for its output, dependencies and decisions.
• Translate the overall project scope into clear work packages, responsibilities, interfaces, milestones and dependencies.
• Facilitate coordination meetings and workshops, keep a clear record of decisions and actions, and drive timely closure of outstanding matters.
• Manage internal and external stakeholders, including clients, designers, contractors, technology providers, operators, asset managers and client IT/OT teams.

Information and asset lifecycle management

• Understand at a working level how information assets are created, developed, assured, exchanged and handed over across the infrastructure lifecycle.
• Coordinate project activities so that information produced during planning, design, construction and commissioning supports downstream operational and asset-management requirements.
• Maintain visibility of information requirements, deliverables, acceptance criteria, information dependencies and handover obligations.
• Support the management of interfaces between project information environments and operational systems, without assuming the role of the technical or systems specialist.
• Recognise the importance of information quality, traceability, structured asset information and controlled handover as formal project deliverables.
• Treat data governance, access, cyber security and POPIA and GDPR compliance as delivery requirements from the start.

Client and stakeholder management

• Act as the senior point of contact for client sponsors, IT and digital leads, operations teams and asset managers.
• Prepare clear project reports, dashboards, decision papers and presentations, explaining technical and data matters in business terms, ensuring that decisions, responsibilities and impacts are understood.
• Lead client workshops that define requirements, priorities, governance, implementation plans and delivery roadmaps.

Risk, quality and assurance

• Manage risks specific to digital and data delivery, including data availability and quality, integration and data migration complexity, vendor and technology dependencies, cyber security, user adoption and operational readiness.
• Coordinate system, integration and user acceptance testing, defect management and assurance reviews so that deliverables meet agreed scope, quality and acceptance criteria.
• Keep project records, approvals, decisions, actions and deliverables controlled and auditable.
• Escalate unresolved technical, commercial, programme or governance issues appropriately.

Business development and team leadership

• Shape proposals for new Digital Advisory opportunities, including scope, delivery approach, fee estimates, programmes and resourcing.
• Identify and develop new Digital Advisory opportunities with new and existing clients, working with business development, sector and technical leads to build a qualified pipeline.
• Contribute to bid strategy, win themes, go/no-go decisions and client presentations, and lead the delivery, programme and commercial sections of tenders and proposals.
• Grow client accounts by converting digital strategies, roadmaps and early-phase assignments into follow-on implementation work, and by identifying further client needs during delivery.
• Maintain awareness of market, technology and regulatory trends affecting infrastructure owners, and help position Zutari’s Digital Advisory offering accordingly.
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of Digital Advisory project delivery methods, templates and project controls.
• Build effective working relationships across Zutari business units and specialist teams and help create an integrated client experience.
• Lead and motivate multidisciplinary project teams, setting clear expectations and holding team members accountable for their contributions.
• Mentor and develop junior project managers and project controllers, and help build the PMU’s digital delivery capability.
• Support the selection, onboarding and governance of external delivery partners and third-party project managers working on Digital Advisory projects.

Minimum requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Information Systems, Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering or a related discipline.
• 10–15 years’ relevant experience, including at least 7 years as the accountable Project Manager on IT, data or digital technology projects.
• Demonstrated experience managing data-centric projects involving multiple disciplines, specialist workstreams and stakeholder groups.
• Strong command of project planning, financial management, risk, change control, quality and reporting, across both traditional and Agile or hybrid delivery.
• Proven experience delivering technology implementations across the full delivery lifecycle, from requirements and solution design through build or configuration, testing, deployment and service transition.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to explain complex technical and data topics to non-technical audiences.
• Proficiency in Microsoft 365 and common project planning, reporting and collaboration tools (for example MS Project, Jira or Azure DevOps, and Power BI).
• Ability to work across several concurrent projects and maintain disciplined follow-through on actions, decisions, deliverables and commercial matters.

We believe that a diverse workforce is key to our business success.  We seek the best people for our jobs based on their skills, qualifications, and experience.  We embrace the principle of equal opportunity in employment, and we work towards eliminating all forms of unlawful discrimination in our employment practices.  In support of diversity and the equal opportunity principle, preference will be given to individuals from designated groups within South Africa.