Project Director Transportation

Arcadis•Los Angeles, CA

About The Position

Arcadis is seeking a Project Director focused on transportation projects. The role provides leadership and oversight for highly complex projects, programs, or accounts, ensuring delivery in accordance with project management standards and business objectives. The Project Director is accountable for performance in schedule, budget, quality, health and safety, client satisfaction, risk management, and team performance. As a senior project leader, the role provides strategic direction to multidisciplinary teams and maintains relationships with clients, contractors, and internal stakeholders. The Project Director leads work throughout the project lifecycle, including planning, execution, monitoring, reporting, and closeout. The role manages scope, schedule, budget, resources, financial performance, risks, contractual requirements, and governance controls, and supports commercial strategy and contract review or negotiation when appropriate. The position also leads and develops project teams, promotes a collaborative and inclusive work environment, maintains client relationships, and identifies opportunities to support future business growth. Arcadis describes itself as a global company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets, with more than 34,000 people in over 30 countries. The company states that it is committed to equality, diversity, inclusion, and belonging and is an equal opportunity employer.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Architecture, Construction Management, Project Management, or a related discipline.
20 or more years of experience leading complex, large-scale projects or programs, with responsibility for scope, schedule, budget, risk, quality, and client outcomes.
Strong knowledge of contractual requirements, commercial principles, and project delivery practices.
Demonstrated ability to manage multidisciplinary teams and deliver complex projects from planning through completion.
Strong leadership, communication, stakeholder management, and decision-making skills.
Demonstrated experience managing project financial performance, including budgets, margins, cash flow, forecasts, and cost controls.
Strong understanding of risk management and ability to develop and implement effective mitigation strategies.
Demonstrated ability to build trusted client relationships while balancing client expectations with project and business objectives.
Experience collaborating across technical disciplines and organizational boundaries.

Nice To Haves

Professional registration or certification relevant to the position, such as Professional Engineer (PE), Registered Architect (RA), Project Management Professional (PMP), or Certified Construction Manager (CCM).
Significant experience delivering major infrastructure, transportation, buildings, environmental, or other complex technical projects.
Experience leading large multidisciplinary teams and coordinating across multiple business functions.
Strong commercial acumen and experience with contract negotiations, change management, and issue resolution.

Responsibilities

Lead complex projects and programs in accordance with project management procedures, governance requirements, and delivery standards.
Provide leadership, direction, and technical guidance to multidisciplinary project teams.
Develop and maintain working relationships with clients, contractors, project partners, and internal stakeholders.
Provide strategic leadership throughout project planning, execution, monitoring, reporting, and closeout.
Monitor project performance against goals, milestones, schedules, budgets, and quality expectations.
Establish and maintain financial, project management, risk, and governance controls.
Identify, evaluate, and manage project risks and opportunities; develop mitigation strategies and corrective actions.
Contribute to commercial strategy, including reviewing and negotiating contractual terms when appropriate.
Lead project delivery meetings and communicate status, priorities, risks, issues, and required actions.
Drive continuous improvement in project management processes and delivery methods.
Collaborate with resource managers and business leaders to ensure projects are appropriately staffed and supported.
Maintain client relationships and identify opportunities to expand relationships and support future business growth.
Ensure appropriate safety processes, procedures, and resources are in place and promote a strong health and safety culture.
Establish and monitor project success criteria, including cash flow, margin, health and safety, quality, schedule, and client satisfaction.
Manage project scope, schedule, budget, resources, and financial performance.
Monitor contract requirements and project commitments, escalate potential issues, and implement corrective actions.
Maintain project cost controls and identify opportunities to improve project and business performance.
Review project performance and implement improvements when targets are not being achieved.
Support effective resource utilization and overall business performance.
Set clear expectations for team members regarding scope, budget, schedule, responsibilities, and performance.
Foster an inclusive, collaborative work environment and support team members' professional development.
Manage and develop project team members through clear performance expectations, ongoing feedback, coaching, and performance discussions.
Lead with integrity, accountability, openness, professionalism, and high ethical standards.