General Manager - Projects & Controls Management

As Whitewater Group continues its international expansion across multiple markets, we are seeking an experienced General Manager – Projects & Controls Management to lead and mature our project delivery and project controls function across the business. This is a senior leadership role with full accountability for the successful, safe and profitable delivery of a growing international portfolio of projects, spanning off-site manufacturing (OSM) production and on-site construction and commissioning.

Reporting to the senior leadership team, the successful candidate will provide strategic and operational leadership across project management, project planning, cost control and project controls, ensuring consistent processes, robust governance and accurate reporting across all Whitewater Group projects. Rather than carrying out the technical work personally, you will coordinate and lead the teams who do – Project Managers, Schedulers/Planners, Engineers and Design teams across multiple disciplines – driving best practice, accountability and continuous improvement across the organisation as it scales internationally.

This is a rare opportunity to shape the Projects & Controls function of a fast-growing engineering business, playing a pivotal role in the successful delivery of complex, high-profile projects for blue-chip clients in the data centre, pharmaceutical, power and industrial sectors.

Your profile

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Quantity Surveying or a related discipline; a relevant Master’s qualification is an advantage.
• 10+ years’ experience in project management and/or project controls within construction,engineeringor manufacturing, includingsignificant experiencein a senior leadership or general management capacity.
• Proventrack recorddelivering large-scale, complex projects, ideally within data centre, pharmaceutical,poweror industrial infrastructure sectors.
• Strong working knowledge of project planning and scheduling principles (e.g. critical path, programme logic, baselining) sufficient to direct and challenge a scheduling team; hands-on Primavera P6 use is not required, as this is carried out by the Scheduling/Planning team.
• Demonstrated experience leading, coordinating and getting the best from multidisciplinary teams, including Project Managers, Schedulers/Planners, Engineersand Design teams across a range of disciplines.
• Strong people leadership skills, with the ability to set direction, resolve cross-functional conflicts and hold teams accountable for delivery, rather than performing the technical work personally.
• Sound commercial and financial acumen, with experience in budgeting, costcontroland contractual/claims management.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to engage confidently with clients,contractors and senior leadership.
• Comfortable reviewing and interrogating outputs from project management and controls software (e.g. Primavera P6, MS Project, Procore) used by the team, and Microsoft Office, particularly Excel.
• Professional certification (e.g. PMP, PRINCE2, or equivalent) desirable.
• Fluent English required; additional European languages (e.g. Spanish, German) an advantage given the Group’s international footprint.
• Willingness and ability to travel regularly across Whitewater Group’s European operations.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a fast-growing international business in a senior leadership role where you'll have a genuine impact on shaping the future of the Projects & Controls function. You'll benefit from a competitive salary package based on your experience and expertise, while working on a diverse portfolio of high-profile engineering projects across global markets. The role offers excellent opportunities to lead and develop multicultural teams, supported by continuous learning and professional development programmes, all within a collaborative and innovative environment that values knowledge sharing and long-term career growth.

Main Duties And Responsibilities

Leadership & Strategy

• Provide overall leadership and direction for the Projects & Controls Management function across all Whitewater Group regions and business units.
• Develop and implement project management and project controls strategy, standards,toolsand governance frameworks across the Group.
• Coordinate and lead a multidisciplinary team, including Project Managers, Schedulers/Planners, Engineers and Design teams, ensuring effective collaboration across disciplines and functions.
• Set clear direction and priorities for team members, ensuring individual and functional workloads align with overall portfolio and businessobjectives.
• Act as a senior point of escalation for major projects, ensuring risks, issues and opportunities are proactively managed.
• Represent Projects & Controls at senior leadership and board level, providingaccurate,timelyreporting on portfolio performance.

• Oversee delivery of the Group’s project portfolio, ensuring projects are delivered safely, on programme, within budget and to the highest quality standards.
• Ensure alignment between OSM production, off-site manufacturing schedules and on-site construction,integrationand commissioning activities.
• Drive consistency in project executionmethodologyacross international sites, supporting Project Managers in resolving complex delivery challenges.
• Ensure effective client,subcontractorand stakeholder management across all live projects.
• Champion a strong culture of health, safety,qualityand environmental compliance across all project activity.

• Own the Group’s project controls capability, directing the Scheduling/Planning team to ensure integrated master programmes are developed,maintainedand analysed across all projects, with robust critical path and risk analysis.
• Coordinate cost control, change management and reporting activity across the project team, ensuring the right specialist resources are engaged and delivering to standard.
• Ensure the team producesaccurateweekly and monthly progress reports, lookahead programmes, costreportsand client reporting, reviewing outputs for quality and consistency.
• Establish and embed standardised project controls tools, templates and KPIs across the business to enable consistent performance measurement across the portfolio.
• Coordinate with commercial teams and schedulers on change management, extension of time claims and contractual reporting whererequired.
• Interpret trends, risks and opportunities surfaced by the project controls and engineering teams across theportfolio, andprovide recommendations to senior leadership to support informed decision-making.

• Coordinate Engineers and Design teams across multiple disciplines (e.g. mechanical, electrical, process, civil/structural) to ensure design output supports project programmes and delivery milestones.
• Ensure effective interfaces between design, engineering,planningand site delivery teams, resolving cross-functional conflicts and bottlenecks as they arise.
• Work with discipline leads to ensure resourcing, priorities and deliverables are aligned with the overall project portfolio and businessobjectives.

Whitewater Group is a multi-disciplinary engineering company with water at the heart of everything we do.Headquartered in Ireland, with teams operating across Europe, we design, build, and maintain dependable water infrastructure for critical industries, including data centres, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, manufacturing, and energy.

Our engineers support clients from first concept through detailed design, installation, optimisation, and ongoing service.Industry needs water systems that meet strict standards and reduce risk and waste. That is the challenge we focus on every day. We design, build, and maintain water infrastructure that is safe, efficient, and future ready – helping our clients in critical industries stay compliant, cut consumption, and improve performance across multiple sites and markets.

Where others see obstacles, we engineer solutions with impact. Whitewater Group rethink water treatment through scalable, standardised infrastructure, combining technical depth, disciplined delivery, and a partnership approach across the full lifecycle.