Director of Project Management

About the role

The Director of Project Management leads the company’s project delivery function for scenic fabrication, experiential fabrication, and event production, owning portfolio execution, client delivery excellence, and the internal operating rhythm from kickoff through closeout.

Responsibilities

• Own the active project portfolio, prioritizing work, balancing capacity, and aligning project intake with business goals and shop/field realities.
• Establish and maintain a company-wide Project Management Methodology (PMM) that is scalable, practical, and appropriate for a small, production-driven organization.
• Implement governance rhythms such as stage gates, checklists, decision logs, standard templates, and weekly portfolio reviews.
• Define and evolve standards for scope, schedule, budget, risk, quality, procurement, and stakeholder management, informed by PMI principles and industry best practices.
• Provide portfolio-level oversight across the full project lifecycle, including pipeline forecasting and PM bandwidth planning.
• Advise and support the PM team through kickoff, engineering/drafting, fabrication, paint/finishing, pack/ship, installation/load-in, strike/load-out, and closeout.
• Drive quality control standards and sign-off gates for materials, fit and finish, structural integrity, safety, and client brand requirements.
• Own portfolio-level financial performance, including gross margin targets, labor utilization, forecast accuracy, and closeout discipline.
• Partner with Finance Operations to establish standards for labor planning, budget tracking, vendor spend controls, cash flow milestones, billing cadence, and cost-to-complete forecasting.
• Lead, mentor, and develop the Project Management team (Project Managers, Associate Project Managers, Freelance Project Managers).
• Define and maintain a practical project technology stack and reporting approach, including project databases, dashboards, templates, cost tracking, schedules, and change logs.
• Lead post-project reviews and institutionalize lessons learned into the PMM to improve repeatability and predictability.
• Establish a performance evaluation cadence using metrics such as on-time delivery, margin variance, change-order cycle time, rework and rush rates, and client satisfaction.
• Ensure disciplined adherence to safety and compliance standards in both shop and field environments.
• Reinforce safe work practices across teams and job sites.
• Lead risk management as an ongoing practice, identifying both threats and opportunities with clear ownership and mitigation strategies.

  Requirements

  • 10+ years of project leadership experience in scenic fabrication, experiential fabrication, exhibits, live events production, retail build-outs, or related custom fabrication environments.
  • PMP Certification is a plus.
  • 3+ years leading project management teams and/or operating a PMO-style function with portfolio oversight and standardized delivery.
  • Demonstrated expertise managing fabrication and installation workflows with cross-functional teams (technical and fabrication designers, shop, field installation, vendors).
  • Strong ability to adapt modern project management principles to a specialized, fast-paced, production-driven environment.
  • Proven success delivering complex, schedule-critical projects in high-change environments.
  • Excellent client-facing leadership skills, including executive communication, negotiation, and escalation management.
  • Strong financial acumen, including forecasting, margin management, labor planning, and vendor cost control.
  • Proficient in reading and interpreting drawings, shop drawings, and fabrication documentation.
  • Software familiarity preferred in Google Workspace; Excel/Sheets; Smartsheet, Monday, Asana; familiarity with SketchUp, Illustrator, or CAD is a plus.

    Qualifications

    • 10+ years of project leadership experience in scenic fabrication, experiential fabrication, exhibits, live events production, retail build-outs, or related custom fabrication environments.
    • PMP Certification is a plus.
    • 3+ years leading project management teams and/or operating a PMO-style function with portfolio oversight and standardized delivery.
    • Demonstrated expertise managing fabrication and installation workflows with cross-functional teams (technical and fabrication designers, shop, field installation, vendors).
    • Strong ability to adapt modern project management principles to a specialized, fast-paced, production-driven environment.
    • Proven success delivering complex, schedule-critical projects in high-change environments.
    • Excellent client-facing leadership skills, including executive communication, negotiation, and escalation management.
    • Strong financial acumen, including forecasting, margin management, labor planning, and vendor cost control.
    • Proficient in reading and interpreting drawings, shop drawings, and fabrication documentation.
    • Software familiarity preferred in Google Workspace; Excel/Sheets; Smartsheet, Monday, Asana; familiarity with SketchUp, Illustrator, or CAD is a plus.