Project Director - Harrogate

Project Director Jobs

No matter how competent a company’s operative team is, any major project needs a representative at board level to ensure the milestones are conceived based on the realistic aims of the board and that they are met. The project director oversees this process by advising the board when change or transformation is planned and then seeing it through by liaising with the relevant managers.

It is important that someone with executive powers and experience fills this role, as well-intentioned managers might be reluctant to challenge impossible goals set from the top, and change and transformation may stall when issues build up to a critical level. Having a director overseeing the project ensures the project has an advocate for both the board and the business operatives, thus ensuring it runs smoothly.

The skills required

Previous project management at senior level or project directorship will be a key requirement, with demonstrable delivered benefits to the company. Experience will be sought at a similar level to the position being filled; there is a big difference between project directing a three-month plan for an SME and overseeing the transformation of a multinational. Although good employers will recognize ambition and ability, they will not want to engage someone who is under- or over-qualified.

For long-term appointments, it’s possible to have several different projects running simultaneously, so an ability to juggle, prioritize and delegate is required. Even when projects run consecutively, there is an inevitable merging at the beginning and end as strategies are laid down, so the same skills apply. Experience within the same or a similar sector as the company seeking a PD will also be of great benefit due to the specific needs of each industry.

Project Director Jobs in Harrogate

The North Yorkshire town of Harrogate came to national prominence in the 17th century as a spa town, and over the following centuries visitors would go to the place to take the waters, which they thought had healing properties. Of course, the common people would not have had the wherewithal or the ability to get to the town, especially since they would have been sick, so Harrogate became a resort for the wealthy. Hotels sprung up and the town took on a genteel atmosphere which, some would say, survives to this day. The streets of the town centre are lined with restaurants and cafes, and several large parks give the town a green feel.

Harrogate is 13 miles (21 km) north of Leeds and 18 miles (30 km) west of York. Although the Yorkshire Dales are just to the west and the North York Moors to the north east, the town is not in a national park. It is, however, separated from any major settlement by at least 10 miles of countryside in any direction. The A1(M) passes reasonably close by over to the west; Leeds and York are connected a via rail route that stops at the town.

Despite its largely affluent populace, the town does have some industry, and boasts the Harrogate International Centre, the UK’s third-largest conference and exhibition centre. Thanks to Bucks Fizz’s 1981 triumph, the Centre hosted the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest. It was won by the German singer Nicole, with her song A Little Peace, something non-Eurovision fans have wished for ever since.

With an economically active populace of about 70,000 and a constant stream of professional visitors and day-trippers, Harrogate has a healthy need for logistics and supply chain professionals, meaning that Project Director positions here and in the region are not uncommon.

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Find Project Director Jobs with Cast UK

Cast UK is a recruitment consultancy that deals exclusively with management and director-level appointments over a focused range of sectors, and this gives us the much-needed expertise to match the most appropriate candidates with any given position.

Our offices are in London, Birmingham and Manchester, but our reach is throughout the whole of the UK, and we recruit overseas when required. We have become the vital conduit between our clients’ recruitment aims and the talent to fill them, so if you’re looking to change your career, phone us today on 0333 121 3345.

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