EAS Job Directory

The Senior Project Manager SKA-Mid will:

• Represent the SKA1-Mid facility at Observatory level internally and externally;


• Lead the remaining Procurement Preparation activities for the SKA1-Mid telescope;


• Work with procurement specialists and members of the Assurance and Operations teams as needed;


• Lead the matrixed SKA1-Mid project team;


• Line manage Project Managers dedicated to Mid and matrix manage others involved in the delivery of both telescopes, as appropriate;


• During the Construction stage, oversee the management of the SKA1-Mid construction contracts;


• Ensure project controls implementation and delivery of SKA1-Mid to the expected cost, time and quality parameters;


• Ensure all stakeholders are appropriately engaged and informed;


• Successfully deliver the SKA1-Mid telescope and handover to Operations;


• Undertake the necessary training in order to perform in their role successfully (e.g. NEC contracts, occupational health and safety, etc.);


• Undertake any other reasonable duties as directed by the Head of Project Management or a member of the SKA Observatory Senior Leadership Team;


• Undertake frequent travel to the SKA telescope site in South Africa and occasional international travel to contractor sites (usually for one week 5-6 times a year).

• Recognised university degree-level education/training in engineering or physical sciences;


• Membership of, or eligibility for membership of, recognised national or international project management and/or engineering institutes;


• A proven track record of managing delivery of complex engineering projects in a multi-disciplinary, international setting (typically at least 10 years);


• Experience of successfully managing contract deliveries as client or contractor;


• Experience of project management of engineering projects within a radio astronomy/telecommunications/defence/space or systems development environment;


• Ability to learn and embrace new technologies and use hybrid waterfall and agile delivery methodologies;


• Strong analytical and organisational skills;


• People management and team leadership skills with experience of working collaboratively with geographically dispersed teams over multiple companies and time-zones;


• Experience in leading professional staff/project team with the ability to coach and mentor;


• Ability to influence and change behaviour through effective relationship building;


• Fluent in the English language with excellent oral and written communication skills;


• Flexible team player who is adaptable to change;


• Willingness to travel nationally and internationally as required (usually for one week 5-6 times a year).

• Post-graduate qualification in management, engineering or physical sciences;


• Experience of delivery of engineering projects in Southern Africa;


• Experience in NEC contracting;


• Experience in large scale science infrastructure projects;


• Experience with project management tools such as Primavera or Microsoft Project and with collaboration tools such as Confluence, Jira, G-Suite, Miro etc.


• Familiarity with the formalism for, and requirements of, quality control environments such as ISO9001.