Associate Director, Planning and Project Controls

About the team 

Our Advisory capability brings our Consulting and Deal Advisory businesses together as one team, combining our expertise and talent. We solve business challenges, helping our clients to realise their growth ambitions, from strategy to transaction and through to transformation. 

The Major Projects Advisory (MPA) team is part of KPMG's Deal Advisory practice. We help clients make critical business and investment decisions and create value through the successful delivery and transformation of major projects and programmes. 

MPA works with leading public and private sector organisations to solve complex challenges across major construction and infrastructure programmes. We provide insight and clarity to Boards, Executives and senior responsible owners, helping them make better decisions and improve programme outcomes. 

Our portfolio spans strategically important UK programmes across transport, energy and utilities, natural resources, defence, health, housing, education and other asset-intensive sectors. Our multidisciplinary team brings together people with experience from project owners, contractors, engineering consultancies and other organisations in the UK and internationally. 

About the role 

As an Associate Director, you'll help senior leaders bring control and confidence to the delivery of strategically important infrastructure programmes. You'll shape the approach to complex planning and project controls challenges, advise Boards, Executives and programme leaders, and lead multidisciplinary teams to turn schedule, cost, risk, change and performance data into clear decisions and practical interventions. 

You'll also take strategic accountability for the planning and project controls service portfolio, helping set its direction, standards, governance and measures. Alongside delivering high-quality engagements, you'll build senior client relationships, grow the portfolio, strengthen KPMG's market position and develop the capability needed to meet future client demand. 

What you'll be Doing 

• Deliver high-impact planning and project controls engagements, achieving agreed client outcomes, quality standards, timelines and commercial targets. 

• Advise Boards, Executives and programme leaders on complex programmes, translating schedule, cost, risk, change and performance information into clear priorities, decisions and practical interventions. 

• Build trusted senior client relationships that sustain confidence, support repeat work and create new opportunities. 

• Maintain oversight of engagement risk, financial performance and delivery quality, intervening when needed to support predictable results and agreed revenue and margin outcomes. 

• Grow the planning and project controls portfolio by turning market insight and client relationships into a strong pipeline, new engagements and greater market presence. 

• Set direction, standards, governance, controls and measures for the planning and project controls service portfolio, supporting consistent and scalable delivery. 

• Develop distinctive propositions and market insights that strengthen client conversations, support priority sectors and differentiate KPMG. 

• Mobilise multidisciplinary KPMG teams around client needs, bringing together the right capabilities to deliver integrated solutions and broader opportunities. 

• Build a diverse, high-performing planning and project controls team with the capability, capacity and leadership to meet current and future demand. 

• Develop future leaders through clear expectations, targeted coaching and stretching opportunities. 

Skills, knowledge and experience you'll need 

• Senior-level experience leading planning and project controls across complex infrastructure projects or programmes, integrating schedule, cost, risk, change and performance. 

• Proven ability to advise Boards, Executives and programme leaders, translating complex delivery information into clear decisions and interventions. 

• A track record of leading major client engagements with accountability for delivery quality, commercial performance and engagement risk. 

• Demonstrable success in winning and growing work, developing client opportunities into commercially sustainable engagements. 

• Deep expertise in programme planning and controls, including critical-path scheduling, assurance, risk analysis and Earned Value Management (EVM). 

• Experience building and leading multidisciplinary teams, developing senior talent and establishing consistent standards across multiple engagements. 

• A degree or equivalent professional experience in engineering, construction, project management, quantity surveying or a related discipline, together with a recognised professional qualification such as Association for Project Management (APM) Chartered Project Professional, APM Project Management Qualification (PMQ) or Project Professional Qualification (PPQ), Project Management Institute Project Management Professional (PMP), Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), or an equivalent international credential. Advanced project controls accreditation and relevant programme or portfolio management certification, such as Managing Successful Programmes (MSP), Management of Portfolios (MoP) or PRINCE2, are desirable.