Senior Project Director, B&I Norway

COWI is enhancing our Buildings & Industries division with a highly experienced and strategic Senior Project Director. If you thrive in complexity, are proficient at leading multidisciplinary project teams, and can navigate demanding stakeholder landscapes with confidence and clarity, this could be your next big step.

Shape the future – one project at a time

Our Buildings & Industries division works closely with customers on some of Norway’s most technically demanding and challenging projects — from data centers and hospitals to major research facilities and industrial developments. Together with our clients, we are designing the next generation of sustainable buildings, enabled by digital transformation and COWI’s Future Now strategy.

In this role, you will oversee highly complex, critical projects that determine both project outcomes and the strategic development of our wider business area. Reporting directly to the Senior Vice President for Buildings and Industry Norway, you will play a key role in positioning COWI as a leader in sustainable, innovative, and high-quality project delivery. As Senior Project Director, you will be central in managing this strategic direction. The role is also part of the senior management team for Buildings & Industry Norway.

Your key responsibilities will include:

• Oversee highly complex and strategically essential projects from early phase to handover, ensuring delivery on scope, schedule, budget, quality, and safety.
• Build and manage strong strategic relationships with key customers and identify opportunities that strengthen COWI’s market position.
• Ensure profitability and compliance with COWI’s Quality Management System and project reporting requirements.
• Mentor and support experienced project managers and multidisciplinary teams, ensuring steady work and accountability.
• Assess and allocate resources effectively, ensuring effective coordination across disciplines and external stakeholders.
• Contribute to the development of the business area, including sales activities, competence development, and leadership initiatives.
• Ensure a safe, healthy and inclusive working environment across all project actors.

Your skills. Our team. Together we design the future.

Like us, you believe that leadership success comes from building purpose and inspiring the leaders you lead. Developing your people, encouraging them to apply their strengths in their work, and moving their performance forward through dialogue are at the centre of what you do. So are attracting a diverse group of leaders and promoting an open, caring and trusting culture. And breaking down silos and collaborating across the organisation are inherent to the direction you set for your leadership team.

On top of that, you will have:

• Extensive experience in translating strategy into goals and operational plans.
• Demonstrated experience leading large, complex building or industrial projects — hospitals, data centres, research facilities, or similarly high-complexity developments.
• Senior leadership capability with a well-documented history of developing and managing effective, complementary project teams.
• Skilled in progress and resource planning, risk management, and cost-controlled project execution.
• Skilled in collaborating with demanding stakeholders, including owners, contractors, suppliers, and regulatory bodies.
• Strong commercial awareness with the ability to identify and drive new business opportunities, supported by proficient communication and stakeholder-management skills at both executive and operational levels.
• Fluency in a Scandinavian language and English, both written and spoken.

A place to work and so much more

At COWI, we work together with our customers to shape a sustainable and liveable world. We do it by applying our knowledge and curiosity – and sometimes even our courage – to create the solutions the world needs today to enable a better tomorrow. We support our customers’ transition towards increased sustainability. We strive to lead by example by embedding environmental management, social responsibility and good governance into our business practices and the options we provide to our customers.

We value differences and development and cultivate an environment of belonging and having fun. Because that is what brings out the best in you, at work and at home.

With offices primarily located in the Nordic region, the UK, North America, Poland and India, we are currently more than 7,500 people who bring their expertise in engineering, architecture, energy and environment into play.

Diversity is fundamental to COWI; inclusion is key.

We are committed to creating a respectful and fair work environment where all employees have a sense of belonging and equitable opportunities to thrive and grow. We ensure that our leaders are role models for inclusive leadership by cultivating a culture where diverse perspectives and thoughts are seen as strengths. And we take diversity and inclusion into account in all relevant decisions and processes and when setting up teams and fora. We do it because it is part of our values and because it is simply the right thing to do.

Got more questions?

If you have any unanswered questions about the role, please reach out to our Senior Strategic Talent Acquisition Specialist, Janne Hellerup Nielsen, at JANE@COWI.COM.

Get to know us even better at our website, www.cowi.com, where you can learn more about our projects, our strategy, what we want to achieve and what life is like at COWI.

Before you apply

All you need to include in your application is your CV. You’re welcome to open your CV with a brief note on your motivation for applying. The rest we can discuss during the interview, where you can share more about why you’re interested in joining COWI.