Cognizant
Senior Project Consultant
- Permanent
- Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- Experience 10 - 15 yrs
Job expiry date: 18/04/2026
Job overview
Date posted
04/03/2026
Location
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Salary
SAR 20,000 - 30,000 per month
Compensation
Job description
The Senior Project Consultant (Aviation) provides strategic advisory and leadership support to establish, enhance, and govern enterprise project management frameworks within aviation and regulated environments. The role focuses on enterprise PMO setup, PMO transformation, governance optimization, portfolio oversight, and organizational project maturity improvement, ensuring alignment between corporate strategy, portfolio execution, and measurable business outcomes. The consultant designs and transforms centralized, decentralized, or hybrid PMO structures, develops and implements project governance frameworks, policies, standards, and procedures, and defines portfolio prioritization models aligned with strategic objectives. Responsibilities include establishing stage-gate processes, approval mechanisms, and project assurance and quality control frameworks to strengthen governance and accountability. The role oversees portfolio management activities such as portfolio planning, resource allocation, and capacity management, implements enterprise-wide reporting dashboards and KPI frameworks, conducts portfolio health assessments, and delivers executive performance reviews with ROI analysis and CAPEX/OPEX management insights. The consultant establishes enterprise risk management practices, ensures compliance with regulatory and contractual requirements, and leads independent project audits and health checks. Acting as a trusted advisor to C-level executives and steering committees, the role facilitates executive workshops, strategic planning sessions, and decision forums, and serves as escalation point for complex, high-risk initiatives. Additionally, the consultant leads organizational capability development by defining competency frameworks, conducting maturity assessments using P3M3 or similar frameworks, delivering executive-level training, and driving continuous improvement and digital PMO transformation initiatives using enterprise tools such as MS Project Online, Power BI, Clarity, and Jira Align.
Required skills
Key responsibilities
- Design, establish, and transform enterprise PMO structures including centralized, decentralized, or hybrid models, and develop comprehensive project governance frameworks, policies, standards, procedures, stage-gate processes, approval mechanisms, and project assurance frameworks aligned with aviation and regulatory requirements.
- Define and implement portfolio prioritization models aligned with strategic objectives, oversee portfolio planning, resource allocation, and capacity management, and optimize ROI through structured portfolio management and performance governance.
- Implement enterprise-wide reporting dashboards and KPI frameworks using tools such as MS Project Online, Power BI, Clarity, and Jira Align, conduct portfolio health assessments, and deliver executive performance reviews with CAPEX/OPEX management and ROI analysis insights.
- Establish enterprise risk management practices for projects and programs, ensure compliance with regulatory and contractual obligations, and lead independent project audits and health checks to mitigate risk exposure.
- Advise C-level executives and steering committees on portfolio performance, risk exposure, and strategic alignment, facilitate executive workshops and strategic planning sessions, and act as escalation point for complex and high-risk initiatives.
- Define competency frameworks for project managers and PMO staff, conduct maturity assessments using P3M3 or similar frameworks, and lead organizational project maturity improvement initiatives.
- Provide coaching, mentoring, and executive-level training to strengthen governance and portfolio management capabilities, and drive continuous improvement initiatives within enterprise PMO environments.
- Lead digital PMO transformation programs, support large-scale transformation initiatives, and ensure alignment between enterprise strategy, governance standards, and measurable business outcomes within aviation and regulated sectors.
Experience & skills
- Hold a Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, IT, or related field, with Master’s degree or MBA preferred to support executive-level advisory and enterprise governance responsibilities.
- Demonstrate 10+ years of progressive experience in project, program, and portfolio management, including at least 5+ years in PMO leadership or consulting roles at enterprise level within complex environments.
- Maintain professional certifications such as PMP, PgMP, PRINCE2, MSP, or equivalent, demonstrating structured expertise in project and program governance methodologies.
- Exhibit demonstrated experience delivering large-scale transformation programs and leading PMO setup or PMO transformation initiatives from inception through enterprise-wide rollout.
- Demonstrate strong enterprise portfolio management expertise including strategic alignment, business case evaluation, resource allocation, capacity management, and governance optimization.
- Show expertise in enterprise risk management, compliance oversight, project audits, regulatory governance frameworks, and risk mitigation strategies within regulated or aviation environments.
- Demonstrate financial acumen including CAPEX/OPEX management, ROI analysis, and executive-level reporting to support board-level and C-level decision-making processes.
- Exhibit proficiency with enterprise portfolio management tools such as MS Project Online, Power BI, Clarity, and Jira Align, along with strong executive communication, stakeholder management, and change management capabilities.