The Director, Change & Claim Management is a senior commercial leadership role responsible for leading change management, claims management, contractual entitlement, and commercial risk activities across major infrastructure projects.
Working within a Joint Venture (JV) or integrated project environment, the Director serves as a trusted advisor to project leadership, ensuring contractual rights are protected, commercial risks are effectively managed, and project changes are identified, quantified, documented, negotiated, and resolved in a timely manner.
The Director collaborates closely with Project Directors, Commercial and project Managers, Project Controls, Engineering, Procurement, Legal Counsel, and Executive Leadership to support successful project delivery while maximizing commercial outcomes and minimizing disputes.
Depending on project requirements, the role may also provide leadership and oversight in contract administration, commercial management, subcontract management, and dispute resolution. The scope of responsibilities may vary depending on project size, complexity, delivery model, and organizational structure. The Director may assume broader commercial leadership responsibilities in addition to their primary accountability for change management, claims management, and contractual entitlement. The job description details include:
Change Management
- Lead the development and implementation of project change and claim management frameworks, procedures, and governance processes.
- Ensure all change events are identified, documented, quantified, evaluated, negotiated, and closed in accordance with contractual requirements.
- Establish and maintain project change registers and reporting tools.
- Work closely with project teams to assess schedule, cost, productivity, and resource impacts associated with changes.
- Lead change order negotiations with clients, partners, consultants, contractors, and subcontractors.
- Develop forecasting and reporting processes to monitor change exposure and recovery.
Claims & Dispute Management
- Establish and execute project claims management strategies focused on entitlement preservation and dispute avoidance.
- Lead preparation, review, substantiation, negotiation, and resolution of contractual claims and counterclaims.
- Ensure compliance with notice provisions and contractual requirements.
- Oversee development of entitlement analyses, delay assessments, disruption analyses, and quantum evaluations.
- Support mediation, adjudication, arbitration, litigation, and other dispute-resolution activities as required.
- Maintain claims registers and provide executive reporting on claim exposure and resolution status.
Contract Entitlement & Risk Management
- Provide strategic interpretation of contractual terms, obligations, and entitlement provisions.
- Advise project teams regarding commercial risks, opportunities, and contractual positions.
- Support development and maintenance of project risk registers and mitigation plans.
- Work closely with legal counsel and project leadership to develop claim and defense strategies.
- Identify opportunities to improve recovery of costs associated with project changes, delays, disruptions, and scope growth.
Additional Commercial Leadership Responsibilities
Depending on project requirements, the Director may also:
Contract Administration
- Support drafting, review, negotiation, and administration of client, consultant, and subcontract agreements.
- Review significant contractual correspondence and commercial notices.
- Ensure project teams maintain compliance with contractual obligations.
Commercial Management
- Support commercial planning, governance, and reporting activities.
- Contribute to forecasting, cash flow management, and commercial performance monitoring.
- Participate in executive reviews and commercial decision-making processes.
Subcontract & Supplier Management
- Support subcontract strategy development and change management processes.
- Review major subcontract change orders and claims.
- Advise project teams on subcontract risk and entitlement matters.
Project Controls Integration
- Collaborate with project controls teams to ensure cost, schedule, productivity, and change data support entitlement positions.
- Ensure documentation and recordkeeping practices support effective claims management.
- Develop commercial dashboards, KPIs, and executive reporting tools.
Leadership & Capability Development
- Mentor commercial, contract, and project teams on change management, contract administration, and claims best practices.
- Develop tools, templates, lessons learned, and training programs.
- Foster a culture of proactive commercial management and early issue resolution.