Industrial Project Manager

Owner-Side Project Manager, Industrial CAPEX (Belgium) The opportunity A leading global materials technology group is scaling up fast at one of its flagship Belgian production and R&D sites. Several large investment programmes are running in parallel through 2028-2029, and they need owner-side Project Managers who can carry them from first idea to handover. The site produces high-tech materials that go into rechargeable batteries, solar cells, satellites and infrared optics. Your projects will be part of the physical build-out behind the energy transition. The department is also changing how it works. It is moving away from designing in-house toward steering and challenging external engineering firms and EPCM partners. You will be the person who holds them to their numbers, their schedules and their commitments.

What you'll do
• Own industrial CAPEX projects of €5-15M end to end, from concept and feasibility through commissioning and handover
• Write and defend the business case and investment request yourself, including the estimate, contingency and basis of estimate, through to approval
• Own the budget: commitments, forecast-to-complete, variance, contingency and change control
• Build and own the integrated baseline schedule in MS Project, including shutdown and tie-in windows in a live plant
• Steer EPCM/EPC partners and contractors, challenge their designs, estimates and schedules, and manage deviations, change orders and claims
• Lead multidisciplinary teams, internal and external, across process, mechanical, piping, electrical, automation, civil and EHS
• Be the single point of accountability to site management, operations, EHS and the steering committee
• Set the safety standard during engineering and execution in an operating process plant You steer; you don't engineer. What this role is not This is not a project engineer, project coordinator, portfolio or project-controls role, and it is not a contractor-side PM seat. You carry the accountability. If your projects were run for you rather than by you, this isn't the one. Who we're looking for Must-haves:
• 15+ years of industrial experience, of which 10+ years as an owner-side Project Manager with personal end-to-end accountability
• At least 3 completed CAPEX projects of €5M+ in the process industry (chemicals, metals, pharma or similar), led from concept to handover within the last 10 years
• Business cases and investment requests you prepared yourself, and the resulting budget you owned
• Direct experience steering at least one EPCM or EPC contractor
• Experience in pre-feasibility and concept studies, CAPEX budgeting and investment approval, and commissioning and handover
• Hands-on MS Project, with baselines you built and owned
• An engineering background (mechanical, electrical, piping, civil or similar), ideally 5+ years as a project engineer, and a Master's in engineering or equivalent level through experience
• VCA-VOL certification
• Dutch (native/fluent) and English (fluent)
• Availability for full on-site presence A plus: PMP, Prince2 or IPMA The person behind the CV: autonomous, with natural authority in a complex industrial environment. You challenge senior stakeholders and contractors with facts, communicate equally well on the shopfloor and in the steering committee, and have the analytical depth to test a contractor's estimate line by line. You also want to stay with a project long enough to see it through. Why this one stands out
• Real ownership. You hold the business case, the budget and the baseline from day one.
• Scale and variety. Multiple investment programmes, new installations and major modifications of existing assets.
• Work with a purpose. The materials you help produce go into cleaner mobility, renewable energy and advanced electronics.
• Continuity. This is a long-term collaboration with a growing department, not a six-month fill-in. Interested? Apply as soon as possible, the hiring window closing soon.