Senior Project Lead - Cost Optimization Initiative

Cost Optimisation Project Lead

We are seeking a seasoned transformation leader to design, drive, and deliver a multi-year cost optimisation programme across a complex global organisation. This role will lead enterprise-wide efficiency initiatives, embed continuous improvement, and ensure sustainable benefits realisation.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the Cost Optimisation Project and Organisational Adoption: Design, plan, and deliver the cost optimisation initiative aligned with strategic, operational, and financial objectives. Develop a phased, multi-year transformation roadmap with prioritised initiatives, clear milestones, and alignment to delivery capacity.
• Drive Change Management and Continuous Improvement: Lead organisational change and stakeholder adoption to embed sustainable efficiencies and a culture of operational excellence across the enterprise.
• Identify and Deliver Efficiency Opportunities: Drive the identification, prioritisation, and implementation of enterprise-wide efficiency opportunities across all support functions and organisational levels.
• Drive Cost Optimisation and Benefits Realisation: Establish cost baselines, analyse current and future states, and ensure delivery, tracking, validation, and sustainability of efficiency benefits and cost savings, including structured reporting to senior stakeholders.
• Enhance Efficiency in Service Delivery: Identify opportunities to simplify, standardise, and optimise service delivery models and levels of effort across functions and geographies.
• Lead Programme Governance and Delivery: Establish governance structures, oversee workstreams, manage dependencies, and ensure timely delivery of agreed milestones and outcomes.
• Influence and Engage Senior Stakeholders: Facilitate alignment, decision-making, and collaboration across senior stakeholders, functions, and geographies to support successful delivery.
• Leverage AI, Digital Solutions, and Analytics: Promote the use of AI, automation, analytics, and digital technologies to improve operational efficiency, decision-making, and organisational effectiveness.
• Manage Programme Risks and Organisational Change: Proactively manage risks, issues, and organisational impacts while ensuring effective change management and adoption of new ways of working.
• Embed a Culture of Continuous Improvement: Foster innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement, ensuring efficiency initiatives are embedded into long-term organisational practices and governance.

Experience and Skills

Essential

• An extensive track record of leading large-scale organisational transformation, organisational redesign, and enterprise-wide change programmes within complex global organisations.
• Significant experience operating within complex INGOs, federated organisations, multinational matrix environments, or similarly complex stakeholder structures.
• A proven ability to design and implement enterprise-wide organisational redesign initiatives across both programmatic and support functions, including operating model transformation and service delivery redesign.
• A proven ability to apply excellent analytical and problem-solving skills and to work collaboratively to deliver effective solutions, including hands-on analysis activities to support the wider team as required.
• Extensive experience engaging, influencing, and building alignment among executive leadership teams, global functional leaders, country directors, member organisations, and senior stakeholders across multiple geographies.
• A proven ability to lead and influence in highly ambiguous, politically sensitive, and rapidly changing environments, including influencing stakeholders without direct authority.
• Strong knowledge and practical experience of operating model design, shared services, process harmonisation, workforce and level-of-effort optimisation, finance transformation, and organisational effectiveness initiatives.
• Exceptional executive communication, presentation, and stakeholder management capability.
• Experience leveraging AI, automation, analytics, and digital transformation approaches to improve organisational performance.

Desirable

• Experience leading global transformation programmes exceeding USD 100M operational scope.
• Experience working across both headquarters/global teams and decentralised country operations.
• Experience supporting ERP transformation initiatives.
• Experience in Lean Six Sigma, continuous improvement, or operational excellence methodologies.
• Exposure to enterprise analytics, AI-enabled transformation, or intelligent automation initiatives.

Education and Qualifications

Essential

Master’s degree in Business Administration, Finance, Organisational Development, Strategy, Operations, Management, or a related field.

Desirable

Professional certification in Programme Management, Change Management, Lean Six Sigma, Organisational Design, or a related discipline is strongly preferred.