WHAT DOES A LEAD PROJECT MANAGER DO?
Published: Jan 16, 2026 - The Lead Project Manager directs internal and external teams to advance capital projects from early technology development through commissioning, ensuring alignment, quality deliverables, and effective stage-gate progression. This position oversees design reviews, estimates, execution strategies, vendor engagement, and cross-functional coordination while managing KPIs, risks, and action plans to maintain project objectives. The manager also interfaces with global subject matter experts and presents clear project updates to business leadership and stakeholders.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Lead Project Manager
1. Lead Project Manager Duties
- Portfolio Management: Supports the assessment, implementation, and monitoring of a project portfolio performance management by actively liaising with the delivery teams to establish and track key performance metrics of the project.
- Business Case Evaluation: Undertakes detailed business case evaluations and subsequent planning of strategic project requests received or identified (i.e., the planning for identified projects that are a result of other planning and forecasting work).
- Project Delivery: Manages specific projects end-to-end with airport stakeholders throughout the life of the project.
- Dashboard Development: Develops and designs project dashboards that provide performance of the project and support tracking the risks, change management activities, and cost parameters of the project by preparing and ensuring project-level trackers are kept up to date at all times for effective project lifecycle management.
- Schedule Management: Prepare, manage, and update the overall project master schedule and specific project schedules.
- Progress Monitoring: Monitor the progression of the projects to ensure timely performance and budget, prepare project schedules, and distribute them to relevant stakeholders.
- Issue Escalation: Escalate deviations at appropriate time intervals to bring projects back on track.
- Critical Path Analysis: Review critical paths and constraints to determine the effect of changes on the schedule and recommend workarounds to mitigate impacts.
- Change Control: Support the change control process across all projects by updating and communicating all change requests and processing them to ensure all variations are regularised as per the set process.
- Project Analysis: Analyse how each component of the project plan contributes to the project to best manage and oversee it to completion.
- Cost Control: Track projects to budget, prepare the project total cost, and liaise with project-related internal teams and third-party stakeholders and vendors for the execution of multiple projects as per their scope, time, and budget by conducting periodic project tracker meetings.
- Reporting: Create and generate reports and provide updates to the Line Manager.
2. Lead Project Manager Details
- Budget Management: Lead and manage the CTB technology budget for the Australia market, including estimation, forecasting, tracking, re-allocation, and reporting.
- Demand Management: Manage all GPDM, Interlocking, CAM, Clarity, and demand management with various local, ASP, and global IT teams.
- Stakeholder Reporting: Run monthly meetings and report to the WPB business.
- Financial Forecasting: Walk through portfolio spend and forecast.
- Resource Allocation: Work directly with the Head of Business Transformation in WPB and the IT Leadership team to find and allocate ATP to support business-initiated IT projects.
- Resource Planning: Track and forecast resource plans and report on project status via local and global Jira systems.
- Project Execution: Deep dive and take a hands-on approach in specific areas of projects to move the project forward, overcoming organisational, people, and process issues.
- Portfolio Leadership: Drive all projects within this workstream and report to the ASP Head of SSP portfolio for WPB.
- Governance Management: Initiate and drive project and technology governance processes, as well as additional internal compliance and due diligence activities.
- Stakeholder Coordination: Liaise with key business, IT, legal, and compliance stakeholders to agree on project prioritisation, budget, and governance-related matters.
- Change Engagement: Engagement and buy-in of all key stakeholders throughout the project to ensure they are aware of the impact of the change and of what the programme expects from them and their teams to make this successful.
3. Lead Project Manager Responsibilities
- Team Leadership: Lead a team of project managers in helping ensure the team accomplishes the company’s monthly targets.
- Team Development: Train new team members and collaborate with the team to ensure the success of the business.
- Servant Leadership: Serve as a team member role model, not only demonstrating great client service, but also embracing values and Servant Leadership.
- Feedback Management: Receive and incorporate feedback, host feedback discussions.
- Project Oversight: Help manage the team’s projects and own projects throughout all phases of market research studies, both qualitative and quantitative.
- Project Management: Successfully manage multiple challenging and complex projects.
- Financial Management: Actively manage project budget, work plan, profitability, as well as billing schedules to meet or exceed targets and revenue.
- Client Management: Serve as the primary day-to-day client contact and manage all internal and client-facing project-related meetings.
- Problem Solving: Anticipate and identify project problems and find solutions independently or with moderate guidance.
- Team Facilitation: Facilitate project conversations between project team members.
- Technical Expertise: Provide authoritative technical and scientific advice in his or her area of expertise.
- Innovation: Proactively identify new ideas.
4. Lead Project Manager Accountabilities
- Project Execution: Manage the project execution that may include warranty, equipment-only, suites of products, and non-turnkey projects.
- Cross-Team Integration: Demonstrate a deep understanding of how the work of one’s own team integrates with other teams and contributes to the area.
- Stakeholder Coordination: Ensure close cooperation and coordination with internal and external stakeholders in the role of a central contact person.
- Customer Management: Develop strong customer relationships and serve as the interface between the customer and GE.
- Technical Communication: Explain technical information to others.
- Team Leadership: Lead and motivate a project team, distribute tasks within the team, taking into account customer specifications and GE Grid Integration policies.
- Testing Leadership: Lead and supervise activities related to testing and validation of equipment, facilities, or plants in accordance with design objectives or specifications for operational use.
- Subcontractor Management: Lead others directly or indirectly and manage subcontractors with technical expertise.
- Technical Expertise: Utilize in-depth knowledge of a technical discipline, analytical thinking, and technical experience to execute policy and strategy.
- Contract Review: Perform detailed contract reviews and technical order clarification with the support of sales and engineering.
- Risk Management: Manage risks and claims related to order and process-related disturbances.
5. Lead Project Manager Functions
- Operating Systems: Deploy and champion GXO operating systems (GOS) initiatives in all areas of the facility.
- Lean Tools: Deploy tools such as Shikumi, VSM, and TIMWOODS to identify inefficiencies and bottlenecks and assist in improving productivity, delivery, and quality KPIs.
- Change Leadership: Serve as a change agent to support and sustain the use of new tools, efficiencies, and processes across all levels while providing guidance and coaching to the operations team and front-line leadership.
- Client Partnership: Partner with the client and corporate excellence teams to ensure methodologies are understood, implemented, and maturing per expectations.
- Best Practices: Support the business in establishing best practices by training, coaching, and working as an integral part of the team.
- Gemba Facilitation: Lead and facilitate Gemba Walks with the leadership team.
- Workshop Facilitation: Facilitate pre-conceptual and conceptual workshops to support new programs and projects.
- Problem Solving: Facilitate cross-functional projects utilizing a variety of structured problem-solving methods.
- Continuous Improvement: Support and champion Continuous Improvement programs across an extended network of sites that are strongly aligned with the customer’s internal CI programs.
- Culture Development: Energize a continuous improvement and problem-solving culture across the facility.
- Executive Reporting: Provide regular status reports and updates to senior leadership.
- Process Excellence: Ensure process excellence by working closely with leadership.
- Process Auditing: Audit processes and tools implemented for sustainability and maturity.
6. Lead Project Manager Overview
- Capital Projects: Lead a team of internal and external resources to develop early stages of a capital project from technology development through commissioning and startup.
- Internal Alignment: Conduct internal alignment meetings.
- External Coordination: Interface with external engineering, construction, material, and service providers.
- Stage Gate: Lead the stage gate process and ensure the quality of deliverables.
- Design Review: Review and approve designs, estimates, and execution strategies.
- Expert Engagement: Engage subject matter experts, including multinational team members.
- Executive Reporting: Assemble and present project updates to business leadership and other project stakeholders.
- Project Governance: Ensure critical project reviews are conducted in coordination with other functional departments.
- Vendor Coordination: Coordinate with the internal goods and services department for vendor and service provider engagement.
- KPI Management: Be accountable for managing KPIs to control the project and maintain project objectives, identify and communicate project risks, and implement appropriate action plans.
7. Lead Project Manager Details and Accountabilities
- Team Leadership: Lead a team of New Equipment project managers and focus on driving efficiency, cost containment, and customer satisfaction.
- Customer Focus: Influence and promote a customer-centric culture amongst the PM team to ensure first-class customer service.
- Process Compliance: Ensure adherence to the New Equipment Sales Installation Processes, verify timely execution of deliverables, and work with general managers to drive the weekly SIP meetings.
- Project Allocation: Review awarded projects, triage, and distribute amongst the team to ensure proper project loading.
- Performance Monitoring: Monitor project metrics for the respective group and work with general managers to develop action plans.
- Contract Oversight: Provide oversight of contract activities from the project award stage to completion of the elevator and escalator installation and or New Equipment, and provide progress reviews to ensure contract documents are consistent with the required project scope.
- Stakeholder Communication: Communicate directly with representatives of general contractors, owners, building managers, architects, designers, and State and Local authorities and regulatory agencies concerning project design, preparation, and installation scheduling.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborate with internal sales staff, New Equipment superintendents, and senior leadership to ensure project success from both financial and customer perspectives.
- Site Management: Conduct job site visits and attend customer meetings.
- Construction Management: Oversee construction process duties including managing billing, consultant and contractor payments, processing RFIs, optimizing change order opportunities, and maximizing project cash coverage.
- Project Initiation: Ensure kick-off meetings are held and target hours are assigned before the start of the project.
- Team Development: Provide ongoing training, development, and leadership to the New Equipment project management team.
- Operational Consulting: Consult with regional New Equipment operational leaders, superintendents, mechanics, and adjusters regarding issues encountered with product performance.
8. Lead Project Manager Tasks
- Program Management: Develop, plan, and manage the implementation of activities for highly complex projects and programs for external and internal customers throughout their lifecycle.
- Delivery Accountability: Be accountable for timely project completion and delivery.
- Status Reporting: Analyse work plans and schedules and develop project progress and status reports, including executive status updates.
- Resource Management: Be responsible for resource requirements and allocation.
- Meeting Coordination: Coordinate and facilitate project meetings.
- Action Tracking: Develop and distribute timely meeting minutes, including tracking and managing action items, verifying incorporation into the program schedule, and ensuring deliverables are met on time.
- Risk Management: Assess and manage risks, impacts, and potential alternatives and escalate to the appropriate level of management.
- Objective Setting: Set program objectives and establish clear measures to successfully define and meet project deliverables and timelines.
- Change Control: Utilize the change control process to track schedule changes.
- Team Leadership: Act as project team leader and be accountable for successful overall project completion.
- KPI Development: Through partnership with other staff organizations, define Key Performance Indicators, training, process standards, policies, and procedures.
9. Lead Project Manager General Responsibilities
- Process Compliance: Ensure adherence to project-related policies and processes.
- Scope Coordination: Reiterate scope, roles and responsibilities, and schedules regularly, and provide team members with a single point of contact for all project issues.
- Decision Authority: Employ judgment to make business decisions that impact the project, customer, or company, and have the authority to stop activities when continuing would have a negative impact.
- Resource Coordination: Be responsible for identifying and ensuring participation of all required internal and vendor resources to ensure on-time delivery of sold services within budgetary guidelines.
- Schedule Negotiation: Negotiate due dates based on resource and network availability to maintain Lumen’s profitability and meet customer requirements.
- Customer Interface: Act as the customer-facing single point of contact throughout the life of the project.
- Strategic Accounts: Be often dedicated to strategic global customers for repeat business.
- Sales Support: Identify additional sales opportunities and engage the Sales organization.
- Customer Satisfaction: Performance is measured in part based on customer surveys completed upon delivery of services.
- Business Alignment: Understand project goals and objectives as they relate to customers’ business strategies and long-term needs.
- Project Deliverables: Deliver project assessment, team formation, schedule preparation, status and jeopardy reports, risk analysis, project status reports, and post implementation analysis.
- Team Mentoring: Act as a mentor and team leader to other teammates.