The Role

We are looking for a Head of Project Management to lead our PM function and continue to drive delivery from within it. This is a player-coach position: you will own the standards, processes, and development of the PM team, while also carrying your own portfolio of client projects.

This is not a purely supervisory role. We expect the Head of PM to be active in delivery — running projects, managing clients, and leading from the front. At the same time, you will be accountable for the health of the PM function as a whole: how the team operates, how projects are tracked, and how consistently we deliver across the board.

You will report directly to the Development Director and work closely with the wider leadership team. The PM team currently comprises four project managers, and you will be responsible for their performance, development, and day-to-day direction.

The right person for this role has grown through delivery, knows what good project management looks like in practice, and is ready to take ownership of a team without stepping away from the work they are good at.

Key Responsibilities

Leading the PM Function

• Own the overall performance of the project management team — delivery standards across the function are your accountability. 
  
  
• Define, document, and continuously improve the processes, templates, and tooling the PM team uses. 
  
  
• Conduct regular one-on-ones with PMs, provide direct and constructive feedback, and actively support their development. 
  
  
• Work with the Development Director to manage team capacity, flag resourcing risk, and ensure projects are appropriately staffed.
  
  
• Contribute to hiring decisions when PM capacity needs to expand.
  
  
• Serve as the escalation point for project issues that PMs are unable to resolve independently.

Hands-On Project Delivery

• Manage your own portfolio of client projects end-to-end, from discovery through to go-live.

• Develop and maintain detailed project plans, resource schedules, and milestone trackers for projects you own.

• Serve as the primary point of contact for senior client stakeholders on your projects.

• Run discovery sessions, requirements workshops, and regular project status calls with confidence.

• Identify risks and scope creep early, and take proactive steps to mitigate them before they affect delivery.

• Coordinate developers, QA, designers, and third-party integrators to keep delivery on track

Client Management

• Manage senior client relationships honestly and professionally — including difficult conversations around budget, scope, and timeline.

• Produce clear, concise project documentation: briefs, status reports, change requests, and handover notes.

• Ensure clients are kept informed without being overwhelmed, and that expectations are set and managed proactively.

Commercial Oversight

• Monitor burn rates across your own projects and maintain visibility over the broader project portfolio.
  
  
• Ensure change requests across the team are properly scoped, priced, and approved before work begins.
  
• Contribute to scoping and estimation for new business proposals alongside the technical and business development teams.
  
• Support revenue forecasting within the development team where required.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with the Development Director to align delivery capacity with incoming pipeline.
  
  
• Participate in internal planning sessions and bring a PM perspective to decisions that affect delivery.
  
  
• Liaise with developers, QA, and design leads to ensure the PM team is facilitating — not obstructing — good technical work.
  
  

Required Skills & Experience

Essential

• Minimum 7 years of project management experience in a digital agency or software development environment.

• Proven track record delivering complex e-commerce or web development projects end-to-end.

• Prior experience managing or mentoring other project managers or a small team.

• Strong working knowledge of both agile and waterfall delivery methodologies.

• Comfortable working directly with developers and translating technical constraints for nontechnical stakeholders.

• Excellent written and verbal communication — able to produce clear documentation and present confidently to senior clients.

• Demonstrable commercial awareness: budget tracking, burn management, change control, and scoping.

• Experience with project management tooling such as Asana, Jira, Monday.com, or similar.

Advantageous

• Hands-on experience with Shopify, Shopify Plus, WooCommerce, or Magento.

• Familiarity with software development concepts such as APIs, third-party integrations, staging environments, and version control — enough to have an informed conversation with a developer.

• PMP, PRINCE2, or Scrum Master certification (or equivalent).

• Experience scoping and delivering enterprise-level platform migrations or system integrations.

What This Role Is Not

We want to be direct about what we are not looking for, because it matters for fit.

• This is not a purely management role. If you are looking to step fully away from delivery, this is not the right position. You will carry a project load alongside your leadership responsibilities.
  
  
• This is not a role for someone who needs heavy direction. You will have support from the Development Director, but you are expected to operate with a high degree of autonomy and take genuine ownership of outcomes.
  
  
• This is not a role where process exists for its own sake. We value pragmatic delivery over rigid methodology. We want someone who knows when to follow the playbook and when to adapt.

Personal Attributes

• Accountable — you take ownership of your team's output and do not deflect when things go wrong.
  
  
• Direct — you communicate clearly, raise problems early, and do not over-promise to keep clients happy in the short term. 
  
  
• Calm under pressure — you can hold your ground with difficult clients and keep the team focused when delivery gets difficult.
  
  
• Organised — you run tight ships, maintain clean documentation, and ensure your team does the same.
  
  
• Commercially minded — you understand that good delivery and profitable delivery are not in conflict.
  
  
• Collaborative — you work well with technical teams and understand that your role is to enable great work, not just report on it.
  

Working Environment

This is a full-time, office-based position at our Durban offices. We operate in a fast-paced agency environment where priorities shift, timelines compress, and clients expect a high standard of communication and delivery. You will need to manage your own time effectively, hold your team to account, and contribute to a culture where accountability and quality are non-negotiable.

Remuneration & Benefits

Remuneration is market-related and commensurate with experience. A detailed package will be discussed with shortlisted candidates. TDMC offers a performance-based environment with real opportunity to shape how the PM function grows.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should submit a CV and a brief cover letter outlining their most relevant experience to the attention of the Development Director. Please include specific examples of projects you have delivered and teams you have led.

Please use the reference TDMC-PM-HOD-001 in your application. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. TDMC is an equal opportunity employer.