We're retained to find an exceptional Chief Operating Officer for Immorose, based in DRC.
About Immorose
Immorose is a leading real estate and construction company in Central Africa and part of the Vinmart Group. The company delivers large-scale, multi-million-dollar residential, commercial, and mixed-use developments across the region. Known for its focus on innovation, quality, sustainability, and long-term urban impact, Immorose plays an important role in shaping Central Africa’s built environment.
The company operates in a complex, high-growth environment where strong project execution, operational discipline, safety, cost control, and leadership are critical. This role supports Immorose’s growth by strengthening the way major developments are planned, delivered, monitored, and scaled.
Immorose works closely with construction teams, project managers, procurement, site operations, contractors, suppliers, investors, and executive leadership to deliver projects efficiently and safely, to world-class standards.
About the Role
About the role
As Chief Operating Officer, you will lead Immorose’s operational functions across construction, project management, procurement, and site operations. Reporting directly to the CEO, you will oversee complex, multi-million-dollar property developments and ensure projects are delivered on time, within budget, safely, and to the highest quality standards.
You will lead and mentor a team of over 100 professionals, including Civil Engineers, Project Managers, and operational staff. The role requires someone who can operate at both a strategic and hands-on level, supporting the CEO on growth and expansion while staying close to project delivery, identifying risks, removing blockers, and driving performance.
This role is ideal for someone with strong experience in construction operations, large-scale project delivery, team leadership, stakeholder management, cost control, and building operational excellence in a fast-moving environment.
What you’ll be responsible for
Leading operational excellence
- Lead all operational functions across construction, project management, procurement, and site operations.
- Ensure Immorose’s major property developments are delivered efficiently, safely, and to high-quality standards.
- Strengthen operational policies, procedures, systems, and best practices across the business.
- Improve efficiency, accountability, safety, cost-effectiveness, and consistency in execution.
- Create clear operating rhythms that help teams understand priorities, timelines, risks, and expected outcomes.
Delivering major projects successfully
- Oversee complex, multi-million-dollar residential, commercial, and mixed-use developments.
- Ensure high-profile projects are delivered on time, within budget, and to world-class standards.
- Monitor project milestones, timelines, costs, quality, safety, and overall delivery performance.
- Identify project risks early and ensure practical solutions are implemented quickly.
- Maintain strong oversight of site operations and ensure execution stays aligned with business goals.
Leading people and teams
- Manage and mentor a large team of over 100 professionals, including Civil Engineers, Project Managers, and operational teams.
- Build a culture of accountability, collaboration, excellence, and ownership.
- Provide clear leadership, direction, and performance support to team members.
- Strengthen communication between executive leadership, project teams, site teams, and operational staff.
- Develop leaders within the business who can manage complexity and deliver consistently.
Driving strategy into execution
- Partner with the CEO and executive team to develop and implement strategic initiatives and expansion plans.
- Translate business strategy into practical operational plans, project priorities, and measurable outcomes.
- Provide operational insights that support executive-level decision-making.
- Ensure operational activities align with Immorose’s growth priorities and market leadership goals.
- Balance long-term business growth with the day-to-day realities of project delivery.
Improving performance, risk, and compliance
- Monitor and report on key performance indicators across projects, teams, and operations.
- Use data, reporting, and operational insights to identify performance gaps and opportunities for improvement.
- Oversee risk management, regulatory compliance, and adherence to local and international construction standards.
- Strengthen safety, quality assurance, cost control, and operational governance.
- Ensure teams are working with the right level of discipline, reporting, and accountability.
Building strong stakeholder relationships
- Build and maintain strong relationships with contractors, suppliers, investors, consultants, and other key stakeholders.
- Represent Immorose with professionalism and credibility in high-stakes operational and commercial discussions.
- Ensure external partners are aligned with project expectations, timelines, standards, and delivery requirements.
- Navigate competing priorities while keeping projects, people, and stakeholders focused on the right outcomes.
- Act as a trusted operational partner to the CEO, executive team, and wider business.
How you show up
You are an operationally strong, commercially aware leader who knows how to bring order, pace, and accountability to complex environments.
You do not wait for perfect conditions before taking action. You can assess what is happening across projects, identify what needs to change, align the right people, and move work forward with discipline and urgency.
You bring structure without creating unnecessary bureaucracy. You understand that in construction and real estate, successful delivery depends on clear planning, strong communication, practical problem-solving, cost control, safety, and consistent follow-through.
You are comfortable moving between the boardroom and the project site. You can speak with the CEO about strategy, challenge a contractor on delivery, support a Project Manager through a difficult milestone, and give clear direction to teams when priorities shift.
Success in this role will require someone who is calm under pressure, strong with people, sharp on execution, and able to lead large teams through complexity without losing sight of quality, timelines, budget, or safety.
Your strong foundation
Experience
You may be a strong fit if you have:
- At least 10 years of senior leadership experience in real estate, construction, infrastructure, or large-scale development operations.
- Experience managing multi-million-dollar property developments or complex construction projects.
- Proven experience leading large, multidisciplinary teams across technical, operational, and project functions.
- Strong knowledge of construction processes, project management methodologies, quality standards, and cost control.
- Experience working in fast-paced, high-growth environments, ideally within Central Africa or similar emerging markets.
- A track record of improving operational performance, strengthening project delivery, and building accountable teams.
Education and qualifications
You should bring:
- A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Civil Engineering, Construction Management, Architecture, Business Administration, or a related field.
- Strong technical and operational knowledge of construction, real estate development, or infrastructure delivery.
- Additional leadership, project management, construction, or business qualifications would be an advantage.
Execution and operational skills
You are expected to bring strength in:
- Leading construction, project management, procurement, and site operations.
- Managing project timelines, budgets, contractors, suppliers, risks, and quality standards.
- Creating and improving operational policies, procedures, reporting structures, and best practices.
- Monitoring KPIs and using performance insights to drive better decision-making.
- Strengthening cost control, safety standards, compliance, and operational discipline.
- Turning strategic plans into practical execution across teams and projects.
Communication and leadership
You should be able to:
- Lead large teams with clarity, confidence, and accountability.
- Communicate effectively with executives, project teams, engineers, contractors, suppliers, investors, and site teams.
- Build trust with senior stakeholders while staying close to operational details.
- Make sound decisions under pressure.
- Influence people across different levels, functions, and technical backgrounds.
- Create a culture where people understand what matters, what is expected, and how success will be measured.
This role is not for you if…
- You prefer a purely strategic leadership role and do not want to stay involved in project execution, operational details, or day-to-day delivery.
- You are uncomfortable being accountable for timelines, budgets, safety, quality, KPIs, reporting discipline, and overall operational performance.
- You struggle to lead large, multidisciplinary teams or to avoid difficult conversations about accountability, underperformance, risk, and delivery gaps.
- You are not comfortable working in a fast-paced, high-growth, high-pressure environment where systems may still be evolving and require structure to be built as they go.
Get in touch to discuss the role in confidence, or apply below to register your interest.
