Jacobi & Co

Melbourne · Victoria · Australia

Project management in Melbourne, for programmes that have outgrown their spreadsheets.

Jacobi & Co is the independent practice of Jayden Jacobi, a project and service delivery manager based in Melbourne. I am engaged when a programme is too complex, too political or too far behind to be run alongside somebody's day job, and I take named accountability for getting it back under control.

Discuss a programme
Largest programme budget managed
$10MLargest programme budget managed
Sites coordinated in a single rollout
1,600Sites coordinated in a single rollout
Delivery, consultancy and business ownership
9 yrsDelivery, consultancy and business ownership

Services

What a Melbourne engagement actually looks like.

Four ways organisations across Victoria typically bring me in. All of them are delivery work. I am not an advisory practice that hands over a deck and leaves.

Programme and project management

End-to-end ownership of a programme or workstream: schedule, critical path, dependencies, budget, risk and the reporting that keeps a steering committee informed rather than surprised. Typically three to twelve months, full or part time.

Interim project manager cover

Stepping into an existing delivery seat at short notice, whether a resignation, parental leave or a transition, and holding it steady. You get continuity through the gap and a documented handover at the end, rather than a half-remembered one.

Delivery review and programme recovery

A short diagnostic on a programme that is behind or over budget. You get the real constraint rather than the reported one, the options available, and a recommendation in writing while there is still time to act on it.

PMO coordination and delivery uplift

Building the coordination layer a growing programme needs: governance cadence, reporting that reflects reality, vendor and contractor management, and process improvement where the current way of working is the actual bottleneck.

Fit

Whether this is worth a conversation.

Being specific about fit saves us both time. If the first list describes your situation, send a brief. If the second does, I am probably not the right engagement and will tell you so.

A good fit

  • A programme between roughly $1M and $10M that needs one accountable owner rather than another coordinator.
  • Delivery spread across multiple sites, contractors or vendors, where nobody currently has the whole picture.
  • A delivery seat you need covered for three to twelve months without adding permanent headcount.
  • A programme that is slipping and you want an honest external read before the next steering committee.
  • Energy, utilities, infrastructure, retail technology or government-adjacent delivery.

Not a fit

  • A permanent, full-time employed role. This is a contract practice.
  • Software development, design or engineering delivered in-house; I manage delivery, I do not build the product.
  • Very small projects that a capable coordinator could run inside an afternoon a week.
  • Programmes needing a full delivery team from day one rather than a single accountable manager.

Questions

The usual questions.

What kind of project management do you do in Melbourne?
Delivery-side project and programme management rather than advisory. I take named accountability for a programme or workstream, from schedule and dependencies through to financials, vendor coordination and reporting, and I run it. Most engagements sit in energy and utilities, infrastructure, retail technology rollouts or government-adjacent delivery.
Do you work on site in Melbourne or remotely?
Both. I am based in Melbourne and available on site in the CBD and across greater Melbourne for workshops, steering committees and the parts of delivery that genuinely need a room. Day-to-day coordination is usually remote, which keeps the fee going into delivery rather than travel.
Are you a project manager or a consultant?
Functionally a project manager; commercially a consultant. You engage Jacobi & Co on a contract or fixed-scope basis rather than hiring a permanent employee, which suits organisations that need senior delivery capability for a defined period without adding to headcount.
How large a programme can you take on?
I have coordinated technology programmes with budgets between $1.2M and $10M, including a SaaS retail rollout across 1,600 sites. Above that scale you need a delivery team rather than a single accountable manager, and I will say so.
How quickly can you start?
I hold a small number of concurrent engagements, so availability varies. Interim cover can usually start within a fortnight. Send the dates with your brief and you will get a straight answer on capacity.
What does an engagement cost?
Programme engagements are a fixed monthly fee, interim cover is a day rate, and delivery reviews are fixed scope. Fees are quoted against the actual scope once I understand it, never estimated on a first call.

Tell me what needs delivering.

Send the programme, the deadline, and what is currently in the way. You will get an honest view on whether I am the right person for it.

Send an enquiry

Also serving

Project management in New Zealand

Most of my delivery track record was built in New Zealand: an Auckland consultancy, government housing, national accounts and energy infrastructure. I continue to take New Zealand engagements remotely.