Site manager in Morocco: duties, training and salary

In brief

• The site manager prepares, plans and runs the delivery of a construction site: deadlines, costs, quality, safety.
• The site manager leads the teams on the ground and reports to the contractor's management.
• Two routes in Morocco: a state engineering degree (diplôme d'ingénieur d'État) in civil engineering (EHTP, EMI, ENSA, FST), or a technician's diploma (EST, OFPPT) with several years on site.
• No public pay scale: pay is negotiated and depends mainly on experience, the diploma, the size of the sites already run and the mobility required.
• Our online vacancy: state-qualified engineer or experienced civil engineering technician (Bac +3 to Bac +5, that is three to five years of higher education), 5 years minimum with a main contractor, nationwide mobility.

What does a site manager do in Morocco?

The site manager (conducteur de travaux) is responsible for the delivery of a site on the contractor's behalf: organising the resources, keeping the programme and the budget, and answering for quality and safety through to acceptance. The site manager is the day-to-day contact for the client (maître d'ouvrage) and the project supervisor (maître d'œuvre).

The duties follow the life of the contract:

• Prepare: study the contract documents and the drawings, build the programme, organise the site set-up, settle the budget and the resources.
• Run: coordinate the teams and the subcontractors, track supplies, enforce the drawings, safety and the quality checks.
• Report: chair the site meetings, act on written instructions (ordres de service), keep the progress reporting up to date.
• Manage: track spending, have the take-offs and the measurement records drawn up, prepare the interim valuations (situations de travaux), periodic statements of the work carried out that serve as the basis for payment.
• Hand over: prepare provisional acceptance, clear the reservations, hand over the end-of-site documents.

On a public contract, these stages are governed by the contract conditions: see our guide to the CCAG-Travaux, the general administrative conditions that apply to public works contracts.

A typical day

The day starts on the ground: a walk round the site, a check on staffing, deliveries and safety. It continues in meetings (design team, technical inspection body, subcontractors), then in the site office: programme, orders, correspondence, valuations.

What is the difference between a site supervisor, a site manager and a works director?

The site supervisor (chef de chantier) directs the work day to day on the ground. The site manager runs the site as a whole. The works director (directeur de travaux) oversees several sites and their site managers.

• Site supervisor: on site at all times, organises the teams, sets out the works, checks the work against the drawings and enforces safety.
• Site manager: prepares and plans, leads one or more site supervisors, manages the subcontractors, keeps the site accounts and represents the contractor in meetings.
• Works director: allocates resources between sites, sets the priorities and answers for the results to executive management.

Alongside them, the quantity surveyor (métreur) measures the quantities actually carried out and prepares the take-offs and the measurement records. On a small site, one person may hold two of these roles. In Arabic, our site renders site supervisor as "رئيس ورش" and site manager as "مدير أشغال".

Which degree do you need to become a site manager in Morocco?

There is no single site manager's diploma. The role is reached through a state engineering degree in civil engineering, or through a technician's diploma backed by several years on site. Course titles were checked on the institutions' websites in November 2026.

The engineering route (Bac +5)

• École Hassania des Travaux Publics (EHTP), Casablanca: a six-semester engineering cycle leading to the state engineering degree. The Génie Civil (civil engineering) track specialises in the third year in Ingénierie de Bâtiment (building engineering) or Infrastructures de Transport (transport infrastructure). The school lists works management among the careers it leads to. Admission is through the Concours National Commun (the national competitive entrance examination) or through a parallel entrance examination.
• École Mohammadia d'Ingénieurs (EMI): Génie Civil specialism, three years, state engineering degree. Works engineer is among the careers listed.
• Écoles Nationales des Sciences Appliquées (ENSA): two preparatory years followed by three years of specialisation. Civil engineering is not offered everywhere: it is, for example, at ENSA Al Hoceima.
• Facultés des Sciences et Techniques (FST): FST Fès advertises a Licence Sciences et Techniques (bachelor's degree) in Génie Civil, a master's degree focused on BIM and sustainable construction, and a Génie Civil track in its engineering cycle. FST Settat also lists a bachelor's degree in Génie Civil.

The technician route (Bac +2 and Bac +3)

• Écoles Supérieures de Technologie (EST): EST Salé prepares students in two years for a Diplôme Universitaire de Technologie (university diploma of technology) in Génie Civil, for which it lists the posts of site manager, project officer and site supervisor among the careers it leads to, followed by a Bachelor en Technologie in Génie Civil (Bac +3), with admission by competitive examination.
• OFPPT (the Office for Vocational Training and Employment Promotion): at Technicien Spécialisé (specialised technician) level, the Génie Civil course starts with a two-semester common core, followed by one option: Bâtiments (buildings), Travaux Publics (public works), Méthodes en BTP (construction methods) or Laboratoire BTP (construction laboratory). It is open to holders of the baccalauréat, within the age limit set by the OFPPT, in specialised institutes of applied technology (ISTA), building institutes and Cités des Métiers et des Compétences. In Marrakech, it is on offer at the Centre de formation professionnelle dans les métiers de la construction, the vocational training centre for the construction trades (OFPPT guidance platform, consulted in November 2026).

A specialised technician in civil engineering generally starts as a chargehand, quantity surveyor or site technician, then moves into site management with experience. A young engineer often starts as an assistant before taking on a site alone. Courses and admission requirements change from one intake to the next: each institution's official announcement is authoritative.

Which skills, and what career path?

The job calls for a solid technical grounding, a head for management and ease with people. With experience, it leads to larger sites, then to works management.

• Technical: read and challenge a drawing, know the working methods, anticipate the interfaces between trades.
• Organisation: plan, phase, adjust the resources when the site drifts.
• Management and contract: track a budget, negotiate with subcontractors, know the contract documents.
• Leadership: lead teams, run a meeting, enforce safety without exception.

The next steps are the post of senior site manager, then works director or project director. Some move towards estimating or construction methods. An experienced site supervisor, for their part, can become a site manager.

What is the salary of a site manager in Morocco?

There is no public pay scale for site managers in Morocco: in the private sector, pay is negotiated between the company and the candidate. The ranges that circulate online come from job sites and self-reported surveys, with no published method or known sample, and differ widely from one source to the next: we do not repeat them here.

A single figure is not a pay scale: two posts with the same title can be paid very differently depending on the project, the company and the responsibility delegated. The criteria below explain most of the gap.

What makes pay vary:

• Experience, and above all the size and complexity of the sites already run.
• The diploma: state-qualified engineer or technician.
• The type of project and the size of the company.
• The scope of the delegation: one site or several, budget managed.
• The mobility required, the variable component and the benefits.

On our sites: what AHMA expects of a site manager

Our site manager vacancy asks for a state-qualified engineer or an experienced civil engineering technician (Bac +3 to Bac +5), at least five years' experience with a main contractor, ideally on public projects, and nationwide mobility. The post is a permanent contract based in Marrakech, with sites throughout the Kingdom, reporting to works management.

In this post, the site manager runs the delivery of a public project from start to finish, on sites such as hospitals, courthouses and public facilities, and coordinates every trade, including the group's specialist subsidiaries. The vacancy sets out five duties:

1. Plan and monitor the execution of the works across all trades.
2. Supervise the site supervisors and the production teams.
3. Manage the subcontractors and the relationship with the project supervisor.
4. Guarantee quality of execution, safety and adherence to deadlines.
5. Keep the progress reporting and the interim valuations up to date.

As for the profile, the vacancy looks for rigorous organisation, a feel for the site and ease in dealing with the client and the project supervisor. Applications are submitted on the vacancy page, with a CV (the field says PDF, the form also accepts Word format, 10 MB maximum per file) and, if you wish, a covering letter, quoting reference AHMA-CT-01.

Two other posts are online in our careers section: structural works site supervisor (vocational building qualification or Bac +2, ten years' experience in structural works including three as a site supervisor) and estimating engineer, at head office in Marrakech. See also our guide to construction jobs in Marrakech and our sites under way.

This guide is for information. For training courses, each institution's official announcement is authoritative. For the performance of a contract, the official text and the conditions of that contract are authoritative.

Frequently asked questions

What is the salary of a site manager in Morocco?

There is no public pay scale. In the private sector, pay is negotiated between the company and the candidate, and the ranges published online, with no known method, cannot serve as a reference. Actual pay depends on experience, the diploma, the size of the sites and the mobility required.

Which degree do you need to become a site manager?

There are two routes in Morocco. The first is the state engineering degree in civil engineering (EHTP, EMI, some ENSA and FST). The second is a technician's diploma in civil engineering, such as the Diplôme Universitaire de Technologie awarded by the EST or the OFPPT's Technicien Spécialisé diploma, backed by several years on site.

What is the difference between a site supervisor and a site manager?

The site supervisor directs the work day to day on the ground: teams, setting out, compliance with the drawings, safety in their own area. The site manager runs the site as a whole: programme, budget, subcontractors, the relationship with the client and the project supervisor. The former works under the authority of the latter.

Can you become a site manager with a specialised technician's diploma in civil engineering?

Yes, with experience. A specialised technician in civil engineering generally starts as a chargehand, quantity surveyor, site technician or assistant, then moves up to site management. Our online vacancy, for its part, asks for a state-qualified engineer or an experienced civil engineering technician at Bac +3 to Bac +5 level, with at least five years' experience with a main contractor.

What is the difference between a quantity surveyor and a site manager?

The quantity surveyor measures and prices: take-offs, measurement records and the figures behind the interim valuations. The site manager directs: planning, coordinating the teams and the subcontractors, and answering for deadlines, costs and quality. The quantity surveyor works for the site manager, on site or in the design office.

How do you apply for AHMA's site manager vacancy?

Applications are submitted online, on the vacancy page (reference AHMA-CT-01), in our careers section. The form asks for your contact details, the position sought and a CV: the field says PDF, Word format is also accepted, up to 10 MB per file. The covering letter is optional.