Project Executive - Construction

Summary

Reporting to the Vice President of Construction & Plant Operations, the Project Executive – Construction plays a critical, hands-on leadership role in the direct planning, supporting design, and leading execution of facility and system improvement projects across major account sites.

The Project Executive is personally accountable for driving project outcomes — ensuring projects are delivered safely, on schedule, within budget, and in full compliance with all applicable Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs).

Serving as the Company’s senior construction team leader on assigned major projects, this role is actively engaged from early design through final closeout. The Project Executive directly influences key project decisions, resolves complex construction challenges, leads senior stakeholder coordination, and ensures that design intent is translated into executable, constructible, and operationally sound outcomes.

The Project Executive partners closely with internal development, engineering, construction, and performance teams, as well as external architects, engineers, and subcontractors, providing decisive leadership to ensure projects meet technical standards, regulatory requirements, and customer objectives. This role sets the tone for project safety, financial control, and execution excellence across all active sites.

Location

The successful candidate is situated in the western Pennsylvania region and will work from the company’s office and a home-based office with travel to customer sites as necessary.

Key Responsibilities

Direct Project Leadership & Accountability

• Lead a team of project managers and/or superintendents across multiple concurrent projects with full accountability for scope, schedule, budget, quality, and safety outcomes.
• Establish and enforce disciplined project delivery standards.
• Serve as the senior decision-maker for construction-related matters.
• Act as the primary escalation point-of-contact for risks, scope changes, schedule impacts, and cost variances.
• Personally intervene in high-impact issues to protect project performance and customer relationships.

Technical Design & Engineering

• Produce engineering deliverables: one-line diagrams, equipment selection, specifications, load calculations, schematics, solution summaries, and design submittals.
• Ensure compliance with applicable codes/standards (e.g., NEC, NFPA, ASHRAE 90.1, IECC) and local utility interconnection requirements.
• Participate in QA/QC reviews, design risk assessments, and constructability checks.

Active Design Phase Leadership

• Engage directly in schematic design, design development, and construction document review.
• Influence technical and strategic decisions to ensure constructability and operational alignment.
• Assist the design team to ensure facility improvements meet customer operational requirements, maintenance needs, and long-term asset performance standards.
• Coordinate directly with architects, engineers, and design/build teams to ensure compliance with:
  • Customer technical standards
  • Commonwealth of Pennsylvania building requirements
  • All applicable AHJs
• Lead constructability reviews, value engineering efforts, and milestone approvals.
• Integrate logistics, phasing, procurement strategies, and site constraints into early design decisions.

Construction Execution Leadership

• Provide visible, active leadership to assigned project managers across all project sites.
• Direct Site Supervisors and field leadership to ensure safe, high-quality execution.
• Monitor and drive performance against approved schedules and budgets.
• Review and approve major change orders, claims, and recovery plans.
• Lead resolution of complex field challenges involving subcontractors, utilities, environmental conditions, permitting, and operational constraints within active customer facilities.
• Ensure alignment between field execution, contract requirements, and customer expectations.

Financial & Schedule Control

• Establish and actively manage master budgets and schedules.
• Approve cost estimates, contingency use, and cash flow projections.
• Drive disciplined change management and documentation practices.
• Track and report performance metrics and implement corrective action when necessary.

Compliance & Risk Leadership

• Ensure strict compliance with all applicable regulations, including:
  • Procurement and contracting requirements
  • Prevailing wage and labor compliance
  • Environmental and permitting regulations
  • Safety and risk management standards
• Identify and mitigate site, regulatory, and market-related risks before they impact delivery.

Senior Stakeholder Engagement

• Serve as the primary senior construction interface with:
  • Internal development, engineering, construction, and performance teams
  • Customer leadership and executive stakeholders
  • Consultants and subcontractors
• Lead construction-phase coordination meetings.
• Maintain trusted, high-credibility relationships with customers and across all project partners.

Project Closeout & Continuous Improvement

• Ensure disciplined closeout, including customer sign-off, as-built documentation, warranties, O&M manuals, and final financial reconciliation.
• Capture lessons learned and implement improvements to enhance future project delivery performance.

Qualifications

Required

• 15+ years of experience delivering capital projects, including large-scale public sector or multi-site programs.
• Demonstrated experience in design/build or alternative delivery environments.
• Strong knowledge of public sector construction contracts and project controls.
• Experience operating within regulated environments across multiple jurisdictions.
• Proven ability to lead senior stakeholders and manage complex consultant and subcontractor relationships.
• Experience working with regional subcontractor networks.

Preferred

• Experience delivering public facilities such as maintenance facilities, operations centers, or government buildings.
• Prior experience working directly with public agencies.
• Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Architecture, or related field.
• Professional certifications such as DBIA, PMP, PE, or CM-BIM.

Core Competencies

• Decisive Leadership: Takes ownership and drives results in complex environments.
• Execution Discipline: Aligns strategy with construction field performance.
• Executive Communication: Translates construction realities (e.g., scheduling, impact to operations) into clear business implications.
• Financial Stewardship: Connects scope decisions to business outcomes (ROI and long-term asset value).
• Safety-First Mindset: Champions site safety and compliance.
• Problem Solving: Anticipates constraints; proposes options and trade-offs.

Tools & Platforms

• MS Project for scheduling
• Procore for project management
• MS Word and Excel for documenting and analytics

Working Conditions

• Travel: Western PA ~20-60% (regional project sites; adjust as needed). Driver’s license required.
• Work Environment: Construction site, customer facility, and office settings; occasional off-hours for travel and collaboration.

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive Salary
• Project profit sharing paid quarterly (when applicable)
• Comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, vision, 401(k) plan with very generous contributions and match, paid time off, professional development support.