Director of PM & Construction - Modular Projects Leader

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Director, Project Management and Construction

Spring, TX, US

30+ days ago Requisition ID: 1148

ATCO is committed to operational excellence and empowering our employees to do their best by supporting their health and drive to learn more. Besides competitive salaries, we offer the following

• Health, Dental, and Vision benefits
• 401(K) plan with Company match
• Employee Share Purchase Program (ESPP) with Company match
• Tuition Reimbursement Program

ATCO STRUCTURES is a modular construction company that has been the industry leader in modular products for over 75 years. We provide best-in-class products and services with flexible solutions and performance excellence, providing our customers with building alternatives for shelter and building solutions.

We are currently seeking a Director of Project Management and Construction.

This position will provide hands-on leadership for the safe, profitable, and disciplined execution of modular projects, custom design-build, and new manufactured product portfolios. This role will maintain clear ownership from project award through closeout and is responsible for the project outcome to all stakeholders.

This position will partner closely with the Sales team during pursuit, estimating, contract formation, and project award, and remaining engaged throughout project execution, which includes client communication, change management, cost recovery, schedule decisions, and issue resolution.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

Portfolio and Project Delivery Leadership

• Personally lead selected large, complex, high-risk, or strategically important projects from handoff through commissioning and closeout.
• Provide active direction and oversight across the broader portfolio of modular, custom design-build, and purchased projects.
• Confirm that scope, schedule, budget, quality, safety, procurement, site execution, commissioning, and closeout requirements are clearly defined and owned.
• Create recovery plans for projects that deviate from plan and escalate decisions promptly when executive support is required.
• Maintain a consistent operating cadence including kickoff meetings, project reviews, site reviews, risk reviews, forecast updates, and closeout reviews.

Team Leadership, Capacity, and Accountability

• Lead, coach, and develop approximately four to six Project Managers and provide clear direction to Field Superintendents and Construction Managers.
• Assign projects and resources based on capability, workload, complexity, geography, and risk.
• Set clear expectations, decision rights, deliverables, and deadlines; inspect follow-through and address missed commitments directly and constructively.
• Build a high-accountability culture that supports collaboration, candid communication, disciplined execution, and continuous improvement.
• Maintain visibility to team capacity, project workload, travel needs, and critical coverage requirements; re-balance resources as conditions change.
• Conduct regular one-on-one coaching, team meetings, project health reviews, and performance discussions in coordination with Human Resources and leadership.

Process Discipline and Project Controls

• Own and continuously improve the project management operating system, including stage gates, handoffs, baseline plans, cost coding, document control, client invoicing control, change control, reporting, and closeout requirements.
• Ensure project teams use approved templates, systems, schedules, logs, and financial controls consistently and accurately.
• Establish minimum standards for project plans, responsibility matrices, submittal and RFI tracking, procurement logs, schedule updates, meeting records, quality records, safety documentation, and client reporting.
• Use leading indicators and exception-based reporting to identify issues early rather than after financial or schedule impacts occur.
• Capture lessons learned and convert them into practical process, estimating, contract, and execution improvements.

Financial Management, Estimating, and Forecasting

• Lead project financial planning from award through final closeout, including estimate validation, budget development, cost coding, commitments, accruals, cash flow, forecast at completion, contingency, margin, and final reconciliation.
• Challenge scope, quantities, labor assumptions, schedules, subcontractor pricing, freight, site conditions, allowances, and risk contingencies before project baselines are approved.
• Review project forecasts monthly (minimum) and more frequently for high-risk projects; require clear explanations for variances and documented corrective actions.
• Analyze committed cost, actual cost, earned progress, productivity, pending changes, exposure, and remaining work to produce credible forecasts.
• Partner with Finance, Estimating, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and project teams to improve cost visibility and protect project profitability.
• Ensure financial reporting is timely, accurate, supportable, and aligned with contractual and internal requirements.

Front-End Sales, Estimating, and Contract Partnership

• Work with Sales on project qualification, pursuit strategy, solution development, execution planning, estimating, schedule development, risk review, and commercial positioning.
• Participate in client meetings, site assessments, proposal reviews, clarifications, negotiations, and project award discussions as required.
• Validate that proposed execution plans, budgets, schedules, assumptions, exclusions, owner responsibilities, and commercial terms are achievable before commitment.
• Lead a disciplined handoff from Sales and Estimating into execution, with unresolved issues, risks, and client commitments clearly documented.
• Provide practical execution feedback that improves future pricing, contracting, delivery strategy, and customer selection.

Commercial Management and Change Control

• Maintain close partnership with Sales throughout project execution on client communication, commercial strategy, relationship management, and issue escalation.
• Ensure potential changes are identified early, documented contemporaneously, priced accurately, submitted promptly, negotiated professionally, and tracked through approval and collection.
• Protect contractual entitlement while preserving constructive client relationships and clear communication.
• Review notices, schedule impacts, back charges, claims, allowances, contingencies, liquidated-damages exposure, and other commercial risks with appropriate internal stakeholders.
• Prevent unauthorized scopegrowth by enforcing written direction, delegation of authority, and approval requirements.
• Support resolution of disputes through organized records, factual analysis, timely escalation, and commercially sound recommendations.

Risk, Safety, Quality, and Compliance

• Lead project risk identification and mitigation beginning in pursuit and continuing through closeout; maintain current risk and opportunity registers for major projects.
• Evaluate contract, design, procurement, manufacturing, logistics, site, labor, subcontractor, permitting, weather, client, schedule, and financial risks.
• Ensure project teams develop specific mitigation actions, owners, due dates, contingency plans, and escalation triggers.
• Partner with HSE and operational leaders to reinforce that safe execution is a condition of project success and to address unsafe conditions immediately.
• Ensure quality expectations, inspection points, nonconformance processes, turnover documentation, and warranty responsibilities are understood and managed.
• Confirm compliance with contracts, codes, permits, company policies, delegated authorities, and record-retention requirements.

Client, Stakeholder, and Site Leadership

• Serve as an executive-level project contact for key clients and step into difficult conversations when alignment, decisions, or recovery are required.
• Communicate project status candidly, including progress, decisions, risks, changes, schedule impacts, and required client actions.
• Travel to project sites to verify conditions, support teams, meet clients and trade partners, review safety and quality, and resolve critical issues.
• Coordinate effectively across Sales, Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Construction, Finance, Legal, HSE, Quality, and external partners.
• Represent the company professionally under pressure and balance urgency, accountability, customer needs, and long-term business interests.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS/EDUCATION/WORK EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor’s degree in construction management, engineering, architecture or a related discipline is required.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in project management and construction delivery, including leadership of complex commercial, industrial, modular, or design-build projects.
• 5+ years of direct people leadership with demonstrated responsibility for Project Managers and field construction personnel.
• Demonstrated capability to personally manage large, complex projects while simultaneously directing a multi-project portfolio.
• Advanced knowledge of project financial estimating, cost control, budget analysis, commitments, accruals, forecasting, cash flow, contingency, margin, and financial closeout.
• Strong command of construction contracts, scope management, change orders, project documentation, claims avoidance, negotiation, and client communication.
• Working knowledge of design coordination, procurement, modular manufacturing interfaces, logistics, site construction, commissioning, and turnover.
• Ability to interpret drawings, specifications, schedules, estimates, contracts, subcontracts, and project financial reports.
• Proficiency with project management, scheduling, financial, document-control, and Microsoft Office tools; ability to learn and enforce company systems.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, negotiation, and executive communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience delivering permanent modular construction, volumetric modular solutions, relocatable modular buildings, custom design-built facilities, and/or modular workforce housing projects.
• Experience with both factory production and field construction interfaces.
• Professional certifications such as PE, PMP, CCM, or equivalent are preferred.
• Familiarity with lean construction, stage-gate governance, earned value concepts, and portfolio-level project controls is an asset.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS The physical demands described herein are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation(s) may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Generally, the position is sedentary and will require the ability to sit for extended periods of time; use hands and fingers to type; provide verbal communication
• Ability to speak/hear and use specific vision abilities such as close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus
• Frequent ability to reach with arms, grasp with hands and arms
• Position may require the occasional need to stoop, kneel, crouch, climb or balance

WORK ENVIRONMENT The work environment characteristics described herein are representative of those employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation(s) may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Work is conducted primarily indoors in acontrolled office environment; noise level is usually low.
• Occasionally, this position will need to visit the manufacturing plant. This work environment involves moderate exposure to unusual elements, such as extreme temperatures, dirt, dust, fumes, unpleasant odors and/or loud noises.
• Additionally, in the manufacturing environment this position will involve some exposure to hazards or physical risks, which will require the following of basic safety precautions and ability to wear assigned and appropriate Personal Protection Equipment (PPE).

At ATCO, we believe in strengthening the communities where we work & live. Through our EPIC program, our employees are given the opportunity to get involved in their community through fundraising events, employee pledges, and employee volunteer hours supporting charitable organizations of their choice.

ATCO is an Equal Employment Opportunity ("EEO") Employer committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodation to applicants with physical and mental disabilities. ATCO is a drug-free workplace and participates in the E-Verify program as required by law