Construction Project Manager

Job Description

Job Description:\n\nDescription:\nSTRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF THE ROLE\nThe Construction Project Manager owns Acterra’s fuel system construction and installation projects from award through closeout. This role exists so that every project has one accountable owner – one person holding the scope, the schedule, the cost, and the customer relationship in the same hands. The Construction Project Manager will run several projects at once, in multiple states and across commercial and federal markets: planning the work, getting submittals and permits approved ahead of the crews lining up labor, materials, and subcontractors, pricing and documenting changes as they happen, and closing each job out completely. \nThis is an ownership role, not a coordination role. You will make the calls on your projects and work directly with customers, prime contractors, inspectors, and your crews – and you will be measured on whether the work got built safely, properly, on time, and at or better than the cost it was estimated at. \nESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES\nProject Ownership & Execution\n\n Serves as the accountable owner for assigned fuel system construction and installation project across Commercial and Federal markets, from award and handoff through final acceptance and closeout. \n Take handoff from estimating and sales, confirms scope, means and methods, assumptions, and cost basis of the awarded work, and identify gaps or risks before mobilization rather than after. \n Develop and maintain the project execution plan: scope breakdown, milestone schedule, labor, equipment requirements, material and long-lead requirements, site logistics, and inspection and test requirements. \n Translate that plan into clear, dated requirements for the functions that fulfil it – material and equipment requirements to Purchasing, and crew size, skill mix, and qualification requirements to Scheduling and Dispatch – early enough for those functions to act on them. \n Run projects to the contract – know what Acterra sold, what it did not, and what the contract, drawings, and specifications actually require. \n Hold projects to the delivery commitments made to the customer and communicate early and specifically when a commitment is at risk. \n Manage multiple concurrent projects in multiple states at different phases, and sequence attention by risk and impact rather than by whoever called last. \n Conduct project kickoff, look-ahead, and post-project review meetings, and make sure decisions and commitments from them are written down and followed. \n\nSafety, Quality & Compliance\n\n Make safety the first consideration in every project decision, and plan work so that the safe method is also the scheduled method. \n Ensure site-specific safety planning is completed and current before work begins – job hazard analyses, permits, confined space and hot work requirements, utility locates, excavation and shoring plans, and site orientation – and that the crews and subcontractors are qualified and trained before they are on site. \n Enforce quality requirements at the point of installation: approve submittals and materials, manufacturer requirements, applicable codes and published criteria, and required inspections and testing. \n Ensure projects comply with customer, contract, and regulatory requirements, including environmental and permitting obligations for tank and fuel system work. \n On Federal projects, meet the requirements Acterra carries as a subcontractor to the base prime contractor, including installation access and badging, site rules and escort requirements, submittal and QC procedures, and contract flow-down obligations. \n Support the project side of prevailing wage, certified payroll, and contract labor reporting requirements where applicable. \n\n \nSubmittals, Permitting & Preconstruction Coordination\n\n Own the submittal process: identify required submittals, obtain product data and shop drawings from vendors and manufacturers, submit through the customer or prime contractor, track status, and resolve rejections and resubmittals before they affect the schedule.\n Identify and secure required permits, notifications, licenses, and regulatory approvals for each project, and coordinate required inspections with authorities having jurisdiction.\n Review drawings, specifications, and published criteria for constructability, conflicts, and scope gaps, and raise requests for information promptly and in writing.\n Identify long-lead items — tanks, pumps, dispensers, controls, specialty piping and fittings — at the front of the project and release them to Purchasing against the schedule rather than against the crisis.\n Confirm site readiness ahead of mobilization: access, laydown and staging, utilities, existing conditions, and predecessor work by others.\n\nSchedule & Labor Requirements\n\n Build and maintain the project schedule, including the look-ahead the field and the customer can plan against, and keep it current as conditions change.\n Define the labor requirement for each phase of the project — crew size, skill mix, required certifications and qualifications, site access requirements, and start and duration dates — and provide it to Scheduling and Dispatch with the lead time the schedule requires.\n Work with Scheduling and Dispatch on labor availability, phasing, and trade-offs when the requirement cannot be met as stated. Scheduling and Dispatch holds final authority on crew assignment; this position is accountable for making the project’s requirement clear, correct, and early, and for adjusting the plan when the labor available differs from the labor requested.\n Confirm before mobilization that the crew assigned carries the qualifications, certifications, and credentials the work and the site require, and raise gaps to Scheduling and Dispatch before crews travel.\n Provide clear direction to assigned crews and field leadership on scope, sequence, expectations, and site conditions, and stay accessible for the questions that come up while work is underway.\n Track progress against plan, identify slippage while it is still recoverable, and recover it with a plan rather than with overtime alone.\n Communicate schedule changes to Scheduling and Dispatch as soon as they are known so labor can be reallocated rather than stranded, and escalate resource conflicts across projects with a recommendation attached. \n\nMaterial, Equipment & Subcontract Requirements\n\n Define the material, tooling, rental, and specialty equipment requirement for each phase — quantities, specifications, approved manufacturers, and need-by dates — and provide it to Purchasing for sourcing, pricing, and purchase.\n Work with Purchasing on availability, lead times, substitutions, delivery dates, and expediting when a date is at risk, and approve or reject technical alternates against the specification.\n Define subcontracted scope of work, technical requirements, and schedule dates, and provide the scope package to Purchasing for solicitation, pricing, and award; participate in bid comparison and scope reviews and confirm the selected subcontractor’s proposal covers what the project actually needs.\n Confirm through Purchasing that required subcontractor and vendor documentation is in place before work begins — W-9, certificates of insurance meeting Acterra’s requirements, licenses, and certifications — and keep uncleared subcontractors off the site.\n Verify deliveries, quantities, and condition against the requirement, and revise the requirement in writing when field conditions change it rather than absorbing the change verbally.\n Manage subcontractor performance on site: schedule adherence, quality of work, safety compliance, and site conduct. Address failures directly and early, and report recurring vendor or subcontractor performance problems to Purchasing for action at the supplier level.\n Verify and approve subcontractor and vendor invoices against work actually performed and materials actually received, and coordinate with Purchasing and Finance on disputes.\n\nCost Control, Change Management & Billing\n\n Own the financial performance of assigned projects against the estimate, and know the current cost position of each project rather than reconstructing it at month end.\n Review job cost reports regularly, investigate variances while there is still project left to correct them, and forecast cost at completion.\n Identify changed conditions, added scope, and customer- or prime-directed changes as they occur; price and submit change orders and obtain written authorization before performing the work.\n Prepare and submit progress billings, pay applications, lien waivers, and supporting documentation on the customer’s or prime contractor’s schedule and in their required format.\n Manage retention, backcharges, and claims exposure, and keep the documentation that supports Acterra’s position.\n Ensure completed work converts promptly into billing-ready packages, and drive down the time between work performed and invoice issued. \n\nCustomer, Prime Contractor & Stakeholder Management\n\n Serve as the primary project point of contact for customers, prime contractors, engineers, general contractors, and facility and installation personnel.\n Communicate status, risks, and changes proactively and in writing, and deliver bad news early with a proposed path forward.\n Represent Acterra professionally in progress meetings, site walks, inspections, and turnover, and protect the relationship without giving away scope.\n Coordinate work around active facilities and fueling operations, including outages, shutdowns, and phasing, so customer operations are disrupted as little as the work allows.\n Identify additional work, service opportunities, and follow-on needs observed during projects, and pass them to Sales.\n\nCloseout, Documentation & Continuous Improvement\n\n Maintain complete and organized project records: contracts, drawings, submittals, RFIs, change orders, daily reports, photographs, test and inspection results, correspondence, and cost documentation.\n Manage punch list resolution, testing and commissioning, training and turnover, as-builts, warranty documentation, and operations and maintenance manuals through to customer acceptance.\n Close projects out financially and administratively — final billing, subcontractor and vendor closeout, retention release, and warranty handoff to Maintenance and Technical Services.\n Conduct post-project reviews and feed what the job actually cost and how it actually went back into estimating, bidding, and standard practice.\n Improve and document project management practices, templates, and system use so project delivery is repeatable rather than dependent on the individual running it.\n Perform other duties as assigned in support of company objectives.\n\nTo perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to accomplish each essential job function satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. \n\nOTHER COMPETENCIES AND NATIVE GENIUS\n\n Communication: Communicates well both verbally and in writing, creates accurate and punctual reports, delivers presentations, shares information and ideas with others, has good listening skills. \n Planning and Organization: Plans work well in advance, identifies requirements, dependencies, and lead times, sets realistic dates, and organizes multiple concurrent projects without losing track of detail. \n Collaboration and Influence: Works effectively across departments without direct authority. Provides clear and timely requirements to others, understands their constraints, and builds cooperative relationships that produce results. \n Technical Aptitude: Reads and interprets drawings, specifications, and submittals accurately. Understands construction means and methods well enough to plan work, evaluate alternates, and direct crews and subcontractors credibly. \n\nRequirements:\nREQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS\nEducation & Experience:\n\n High school diploma or equivalent.\n Five or more years of construction project management experience, including full accountability for schedule and cost outcomes on assigned projects.\n Experience defining material, equipment, and labor requirements for a project and working through separate purchasing and scheduling functions to have them fulfilled.\n Experience managing projects against a job cost budget, including change order pricing and negotiation.\n Experience with the full project lifecycle, including submittals, permitting, progress billing, testing and commissioning, and closeout.\n Experience running multiple concurrent projects at different phases and in different locations.\n\nTech Skills:\n\n Ability to read and interpret construction drawings, specifications, submittals, shop drawings, and published criteria.\n Working proficiency with Microsoft Office, particularly Excel and Outlook.\n Ability to build and maintain project schedules, cost reports, and trackers, including Excel work with formulas, filtering, and pivot tables.\n Experience using an ERP, project management, or construction management system as a working tool for cost, documentation, and reporting.\n Comfort learning new project and field reporting software and using it well rather than working around it.\n\nOther Skills:\n\n Clear, professional written and verbal communication with crews, subcontractors, vendors, customers, prime contractors, inspectors, and executive leadership.\n Ability to make sound decisions quickly, under time pressure and with incomplete information, and to own the outcome.\n Ability to plan and organize work independently, and to prioritize competing demands across multiple projects, locations, states, and time zones.\n Ability to direct and hold standards for people who do not report to them, and to get timely results from shared functions the position does not control.\n Ability to state a requirement precisely and in writing — what is needed, to what specification, by when — rather than escalating after a date is missed.\n Sound judgment and demonstrated discretion with customer, pricing, and cost information.\n\nPREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS\n\n Associate’s or bachelor’s degree in construction management, engineering, business, or a related field.\n Direct experience with fuel systems, petroleum equipment, aboveground or underground storage tanks, pumps, piping, dispensers, or fuel control systems.\n Experience performing as a subcontractor to large prime contractors on federal projects, including submittal procedures, QC requirements, and flow-down obligations.\n Experience working on military installations or other secured sites, including badging, escorted access, and site-specific compliance requirements.\n Familiarity with UFGS and UFC/UFM requirements, or with ASME, API, AWS, or NFPA standards applicable to fuel systems.\n Familiarity with prevailing wage, certified payroll, or govern