Vice President, Head of Construction

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Vice President, Head of Construction

Remote - DC Preferred, Remote, US

2 days ago Requisition ID: 1035

About Lydian Energy

Lydian is an established energy development company specializing in the development and construction of utility-scale solar and battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in North America. Lydian owns 14 assets in development, construction or under operation, consisting of both solar and storage, which reached or are expected to reach FNTP from 2024-2028.

Lydian is backed by Excelsior Energy Capital (“EEC”), a leading private equity fund manager with more than $1.5B in assets under management, that is exclusively focused on north American middle market renewables investing. Lydian’s relationship with EEC provides several critical advantages, including access to (i) a specialized team of value-add investor-operators with decades of renewables development, construction, and transaction experience and (ii) committed discretionary equity capital, strong relationships with debt and tax equity investors, and deep experience structuring tax equity and project financings.

Lydian has built a team of seasoned, passionate energy infrastructure professionals with deep expertise in project development, construction, financing, and M&A. This is an opportunity to join a fully capitalized development platform that is running at full capacity, but still at an early-enough stage for you to have a real impact on company culture and commercial outcomes.

Job Scope

The Vice President of Construction reports to the Chief Operating Officer and is responsible for the safe, on-time, and on-budget delivery of the company’s utility-scale solar PV and battery energy storage (BESS) project portfolio through active field execution. This role picks up each project at construction mobilization — receiving a fully executed EPC contract, approved budget, and baseline schedule from the VP Pre-Construction — and owns all aspects of construction performance through to COD and asset management handoff.

Overseeing 3–8 simultaneous projects totaling 1–2 GW of annual installed capacity across multiple geographies. The VP Construction directs embedded field construction teams, manages EPC contractor performance against contracted obligations, and drives continuous improvement in construction delivery systems. This is fundamentally a field execution leadership role, requiring a leader who thrives in a dynamic, multi-project environment and excels at holding large contractor organizations accountable while maintaining productive working relationships.

Key organizational interfaces include:

• Pre-Construction: Receives a structured project handoff at mobilization including fully executed EPC and equipment contracts, approved budget, baseline schedule, approved subcontractor list, and equipment delivery schedule; engages VP Pre-Construction as a resource on contract interpretation and major change order strategy during construction.
• Engineering: Coordinates on construction-phase technical support, RFI resolution, design changes, and commissioning engineering.
• Supply Chain: Coordinates on owner-procured equipment delivery scheduling, logistics issues, and equipment damage claims.
• Asset Management: Executes a thorough COD handoff including as-built documentation, O&M manuals, warranty registrations, and punch list status.

Essential Functions

Construction Execution & Portfolio Delivery

• Own end-to-end construction execution for 3–8 simultaneous utility-scale solar and BESS projects, from mobilization through COD.
• Drive on-time, on-budget project delivery against the contracted schedule, approved cost baseline, and quality standards established during pre-construction.
• Deploy and manage embedded project management teams and field construction managers at each active project site.
• Implement standardized project controls, reporting cadences, and escalation protocols across the portfolio.
• Maintain a portfolio-level construction dashboard providing the COO with real-time visibility into schedule, cost, safety, and quality status.

EPC Contractor Performance Management

• Hold EPC contractors accountable to all contractual obligations — milestone schedules, performance guarantees, quality standards, and safety requirements.
• Manage construction-phase change order processes: evaluate scope change requests, assess schedule and cost impacts, and negotiate resolutions within delegated authority or expand to VP Pre-Construction and COO as appropriate.
• Assess and document EPC contractor performance deficiencies; develop and drive remediation plans in coordination with Legal and the COO when formal cure notices or LD assessments are warranted.
• Manage subcontractor approvals, interface coordination, and performance oversight on self-perform or multi-prime project structures.
• Lead the Root cause Analysis to accurately determine failure modes. Identify and share Lessons Learned from projects to improve overall performance in safety, quality, schedule and cost.
• Lead weekly and monthly construction progress reviews with EPC teams, ensuring accurate reporting of earned value, cost-to-complete, and schedule recovery plans.

Safety, Quality & Environmental Compliance

• Champion a zero-incident safety culture across all project sites; own the company’s construction HSE program and site safety standards.
• Oversee quality assurance and quality control programs, ensuring work-in-place meets design specifications, contractual standards, and long-term performance requirements.
• Ensure compliance with all applicable environmental permits, NPDES/stormwater management requirements, and agency commitments on active construction sites.
• Conduct regular site visits and safety audits; personally lead incident investigations with formal root cause analysis and corrective action tracking.

Commissioning & COD

• Oversee pre-commissioning, commissioning, and startup activities in coordination with VP Engineering’s commissioning team and Asset Management.
• Manage performance testing, acceptance testing, and punch list closeout processes to ensure COD requirements are fully satisfied.
• Coordinate COD milestone achievement with interconnection authorities, offtakers, and project finance teams, ensuring all technical and contractual conditions precedent are met.
• Execute a complete, documented handoff to VP Asset Management at COD, transferring as-built documentation, O&M manuals, warranty registrations, and outstanding punchlist items with agreed remediation timelines.

Cost & Schedule Controls

• Maintain detailed cost tracking, invoice review, and forecast-to-complete and critical path analysis across the active construction portfolio.
• Review and approve construction change orders within delegated authority; elevate material scope or cost changes to COO with clear recommendations.
• Manage construction contingency drawdowns and report variances against approved budgets on a monthly basis.
• Coordinate with Project Finance on construction draw requisition packages, schedule of values updates, and lender construction monitoring processes.

Stakeholder Coordination

• Interface with utilities, transmission owners, and ISOs on construction-phase interconnection activities, outage coordination, and energization sequencing.
• Coordinate with local authorities, land agents, and community stakeholders on site access, construction impacts, and permit compliance.
• Provide regular construction status reporting to the COO, lenders, independent engineers, and tax equity partners as required by project finance obligations.

Qualifications

Experience

• 12+ years of progressive project management and construction leadership in utility-scale power generation or renewable energy.
• 5+ years in a senior construction leadership role managing multi-project portfolios at 500 MW+ annual scale.
• Demonstrated track record delivering utility-scale solar PV projects of 100 MW or larger from NTP through COD.
• Extensive experience administering EPC contracts during active construction, including change order management, performance enforcement, and claims avoidance.

Technical Expertise

• Deep understanding of utility-scale solar PV and BESS construction sequencing, civil and electrical scopes, and commissioning processes.
• Proficiency in construction project controls, scheduling (Primavera P6 / MS Project), earned value management, and cost forecasting.
• Working knowledge of interconnection construction milestones, utility coordination requirements, and energization processes.
• Familiarity with OSHA construction safety standards, environmental compliance requirements, and incident management protocols.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field required.
• PMP certification strongly preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

• Battery energy storage system construction and commissioning experience.
• Experience across multiple ISO/RTO markets (ERCOT, CAISO, PJM, MISO, SPP, etc).
• Experience managing lender construction monitoring processes, independent engineer site visits, and draw requisition packages.
• Six Sigma or Lean Construction certification.
• Background working in both EPC contractor and project owner roles.

Key Competencies

• Decisive field leader with the presence and credibility to hold large EPC organizations accountable to their contractual commitments.
• Strong contract administrator who understands when to push, when to negotiate, and when to escalates — and executes each with discipline.
• Excellent multi-project manager who maintains clear-eyed visibility across the portfolio without losing sight of individual project risks.
• Highly collaborative partner to Pre-Construction, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Asset Management — committed to clean handoffs in both directions.
• Exceptional communicator who can translate complex field situations into crisp executive-level reporting.
• Willingness/ability to travel 25 – 50% of time to domestic locations.

Equal Employment Opportunity

We are committed to equal-employment principles and are dedicated to diversity and the strength it brings to the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth or medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth), gender identity or expression, religion, physical or mental disability, medical condition, legally protected genetic information, marital status, veteran status, military status, sexual orientation or any other protected category or class that may be applicable.