Senior Project Manager

Senior Project Manager – Data Center Construction

McGough is a respected partner bringing six generations of experience to high-profile, unique, and highly complex construction programs—especially within mission-critical and data center markets. We take great pride in our people and their extraordinary expertise in planning, development, construction, and facility management. Our long employee tenure reflects the commitment and pride we share in delivering environments where uptime, scalability, and performance cannot be compromised. Ask anyone who knows us—the caliber of our people sets us apart.

The Senior Project Manager (Sr. PM) leads large data center projects or multiple concurrent mission-critical projects from inception through commissioning and turnover. This role provides day-to-day oversight of all project resources, tasks, risks, timelines, cost, and scope—ensuring deterministic schedule performance and alignment with stringent owner technical standards. In addition to project execution, the Sr. PM is responsible for:

• Overall project success and profitability
• Management of project financials, including fee protection and cost certainty
• Client satisfaction across hyperscale, enterprise, and colocation operators
• Setting the standard for leadership, accountability, safety, and excellence
• Promoting the McGough Way and our mission-critical delivery culture
• Mentoring and developing project management staff for future leadership roles
• Building and sustaining relationships with owners, owner's reps, design partners, mission-critical subcontractors, commissioning agents, and suppliers
• Championing company initiatives while modeling strong collaboration

Qualifications:

Required

• Four-year degree in Construction Management, Engineering, or related field
• 10+ years of relevant experience, including mission-critical, industrial, or large-scale commercial construction
• Experience with self-perform capabilities, ideally in concrete, structural, or MEP scopes
• Demonstrated ability to earn trust and build strong partnerships with owners, design teams, commissioning partners, and trade contractors
• Strong collaboration and communication skills, particularly in technical and fast-paced environments
• Thorough, detail-oriented, and highly organized work style
• Ability to prioritize and manage multiple demands in environments with aggressive schedule milestones
• Self-starter requiring minimal supervision
• Strong computer skills, including Excel and project management platforms

Preferred

• Estimating and field experience, particularly with MEP-heavy scopes
• Scheduling experience (e.g., CPM, pull planning, Last Planner)
• Experience with commissioning, integrated testing, or mission-critical turnover processes

Office & Travel:

• Office: Various data center jobsites and/or corporate/regional office
• Travel: Overnight travel may be required depending on project location and client program

Responsibilities and Tasks:

Pursuit, Preconstruction & Business Development

• Lead RFP responses and strategy for hyperscale/colocation/data center opportunities
• Lead interview and proposal preparation, ensuring alignment with mission-critical client expectations
• Drive preconstruction activities, including conceptual budgeting, MEP-heavy scoping, constructability review, and long-lead procurement strategy
• Cultivate relationships with data center clients, cloud providers, owner's reps, commissioning teams, and design partners
• Lead design page-turns, focusing on technical requirements, redundancy (N, N+1, 2N), MEP integration, and constructability
• Identify and pursue early leads, supporting McGough's presence in the mission-critical market
• Ensure scope, schedule, and budget alignment throughout preconstruction
• Promote additional McGough services, including self-perform, industrial, FM, and development

McGough Self-Performed Work

• Oversee accurate quantity takeoffs for major scopes, including foundations, structure, and MEP-related pathways/supports
• Understand equipment, rentals, tools, and resource allocations required for hyperscale data center delivery
• Lead implementation of PACE planning and production projections
• Scope bid materials (concrete, rebar, structural components, etc.) with mission-critical sequencing in mind
• Approve CPM schedules for self-perform scopes, ensuring alignment with MEP/commissioning milestones

Estimating & Bidding

• Review estimates prepared by project managers and estimating teams with emphasis on MEP, specialty systems, and long-lead equipment
• Lead estimate presentations to owner/design teams, clearly communicating assumptions and risk analysis
• Review and vet proposed subcontractors, focusing on mission-critical expertise and capacity
• Final review and signoff on subcontracts

Scheduling

• Serve as Last Planner coach/champion in high-intensity schedule environments
• Lead preconstruction schedule development, including MEP procurement timelines, energization milestones, and commissioning sequences
• Provide oversight of construction scheduling, ensuring clarity around path of criticality

Project Oversight

• Assess project staffing needs and ensure the right technical resources are deployed
• Review and understand project financial condition and profitability (PACE)
• Ensure strict adherence to McGough safety protocols, especially within energized and high-risk environments
• Perform regular jobsite walks with project teams to validate work quality, progress, safety, and readiness for commissioning
• Understand and enforce contract requirements—particularly SLAs for delivery timelines and performance testing
• Ensure subcontractor management aligns with mission-critical expectations for quality and speed

Project Management Oversight

• Coach and mentor project management staff, developing future leaders in the data center space
• Identify training needs and support continuous development in scheduling, MEP understanding, commissioning, and cost management
• Ensure PM staff are effectively mentoring others and supporting company culture

Post-Construction

• Ensure cost history and benchmarking data are captured to support future data center pursuits
• Conduct lessons learned discussions with owners and internal teams, focusing on commissioning performance, system integration, and schedule predictability
• Ensure internal lessons-learned sessions are completed to drive improvement in future mission-critical projects

Other Responsibilities

• Participate in business development activities, client engagements, industry conferences, and mission-critical networking events
• Build and maintain relationships with clients, architects, engineers, consultants, commissioning firms, and subcontractors
• Pursue new relationships with emerging data center clients and design firms
• Attend company and project management meetings
• Participate in relevant training, including technical, leadership, and professional development
• Engage in company-sponsored events
• Support standard work practices and Lean initiatives
• Perform PM I/PM II functions when needed for project success
• Support and model the McGough Way

Physical Requirements:

The physical requirements listed here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Position involves sitting for extended periods of time while working at a computer terminal. Employee must be able to communicate effectively in a typical office environment with a standard level of office noise. Occasional standing, bending, walking and lifting is also required.

Employee will be required to visit construction jobsites, which may expose the employee to dirt, dust, uneven surfaces, outdoor weather conditions and extreme temperatures. In addition, employee must be able to move around prospective or current project sites. This includes climbing ladders, walking on uneven surfaces, walking long distances, and climbing stairs.