Project Director, Houston

Project Director

We are seeking an accomplished Project Director based in Houston, Texas , to lead a portfolio of complex projects ranging from $100M to $500M annually across multiple strategic and key customers . This is a highly visible leadership role with broad responsibility for customer satisfaction, operational execution, financial performance, and portfolio delivery. Travel up to 20% is required to support customer engagements, project reviews, manufacturing facilities, supplier visits, and other business needs.

The Project Director will be accountable for ensuring projects are executed on time, on budget, on margin, and in accordance with all quality, safety, and contractual requirements . This role serves as the senior leader responsible for coordinating the efforts of Project Management, Engineering, Procurement, Production, Quality, Safety, Finance, Estimating, Testing, and Sales to achieve successful customer outcomes.

This position is designed for a senior leader who combines executive presence, strong commercial judgment, and a hands-on operating style. The successful candidate will have the ability to lead strategically while remaining closely engaged in day-to-day execution, proactively identifying risks, removing barriers, and driving accountability across the organization.

You will serve as the central integrator for the full customer portfolio, with direct leadership over the Project Management organization and strong matrix influence across Engineering, Procurement, Production, Quality, Safety, Finance, Estimating, Materials Management, Testing, and Sales. You will be expected to know the projects in detail, anticipate issues before they escalated, communicate effectively with executive leadership and customers, and maintain an active presence in the business, including time on the shop floor, in design reviews, and in execution-focused operating rhythms.

The Opportunity

This role is ideal for a leader who thrives in complex, high-accountability environments where customer success, operational excellence, project execution, and financial performance are equally important.

The Project Director will oversee multiple concurrent projects and customer programs, ensuring all functional teams remain aligned to common priorities, schedules, milestones, and delivery commitments. The successful candidate will play a critical role in shaping execution strategy, improving project performance, protecting margin, influencing leadership decisions, and strengthening long-term customer relationships.

You will work closely with senior internal leadership and partner directly with Sales leadership to strengthen customer relationships, provide transparency, and ensure a coordinated, high-confidence experience across the entire portfolio.

What You'll Do

• Provide overall leadership and accountability for a $100M to $500M portfolio of projects across multiple customers , ensuring successful execution and customer satisfaction.
• Lead projects and programs to achieve delivery commitments while meeting schedule, cost, margin, quality, and safety objectives.
• Provide direct leadership to Project Managers and project teams while driving strong matrix leadership across Engineering, Procurement, Production, Quality, Safety, Finance, Estimating, Materials Management, Logistics, Testing, and Sales.
• Establish and maintain integrated project plans, schedules, forecasts, resource plans, and execution strategies across the portfolio.
• Lead internal project reviews, portfolio reviews, risk reviews, and executive project status meetings to ensure alignment, accountability, and timely decision-making.
• Lead customer project reviews, executive business reviews, and portfolio performance discussions, serving as the primary escalation point and trusted advisor for customers.
• Ensure all functions are aligned around common priorities, schedules, project milestones, and customer commitments.
• Drive proactive risk identification, mitigation planning, issue resolution, and recovery actions across all projects.
• Maintain deep operational visibility into engineering progress, procurement status, material availability, production readiness, manufacturing performance, testing activities, quality performance, and delivery schedules.
• Monitor project financial performance, including revenue, cost, cash flow, profitability, margin performance, forecasting, and change management.
• Identify opportunities to improve execution efficiency, reduce project risk, enhance customer satisfaction, and increase profitability across the portfolio.
• Spend meaningful time on the shop floor reviewing materials, drawings, build progress, testing activities, and execution readiness to ensure projects remain on track.
• Influence executive leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to drive alignment, remove barriers, and support business objectives.
• Develop and promote a culture of accountability, execution excellence, responsiveness, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

What We're Looking For

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Project Management, Business, or a related discipline. Master's degree preferred.
• PMP Certification required.
• 15+ years of progressive project management leadership experience , including experience as a senior Project Management leader responsible for large and complex project portfolios.
• Demonstrated success leading project portfolios ranging from $100M to $500M across multiple customers and multiple concurrent projects.
• Proven experience leading Project Management organizations and managing Project Managers within a matrixed environment.
• Demonstrated experience managing projects involving protection and control systems, medium- and low-voltage switchgear, relay panels, motor control centers (MCCs), power distribution equipment, industrial control panels, integrated E-House/control house solutions, and other engineered electrical systems.
• Strong understanding of project execution across engineering, design, procurement, supply chain, manufacturing, production planning, quality, testing, logistics, and customer delivery.
• Advanced knowledge of project planning, scheduling, critical path methodology, resource planning, forecasting, project controls, and recovery planning.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, cost control, margin management, contract administration, claims management, and change management.
• Demonstrated ability to influence executive leadership, customers, and cross-functional leaders to drive alignment and achieve project objectives.
• Exceptional leadership, communication, presentation, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience leading executive-level project reviews, customer reviews, portfolio reviews, and operational performance reviews.
• Ability to operate effectively at both the executive level and the detail level, shifting easily between strategic leadership and day-to-day execution oversight.

Leadership Profile

The ideal candidate is more than a traditional project leader. This individual takes full ownership of customer outcomes, portfolio performance, and project execution. They establish credibility through deep operational understanding, strong leadership presence, and disciplined execution.

They are proactive rather than reactive, comfortable challenging teams when needed, and effective at bringing diverse functional groups into alignment around a shared objective. They know how to ask the right questions, identify risks early, remove obstacles, and ensure execution remains disciplined from engineering through manufacturing, testing, and delivery.

They are equally comfortable leading executive reviews, customer discussions, strategic planning sessions, project operating reviews, and shop floor engagement. Most importantly, they possess the leadership presence and influence necessary to align diverse functional organizations around a common objective and consistently deliver projects safely, on time, on margin, and to the highest quality standards.

Location & Travel

• This position is based in Houston, Texas .
• Travel of up to 20% is required to support customer meetings, project reviews, manufacturing operations, supplier engagements, and business activities as needed.
• The Project Director is expected to maintain a visible presence with customers, project teams, and manufacturing operations to ensure alignment, execution excellence, and successful project delivery.

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