Project Executive

SUMMARY

The Project Executive is a senior operational leader responsible for the overall performance of one or more major construction projects, a portfolio of projects, or an assigned market sector. The position provides executive oversight from business development and preconstruction through project execution, closeout, warranty, and client follow-up.

The Project Executive maintains portfolio-level accountability for client satisfaction, safety, quality, schedule, financial performance, contractual compliance, risk management, and team development. This individual leads executive-level relationships with owners, architects, engineers, consultants, and trade partners while providing direction, support, and accountability to Project Managers, Senior Project Managers, Superintendents, and other project personnel.

The successful candidate must have demonstrated experience leading construction projects valued at $50 million or greater and must have directly managed the development, reconciliation, negotiation, and establishment of a Guaranteed Maximum Price during preconstruction.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Executive Project Leadership

• Provide executive oversight for multiple projects or a major, complex project from preconstruction through final completion and warranty.
• Assume primary responsibility for overall project safety, quality, schedule, profitability, contractual compliance, and client satisfaction.
• Establish clear project goals, expectations, responsibility matrices, communication protocols, and decision-making authority.
• Ensure close coordination among the Project Manager, Superintendent, Preconstruction Manager, MEP/VDC personnel, project controls staff, and other internal resources.
• Evaluate project performance and intervene when corrective action is required.
• Provide timely and accurate project reporting to regional and company leadership.
• Review, challenge, and approve major project decisions before commitments are made.
• Ensure project teams use company systems, procedures, and reporting tools consistently and effectively.

Preconstruction and GMP Establishment

• Lead the transition from pursuit and preconstruction into construction operations.
• Provide executive oversight of preconstruction activities for projects valued at $50 million and above.
• Lead the development and establishment of the Guaranteed Maximum Price, including:
• Design-phase estimating and milestone estimates.
• Estimate reconciliation with the owner, architect, consultants, and third-party estimators.
• Scope development and trade-package strategy.
• Bid-package planning and procurement sequencing.
• Subcontractor prequalification and bidder outreach.
• Allowance, contingency, escalation, general conditions, fee, insurance, bonding, and risk evaluations.
• Value-management and constructability recommendations.
• Qualifications, clarifications, exclusions, and assumptions.
• Buyout and scope-gap risk analysis.
• GMP negotiations and preparation of supporting exhibits.
• Confirm that the GMP reflects the contract documents, agreed project scope, schedule, logistics, procurement strategy, market conditions, and identified project risks.
• Maintain alignment among the owner’s budget, design development, construction schedule, and procurement plan.
• Ensure the project team maintains a clear audit trail of estimate changes and reconciliation decisions.
• Obtain executive and internal approvals before final GMP submission or contract execution.
• Monitor buyout performance against the GMP and establish recovery plans when buyout exceeds established budgets.
• Participate in estimating, interviews, presentations, and pursuit strategy for new work.

Client and Business Development

• Develop and maintain executive-level relationships with owners, developers, architects, engineers, consultants, and key stakeholders.
• Serve as the primary executive point of contact for assigned clients.
• Maintain a high level of client satisfaction throughout preconstruction, construction, closeout, and warranty.
• Identify and pursue repeat-business opportunities with existing clients.
• Support regional business-development initiatives, industry relationships, interviews, proposals, and strategic pursuits.
• Communicate project challenges proactively and present credible recovery or mitigation strategies.
• Protect the company’s reputation while promoting its values and commitment to partnership.

Contract Administration and Risk Management

• Participate in the negotiation and review of owner contracts, amendments, GMP exhibits, subcontracts, purchase orders, and other contractual documents.
• Ensure the project team understands and complies with all contract requirements, notice provisions, reporting obligations, labor requirements, and project-specific procedures.
• Confirm that required licenses, permits, insurance coverage, bonds, and contractual documents are in place.
• Oversee owner and subcontractor change management, including pricing, documentation, entitlement, negotiation, and resolution.
• Review significant project correspondence, notices, claims, reservations of rights, and responses to owners and design professionals.
• Ensure potential claims, disputes, schedule impacts, and financial exposures are identified and reported promptly.
• Coordinate with Legal, Risk Management, Accounting, and executive leadership regarding significant contractual or financial matters.
• Ensure incidents, claims, and material project risks are documented and reported in accordance with company requirements.

Financial Management

• Maintain executive accountability for project cost control, cash flow, fee performance, contingency management, and overall profitability.
• Review and approve project budgets, schedules of values, cost codes, staffing plans, general conditions budgets, and financial reporting structures.
• Review monthly cost projections and profitability reports before submission to regional leadership.
• Confirm that forecasts accurately reflect committed costs, pending commitments, potential change orders, exposures, allowances, contingencies, and remaining project risks.
• Monitor project cash position, owner payments, subcontractor payments, retainage, and receivables.
• Review owner applications for payment and major subcontractor payment recommendations.
• Challenge unfavorable cost trends and require timely corrective-action plans.
• Ensure project financial information is complete, accurate, and supported by appropriate documentation.
• Protect the company’s contractual rights while maintaining collaborative client and subcontractor relationships.

Procurement and Buyout

• Establish the project procurement and buyout strategy with Preconstruction, the Project Manager, and the Superintendent.
• Ensure subcontractor and vendor buyout meetings occur promptly and include the appropriate project participants.
• Review major subcontracts and purchase orders before award.
• Confirm that scopes of work are complete, coordinated, and consistent with the contract documents and GMP assumptions.
• Identify scope gaps, overlaps, exclusions, schedule conflicts, long-lead items, and commercial risks before award.
• Monitor procurement status, buyout performance, and long-lead material tracking.
• Ensure all subcontractors and vendors provide required insurance, bonds, licenses, executed agreements, and other contractual documentation.
• Verify that procurement decisions support project diversity, inclusion, and workforce participation requirements when applicable.

Schedule and Operational Performance

• Establish the overall project schedule strategy with the Project Manager and Superintendent.
• Review baseline schedules, procurement schedules, short-term planning, recovery schedules, and schedule updates.
• Monitor major milestones, critical-path activities, design deliverables, permitting, procurement, inspections, commissioning, and turnover.
• Require timely recovery plans when schedule performance falls below established targets.
• Ensure construction sequencing, site logistics, staffing, temporary conditions, and safety planning are coordinated.
• Confirm that the project team is planning ahead and not operating reactively.
• Participate in major owner-architect-contractor meetings and ensure meetings are productive, documented, and focused on decisions and accountability.

Project Controls and Reporting

Review project controls and management reports regularly, including:

• Project budget and cost projections.
• Profitability and contingency reports.
• Buyout log.
• Subcontractor and vendor commitment log.
• Change-order and potential-change-order logs.
• RFI log.
• Submittal and shop-drawing log.
• Material procurement and long-lead tracking log.
• Contract-notice and claims log.
• Owner progress reports.
• Schedule updates and recovery plans.
• Owner payment applications and receivables.
• Subcontractor payment status.
• Staffing reports.
• Safety and quality reports.
• Closeout and punch-list status.

The Project Executive is expected to identify negative trends early and require clear action plans with assigned responsibility and completion dates.

Quality, Safety, and Compliance

• Demonstrate visible leadership and personal commitment to safety.
• Ensure projects comply with company safety policies, OSHA requirements, site-specific safety plans, and owner requirements.
• Support the Superintendent and safety personnel in maintaining a proactive safety culture.
• Ensure project teams comply with contract documents, labor agreements, company policies, permitting requirements, and applicable laws.
• Confirm that quality-control plans, mockups, inspections, testing requirements, and corrective-action procedures are implemented.
• Monitor significant quality issues and ensure deficiencies are corrected promptly.
• Promote a culture in which safety, quality, accountability, and project controls are integrated into daily operations.

Team Leadership and Development

• Provide overall direction, coordination, and evaluation of assigned project teams.
• Lead and mentor Senior Project Managers, Project Managers, Assistant Project Managers, Project Engineers, and other assigned personnel.
• Develop Project Managers and Senior Project Managers capable of independently leading complex projects.
• Establish performance expectations and provide frequent feedback, coaching, and accountability.
• Complete performance evaluations for direct reports in coordination with regional leadership and Human Resources.
• Participate in project staffing decisions, recruiting, onboarding, succession planning, and employee development.
• Identify high-potential employees and create development plans that prepare them for expanded responsibility.
• Address performance concerns, team conflicts, and resource needs promptly.
• Promote effective collaboration between project management, field operations, preconstruction, accounting, safety, and support departments.

Closeout and Warranty

• Ensure the project team establishes and maintains a closeout plan beginning early in the project.
• Monitor completion of punch lists, corrective-action lists, inspections, testing, commissioning, training, and turnover requirements.
• Ensure timely delivery of:
• Certificates of occupancy.
• Certificates of substantial and final completion.
• As-built drawings and record documents.
• Operations and maintenance manuals.
• Warranties and guarantees.
• Attic stock and spare materials.
• Final lien releases and closeout documentation.
• Ensure owner and subcontractor financial closeout is completed promptly.
• Oversee warranty obligations and confirm that warranty issues are addressed professionally and timely.
• Conduct client follow-up after completion to evaluate satisfaction and pursue repeat work.

Internal Working Relationships

The Project Executive works closely with:

Regional and Executive Leadership: Project performance, strategic planning, client relationships, staffing, risk, and financial reporting.

Preconstruction: Estimating, GMP development, constructability, value management, procurement planning, and project turnover.

Field Operations and General Superintendent: Staffing, logistics, schedule, safety, quality, constructability, and operational execution.

Accounting and Project Controls: Cost monitoring, forecasting, cash flow, owner billing, subcontractor payment, profitability, and financial closeout.

Legal and Risk Management: Contract review, insurance, bonding, claims, notices, disputes, licensing, and incident reporting.

Human Resources: Recruiting, onboarding, performance management, training, employee development, and succession planning.

Safety: Project safety planning, compliance, incident prevention, and corrective actions.

Information Technology and Systems Support: Project setup, technology connectivity, software implementation, and data integrity.

External Working Relationships

The Project Executive regularly interfaces with:

• Owners and developers.
• Architects and engineers.
• Owner’s project managers and consultants.
• Subcontractors, vendors, and suppliers.
• Authorities having jurisdiction.
• Community and workforce stakeholders.
• Sureties, insurance representatives, and legal advisors.
• Industry partners and prospective clients.

Supervisory Responsibilities

The Project Executive is responsible for the overall direction, coordination, performance, and development of assigned project personnel. Supervisory responsibilities include planning and assigning work, establishing priorities, reviewing performance, coaching employees, resolving problems, supporting recruiting and staffing decisions, and ensuring compliance with company policies and applicable employment laws.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Architecture, Building Construction, Business Management, or a related discipline.
• A minimum of 15 years of progressive commercial construction experience, including significant experience in project management and executive project leadership.
• Demonstrated experience leading one or more construction projects with an individual contract value of at least $50 million.
• Demonstrated experience managing projects under CM-at-Risk, Guaranteed Maximum Price, design-assist, or similar collaborative delivery methods.
• Direct experience leading the development, reconciliation, negotiation, and final establishment of a GMP during preconstruction.
• Experience managing complex project teams and supervising Senior Project Managers, Project Managers, Superintendents, and project support personnel.
• Strong understanding of estimating, trade procurement, subcontractor buyout, contract administration, scheduling, cost control, forecasting, change management, claims, and project closeout.
• Proven ability to manage executive client relationships and lead difficult commercial, contractual, and project-performance discussions.
• Demonstrated record of delivering projects safely, on schedule, within budget, and at the required level of quality.
• Ability to read and interpret construction drawings, specifications, contracts, schedules, estimates, and financial reports.
• Strong written, verbal, presentation, negotiation, and conflict-resolution skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience overseeing multiple projects or a portfolio with a combined value exceeding $100 million.
• Experience in one or more of the company’s strategic markets, including commercial, institutional, education, healthcare, public, residential, life sciences, aviation, transportation, or large-scale renovation.
• Experience working on occupied, phased, logistically complex, or highly regulated projects.
• Professional registration as an architect or engineer.
• CCM, DBIA, LEED, PMP, or comparable professional certification.
• OSHA 30-Hour Construction certification.
• Experience with union labor agreements, public procurement requirements, M/WBE participation, workforce-compliance programs, and prevailing-wage projects.

Technology Qualifications

Proficiency with contemporary construction-management and project-control platforms, including:

• Procore or comparable project-management software.
• CMiC or comparable construction ERP and financial-management software.
• Primavera P6 or comparable scheduling software.
• Bluebeam.
• Microsoft Office, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
• Estimating, document-control, procurement, and database-management systems.

The enclosed description references earlier-generation platforms such as Primavera P3, Expedition, CMAS, and Microsoft FoxPro; these have been modernized in this draft to focus on current or equivalent construction-management technologies.

Core Competencies

• Executive leadership and accountability.
• Preconstruction and GMP management.
• Financial and commercial judgment.
• Client relationship management.
• Strategic planning and decision-making.
• Contract negotiation and risk management.
• Project controls and forecasting.
• Team development and succession planning.
• Communication and presentation.
• Problem-solving and conflict resolution.
• Safety and quality leadership.
• Business development and relationship building.

Work Environment and Travel

This position requires regular presence at project sites, client offices, and company offices. Travel between assigned projects and regional business locations is required. The role may require