Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Mining Engineering, or related field preferred; extensive experience may substitute.
15+ years of progressive construction and project delivery experience, with significant leadership on major capital projects.
Proven track record in managing construction schedules, budgets, and contractor performance.
Familiarity with construction codes, standards, permitting, quality systems, and HSE practices.
Strong knowledge of CPM scheduling, project controls, and construction cost management.
Experience managing multiple concurrent contractors with complex interfaces.
Responsibilities
Lead overall construction execution for the Santa Cruz Project.
Develop and implement the Construction Execution Plan, including logistics and site infrastructure.
Establish the construction organization and field management processes.
Direct construction activities across various disciplines including underground and heavy civil work.
Maintain a strong field presence to resolve issues and ensure project momentum.
Align construction priorities with project milestones and critical path.
Collaborate with Engineering to ensure designs are practical and constructible.
Benefits
Opportunity to lead a significant project in a dynamic environment.
Engagement with a diverse range of construction activities and disciplines.
Potential for professional growth in a senior leadership role.
Collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of experts.
Focus on safety and quality assurance in construction practices.
Full Job Description
Position Summary
The Director of Construction is a senior project leadership position responsible for the safe, efficient, and successful execution of construction activities for the Santa Cruz Project. This position provides overall owner-side leadership of construction and is accountable for translating engineering and procurement deliverables into executable field work and ultimately completed, commissioned, and operational facilities.
The Director of Construction will lead the construction organization and provide direct oversight of construction management teams, contractors, consultants, and other project partners. The role is accountable for construction safety, schedule, cost, quality, productivity, constructability, contractor performance, field coordination, and turnover to commissioning and operations.
This position requires a highly experienced construction leader with a demonstrated record of delivering large, complex mining, underground, heavy civil, industrial, or process facility projects. Significant hands-on field construction leadership experience is essential.
Key Responsibilities
Construction Leadership & Execution
Provide overall leadership and accountability for construction execution across the Santa Cruz Project.
Develop and implement the overall Construction Execution Plan, including construction sequencing, contracting strategy, work packaging, site logistics, temporary facilities, laydown areas, access, utilities, and construction infrastructure.
Establish the construction organization, staffing plan, responsibilities, reporting structure, and field management processes required to execute the project.
Direct construction activities across underground development, heavy civil, earthworks, concrete, structural steel, mechanical, piping, electrical, instrumentation, infrastructure, utilities, and process facilities.
Ensure construction activities are properly planned, coordinated, resourced, and executed in accordance with approved engineering, specifications, schedules, budgets, permits, and project standards.
Maintain a strong field presence and actively engage with construction teams and contractors to identify constraints, resolve issues, and maintain execution momentum.
Ensure construction priorities are aligned with the overall project critical path and key project milestones.
Engineering & Constructability
Work closely with Engineering to ensure designs are safe, practical, constructible, cost-effective, and appropriately sequenced for field execution.
Lead constructability reviews and provide construction input during engineering development.
Ensure engineering deliverables, drawings, specifications, material take-offs, and construction work packages are issued in accordance with construction priorities.
Identify engineering constraints that could impact field execution and drive timely resolution.
Manage field engineering, technical queries, RFIs, design changes, and construction-related engineering interfaces.
Promote modularization, prefabrication, alternative construction methodologies, and other opportunities to improve safety, productivity, cost, and schedule.
Procurement & Contractor Management
Coordinate closely with Procurement to ensure equipment, materials, construction contracts, and services support the construction schedule.
Participate in development and review of scopes of work, bid packages, contractor evaluations, commercial evaluations, and contractor selection.
Ensure construction contracts clearly define scope, deliverables, interfaces, schedule requirements, quality standards, safety expectations, and performance requirements.
Provide senior-level oversight of construction contractors and hold contractors accountable for safety, productivity, quality, schedule, staffing, equipment, and contractual performance.
Ensure contractor Schedule of Values, payment applications, quantity verification, change management, and supporting documentation are aligned with contractual requirements and project controls systems.
Support commercial and contract management activities including change management, claims, variations, contractor performance, and dispute resolution.
Schedule, Cost & Project Controls
Own construction performance against the approved project schedule, budget, and established project baselines.
Work closely with Project Controls to establish and maintain the construction WBS, detailed CPM schedules, cost controls, progress measurement, forecasting, productivity metrics, and reporting systems.
Ensure contractors maintain appropriate project controls and scheduling systems and provide timely, accurate, and auditable schedule, cost, quantity, productivity, and progress data.
Monitor critical and near-critical path activities, quantities, earned progress, manpower, equipment utilization, productivity, commitments, and contractor performance.
Challenge contractor schedules, progress measurement, forecasts, and recovery plans to ensure reported performance accurately reflects physical progress in the field.
Identify emerging schedule and cost risks and implement mitigation and recovery plans.
Support construction cost forecasting, cash flow, contingency management, and estimate-at-completion.
Ensure construction changes are identified, evaluated, authorized, documented, and incorporated into project cost and schedule controls.
Health, Safety & Environmental
Demonstrate visible leadership and establish a strong safety culture across all construction activities.
Ensure contractors and project personnel comply with project HSE requirements, applicable regulations, permits, and company standards.
Ensure construction planning incorporates appropriate hazard identification, risk assessment, safe work practices, and critical controls.
Participate in field safety interactions, inspections, incident reviews, and corrective-action follow-up.
Ensure environmental and permit requirements are integrated into construction planning and execution.
Quality & Construction Assurance
Establish and maintain effective construction quality assurance and quality control processes.
Ensure construction complies with approved drawings, specifications, codes, standards, inspection requirements, and CQA/QC plans.
Ensure appropriate inspection and testing plans are implemented and construction records are maintained.
Drive timely resolution of non-conformances, deficiencies, punch-list items, and quality issues.
Ensure completed facilities are properly documented and meet requirements for commissioning and final acceptance.
Commissioning, Turnover & Operational Readiness
Integrate construction planning with commissioning and operational readiness requirements.
Establish systematic completion, turnover, punch-list, and handover processes.
Ensure systems and facilities are completed in the sequence required to support commissioning and startup.
Coordinate with Commissioning and Operations to ensure safe and orderly transfer of completed facilities.
Ensure construction documentation, as-built drawings, quality records, equipment documentation, and turnover packages are complete prior to handover.
Leadership & Stakeholder Management
Build, lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing construction organization.
Establish clear accountability throughout the construction team and contractor organizations.
Work collaboratively with Engineering, Procurement, Project Controls, Commercial, Environmental, Permitting, Safety, Operations, and other project functions.
Provide clear and concise construction updates to executive leadership, including progress, risks, decisions required, and mitigation plans.
Develop productive working relationships with contractors, engineering partners, vendors, regulators, local stakeholders, and other project participants.
Promote a culture of accountability, collaboration, urgency, transparency, and continuous improvement.
Qualifications & Experience
Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Mining Engineering, or a related technical discipline preferred. Equivalent extensive construction leadership experience may be considered.
Typically 15+ years of progressively responsible construction and project delivery experience, including significant leadership responsibility on major capital projects.
Demonstrated experience managing construction schedules, budgets, productivity, progress measurement, forecasts, changes, claims, and contractor performance.
Knowledge of applicable construction codes, standards, permitting requirements, quality systems, and HSE practices.
Strong working knowledge of CPM scheduling, project controls, construction cost management, progress measurement, quantity-based contracting, change management, and contractor payment processes.
Demonstrated experience managing multiple concurrent construction contractors and work fronts with complex interfaces and competing schedule priorities.
