About this Role
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The Engineering Project Manager leads the engineering effort on QDC's fast-track, advanced technology projects. In QDC's current delivery model the detailed design is performed by Quanta engineering OpCos and third-party engineers of record, and the client, the OpCos, the field execution teams and the client's own stakeholders all have a hand in the outcome. The Engineering Project Manager is the person who makes that arrangement work: defining and managing the engineering scope, deliverables, schedule and budget across every discipline; running communication, change, risk and documentation so that assumptions, decisions and changes are aligned and recorded rather than assumed; identifying and closing the gaps between Engineering and Construction and between Engineering and Procurement; and representing QDC Engineering to the client and the field. The Engineering Project Manager leads the QDC discipline engineers and designers assigned to the projects, directs the engineering OpCos, and reports to the VP or Director of Engineering, QDC. The Engineering Project Manager works alongside the Senior Engineering Project Manager across all division projects and takes on increasing leadership responsibility within QDC Engineering as the division grows.
What You'll Do
DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
Engineering Execution & Project Delivery
- Define the engineering scope, basis of design, deliverable list, schedule and work-hour budget for each project across the electrical, mechanical and civil-structural disciplines, from proposal and early engineering through detail design, construction support, startup and commissioning
- Plan and manage the engineering schedule against the procurement and construction schedules so long-lead equipment, early civil and foundation packages and IFC deliverables arrive when the field and the buyers need them; track progress, forecast and recover
- Direct the Quanta engineering OpCos and third-party engineers of record performing detailed design: define their scopes, align them with the intercompany purchase orders and contracts, review their plans and staffing, and hold them to QDC deliverable, quality and schedule expectations
- Lead design reviews, constructability reviews, model (30/60/90 percent) reviews and IFC readiness reviews with the discipline engineers and designers, the OpCos, the client and the field; make sure comments are documented, tracked and closed
- Confirm that each discipline's scope is complete, buildable, procurable and compatible with the other disciplines, the owner-furnished equipment and the client's requirements before it is issued for construction
- Coordinate the technical interfaces that cross disciplines and companies, including the utility interconnect, owner-furnished equipment, underground and rack conflicts, and the handoffs between engineering, procurement and the field
Communication, Change & Risk Management
- Establish and run the project engineering communication plan so the client, OpCos, field teams and third parties work from the same assumptions, scope and schedule; create alignment through documentation (basis of design, decision logs, meeting records) rather than through meetings alone
- Own the engineering change process: see that every change, issue, RFI and client or team decision is captured in the project issue, RFI and decision logs, assessed for cost, schedule, contract and other impacts, and run through the formal QDC change process rather than settled by informal agreement
- Lead engineering risk management using the Project Risk Wheel and the QDC risk procedure: identify scope, schedule, cost, change, design and quality, procurement, people, communication, stakeholder and contract risks early, assess them, and respond with mitigations and with capacity designed into the project
- Build capacity for change into the engineering approach: flexibility in layouts, maintenance corridors, spare capacity where materials are cheap, requirements separated from preferences, and standardization where it reduces risk
- Manage engineering documentation and document flow in the project document management system (e.g., Procore), including revision control, transmittals, review comments and as-built records, and hold the OpCos to the same standard
OpCo, Client & Stakeholder Coordination
- Serve as QDC Engineering's point of contact to the client and the client's stakeholders, the Quanta engineering OpCos, the field execution teams, equipment OEMs and third parties for the assigned projects
- Facilitate communication, coordination and document flow among those parties; remove hurdles and resolve issues so the field is never waiting on a drawing or an answer
- Identify and remedy gaps between Engineering and Construction and between Engineering and Procurement, including scope that no party has picked up, deliverables that do not match how the work will be bought or built, and decisions that have not reached the people who need them
- Work with the QDC project management, procurement, field operations and commercial teams to align engineering scope and deliverables with the intercompany purchase orders, the prime contract and the construction plan
- Represent QDC Engineering professionally in client meetings, design reviews, coordination meetings and site meetings; present status, issues, alternatives and recommendations and be willing to speak up and ask questions
Proposals, Estimates & Commercial Support
- Lead engineering inputs to proposals and estimates: engineering scope and approach, deliverable lists, work-hour and schedule estimates, OpCo scopes and pricing, and the engineering risks and assumptions behind them
- Support early engineering and front-end work (concepts, equipment lists, order-of-magnitude quantities, long-lead identification) that lets QDC and the client make decisions before detailed design begins
- Track engineering costs and work-hours against budget; identify variances and support the change process with engineering cost and schedule impact assessments
- Help define how QDC Engineering's scope is estimated, budgeted and tracked on QDC projects as the function grows
Team Leadership & Development
- Lead, develop and support the QDC discipline engineers and designers: set priorities and expectations, remove obstacles, review work, and give clear and timely feedback
- Participate in hiring and onboarding the QDC Engineering team, including the discipline engineers and designers and, as the division grows, Assistant Engineering Project Managers and Engineering Project Managers
- Foster a culture in which teammates collaborate across disciplines and companies, document their decisions, speak up early, and take personal responsibility for the quality and accuracy of their work
Best Practices, Standards & Lessons Learned
- Run the QDC lessons learned process on every project: capture lessons during the project rather than at closeout, lead root-cause reviews of RFIs, rework and design gaps, record the methods that saved time or money, and vet and sort each lesson for impact and reuse
- Develop, maintain and roll out QDC Engineering best practices, design criteria, procedures, templates, checklists and training, working with the discipline leads, and flow them down to the OpCos; help those best practices mature into QDC standards and specifications
- Build the QDC Engineering processes and procedures for scope definition, OpCo management, design review, change and risk management, documentation and project closeout, and refine them with each project
- Carry lessons learned and best practices into proposals and the front end of the next project so every project starts with the risks QDC already knows about and a plan to handle them
Field Support
- Travel to project sites to support the field, walk down installations, resolve engineering issues and support startup and commissioning
- Support the field on construction RFIs, field changes and redlines by directing the discipline engineers and OpCos to timely, documented answers
- Participate in project kick-offs, milestone reviews, commissioning and closeout, and carry the results into lessons learned
- Take personal responsibility for the quality and accuracy of his or her work; perform other duties as assigned
What You'll Bring
EXPERIENCE & EDUCATION
Candidates with project engineering management, design management or lead discipline engineering backgrounds from EPC, design-build, industrial, power or mission critical projects are encouraged to apply. An engineer who has led multidiscipline engineering teams or managed engineers of record on complex, fast-track, multi-party projects, and who has lived through the gaps between engineering, procurement and construction, is the expected profile; data center experience is preferred but not required.
- Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering (Electrical, Mechanical, Civil or Structural) from an ABET-accredited program
- Minimum 10 years of engineering experience on large commercial, industrial, power, mission critical or EPC projects, including at least 5 years leading multidiscipline engineering efforts as a project engineering manager, design manager, lead project engineer or lead discipline engineer
- Demonstrated experience defining and managing engineering scope, deliverables, schedules and budgets, and directing the work of engineering firms, OpCos or engineers of record on behalf of an owner, contractor or EPC
- Demonstrated experience running change, RFI, issue and decision management on fast-track projects, including assessing cost and schedule impacts and working through a formal change process
- Working knowledge of risk management practices on capital projects and of how engineering decisions drive cost, schedule, procurement and constructability
- Strong technical foundation in at least one discipline and the ability to review and challenge the work of the others; able to navigate Revit, Navisworks or an equivalent model review environment (modeling proficiency is not required)
- Experience supporting construction and startup: RFIs, submittals, field changes, commissioning and closeout, in a fast-paced environment
- A builder's mindset: motivated to help establish a new team and its processes, comfortable working without a fully defined playbook, and eager to create processes rather than only follow them
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office, Bluebeam or similar markup tools, scheduling tools (Primavera P6 or MS Project) and project document management systems
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills; comfortable leading meetings with the client, OpCos and field leadership, presenting status and recommendations, and documenting decisions clearly
- Detail-oriented and organized; able to deal with ambiguity, work independently, manage multiple projects and set priorities in a complex, multi-party environment
Preferred Qualifications/Skills
- Professional Engineer (PE) license in Texas, or a PE license in another state with the ability to obtain Texas registration by comity, and/or Project Management Professional (PMP) certification
- Data center or other mission critical facility experience (hyperscale, colocation or enterprise), including projects with owner-furnished, contractor-installed equipment and heavy owner and third-party involvement
- Experience on multi-company, design-build or EPC projects where scope was split among several contractors and engineering firms, including intercompany or subcontracted engineering scopes
- Experience supporting proposals and estimates, including engineering work-hour estimates and scope narratives
- Experience hiring, developing and leading engineers and designers, and building processes, procedures and standards for a new or growing team
- Experience with Autodesk Construction Cloud/BIM 360, Procore, and model-based design review workflows
- Field or construction background (contractor project engineer or project manager, startup or commissioning engineer) on large industrial or commercial projects
- Lean construction, Advanced Work Packaging or continuous improvement experience as it applies to engineering deliverable sequencing
Travel/Office Location
- Houston, TX office-based position supporting QDC projects
- Occasional travel (up to 30%) to project sites, Quanta OpCo offices and client meetings for design reviews, coordination meetings, field support and startup
- Specific targeted multi-week site presence may be needed during critical design, construction, startup and commissioning phases
What You'll Get
- Competitive Compensation
- Comprehensive Health Coverage - Multiple Medical, dental & vision plans with 100% preventive care
- 24/7 telehealth (Teladoc)
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- Company-funded HSA and pre-tax savings options
- 401(k) Retirement Plan
- No-cost Short- and Long-term Disability
- Employer-paid basic Life & AD&D Insurance
- Paid Time off (PTO) and 10 Paid Holidays
- Paid Parental leave
- Education Reimbursement and Professional Development
- Employee discount program and optional insurance offerings:
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- Identity Theft Protection
- Accident Insurance
- Voluntary Life (spouse and child)
- Critical Illness
