Leading Marine Project Manager, for COWI in North America

COWI

$121K — $193K *
Real Estate & Construction
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Civil, Structural, or Coastal Engineering (Master's preferred) with 10+ years in marine or heavy civil infrastructure.
  • Professional Engineer (PE) license or ability to obtain in California, showcasing technical credibility.
  • Experience leading complex, multidisciplinary projects with full accountability for scope, schedule, budget, and commercial performance.
  • Successful management of senior client relationships, including contract negotiations and risk management.
  • Proven track record in financial and commercial performance, including managing project margins and securing follow-on work.
  • Background in business development and team leadership with a focus on expanding West Coast markets.

Responsibilities

  • Lead and deliver complex waterfront and marine infrastructure projects for various clients, ensuring timely and budget-compliant execution.
  • Provide project management leadership across multidisciplinary teams to achieve high-quality outcomes.
  • Act as the primary client interface, managing contracts, fee negotiations, and schedules while enhancing client relationships.
  • Manage project commercial performance with an emphasis on profitability and technical excellence.
  • Support business development activities, focusing on growth in the California market.
  • Mentor and develop staff, contributing to local office growth and team expansion.

Benefits

  • Flexible working arrangement
  • Top-up parental and childbirth recovery leave
  • Minimum of 3 weeks vacation for full-time hires
  • Floating holiday to celebrate employee diversity
  • Paid sick leave
  • Annual fitness subsidy for wellness activities
  • 401K contribution matching
  • Personal and professional development fund
  • Parking or public transit allowance
  • 80% employer-paid premiums for medical, dental, and vision insurance
  • Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
  • Disability and life insurance options
  • Referral incentive program
  • Frequent social events
Full Job Description
Leading Marine Project Manager

Oakland

Regular, Full-Time

Hybrid

We are seeking a Leading Marine Project Manager to join our team in Oakland. We are widely recognized for our expertise in marine and port structures, with experience spanning the full lifecycle of marine, coastal, and geotechnical projects -from targeted technical consulting to comprehensive planning, design, and implementation. In this role, you will provide senior leadership across project delivery, client relationships, and business development.

Your key responsibilities will be to:

  • Lead and deliver complex waterfront and marine infrastructure projects for public and private clients, ensuring projects are completed on time and within budget from planning through delivery.
  • Provide project management leadership across multidisciplinary teams (civil, structural, coastal, geotechnical) to achieve high-quality, coordinated outcomes.
  • Serve as the primary client interface, managing contracts, fee negotiations, schedules, and risk while maintaining strong client relationships.
  • Manage project commercial performance with a focus on profitability, technical excellence, innovation, and securing follow-on work and change orders.
  • Support business development activities, including go/no-go decisions, teaming strategies, and proposals, with a focus on growing the California market.
  • Mentor and develop staff while contributing to local office growth, including team building, hiring decisions, and expanding COWI's presence in the region.


Your skills. Our team. Together we design the future

The first step to growth in this role is that you are willing to collaborate with the people around you, whether they are colleagues, partners, or customers. Developing ties with others is something you do by acting respectfully and delivering on your promises. And you never get set in your ways, but keep exploring new insights and ways to improve.

On top of that, you will have:

  • A Bachelor's degree in Civil, Structural, or Coastal Engineering (Master's preferred) with a minimum of 10 years of experience in marine, waterfront, or heavy civil infrastructure.
  • A Professional Engineer (PE) license (or ability to obtain in California), with demonstrated technical credibility and delivery expertise.
  • Demonstrated experience leading complex, multidisciplinary projects with full accountability for scope, schedule, budget, and commercial performance.
  • Demonstrated success in senior client relationship management, including contract negotiations, risk management, and delivering high client satisfaction.
  • Demonstrated success in financial and commercial performance, including managing margins and securing follow-on work.
  • Background in business development and team leadership, including pursuing proposals, expanding markets on the West Coast, and mentoring and building effective teams.


A place to work and so much more

At COWI, we work together with our customers to shape a sustainable and liveable world. We do it by applying our knowledge and curiosity - and sometimes even our courage - to create the solutions the world needs today to enable a better tomorrow. We support our customers' transition towards increased sustainability. We strive to lead by example by embedding environmental management, social responsibility and good governance into our business practices and the options we provide to our customers.

We value differences and development and cultivate an environment of belonging and having fun. Because that is what brings out the best in you, at work and at home.

With offices primarily located in the Nordic region, the UK, North America and India, we are currently more than 7,500 people who bring their expertise in engineering, architecture, energy and environment into play.

What we also offer:

Being part of the COWI community offers more than just a competitive salary. We take care of our people both professionally and personally.

Some of our benefits include:

Flexible working arrangement | Top-up parental and childbirth recovery leave | Fantastic close-knit team with a wealth of knowledge to share | Full time hires get minimum 3 weeks vacation to start | Floating holiday to celebrate employee diversity | Paid sick leave | Annual fitness subsidy - yes, you can use this for a ski pass, yoga, or gym membership | 401K contribution matching with generous company match | Personal and professional development fund | Parking or public transit allowance | Medical, dental, and vision insurance 80% employer-paid premiums | Employee Assistance Program (EAP) | STD, LTD, AD&D, and Life Insurance | Referral incentive program| Frequent social events

Base compensation: $121,600 to $193,800 for Oakland only. Actual compensation is subject to variations due to education, experience, skill set, and location.

Got more questions?

Get to know us even better at our website, www.cowi.com, where you can learn more about our projects, our strategy, what we want to achieve and what life is like at COWI.

#LI-TIWU

#LI-Hybrid

Similar Jobs

More Jobs at COWI

More Real Estate & Construction Jobs

Find similar Leading Marine Project Manager, for COWI in North America jobs: