Reports to: President
Summary of Position: Blach Construction seeks a Vice President of Risk Management to support Blach's continued growth while managing risk across the company. Reporting to the President and serving as a member of the Blach Leadership Team, the VP balances protection against opportunity so Blach can pursue the right work on the right terms. This is a newly created executive position, so the person who takes it will have real latitude to shape how the function is built. The VP works closely with leaders across Operations, Preconstruction, Finance and HR, and serves as a trusted advisor on the decisions that shape Blach's future.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
Strategic Executive Leadership
- Leads Blach's overall approach to risk as a member of the Leadership Team, advising the President on growth strategy, major legal issues, and contract and insurance strategy for our projects
- Keeps the President and Leadership Team informed on Blach's most significant risks, how they are changing and what we are doing about them
- Brings risk judgment to go/no-go decisions, contract strategy and delivery models, including design-build and prefabrication, from pursuit through closeout
- Leads Blach's response to major incidents, claims and crises, and sets escalation protocols and authority levels for claim reserves and settlements
- Builds, develops and coaches the risk team, including the Senior Safety Manager and staff across insurance, contracts and compliance, and grows the function as Blach scales
- Trains project teams on contracts, insurance and claim avoidance, building risk awareness into how Blach plans and runs work
Safety & Captive Insurance Program
- Holds executive ownership of safety and our Captive insurance program, setting direction and managing the leaders and teams who run them day to day
- Serves as Blach's representative to our Captive (general liability, auto and workers' compensation) and is accountable for its performance, connecting safety results, claims and loss trends to Captive costs
- Sets the vision for Blach's safety program, defining the culture, standards and priorities behind our policies, training, hazard identification, incident and emergency management, workplace violence prevention and subcontractor safety oversight, and champions safety technology and continuous improvement
- Owns Blach's Cal/OSHA regulatory posture and reports safety and Captive performance, including EMR, incident rates and loss trends, to the President and Leadership Team
Insurance
- Oversees the design, placement and administration of Blach's insurance program beyond the Captive, including property, builder's risk, professional and pollution, D&O, cyber, crime and specialty lines
- Manages broker and carrier relationships, leads annual renewals, and structures coverages, limits and deductibles to lower Blach's total cost of risk as the company and the market change
- Sets insurance strategy for individual projects, including builder's risk, owner- and contractor-controlled programs (OCIP/CCIP) and project-specific coverage, and makes sure Blach recovers what it is owed on insured losses
- Sets the insurance requirements in our owner and subcontract agreements and oversees subcontractor insurance compliance
- Oversees the Subcontractor Default Insurance (SDI) program, including enrollment decisions, claims and program performance
Surety & Bonding
- Partners with the President and Finance on Blach's relationship with our surety and surety broker, including annual reviews and underwriter access
- Supports bonding capacity planning (single and aggregate limits) for our growth plan, working with Finance on financial statements, work-in-progress (WIP) reporting and backlog
- Supports bond program renewals, terms and indemnity requirements, and advises Operations and Preconstruction on how to deploy capacity across pursuits and regions
- Brings the surety in early on large or high-risk projects and coordinates surety communication on claims, defaults and subcontractor failures
Contracts, Subcontractors & Project Compliance
Subcontractor Prequalification
- Manages subcontractor prequalification, evaluating financial strength, safety performance, licensing, bonding capacity and insurance before award, and sets single and aggregate exposure limits
- Works with Preconstruction and Operations to flag subcontractor risk early, build Risk Mitigation Plans for higher-risk trade partners and evaluate subcontractor performance at closeout
Contracts
- Works with Operations executives to negotiate prime agreements across delivery methods (AIA, design-build and other formats), including bond, indemnity and insurance provisions
- Maintains our standard subcontract templates (long form, short form, short-short form and purchase order), oversees other agreements, and works with project teams on any revisions to standard terms
- Sets Blach's standard positions on key terms, including indemnity, insurance, limitation of liability, delay and design responsibility, and maintains contract review checklists for project teams
- Partners with Preconstruction and Operations to flag contract risk during bid and buyout
Project Compliance
- Leads project-level risk management, including subcontractor insurance tracking, SDI enrollment, lien releases and required state filings
- Oversees public works compliance, including prevailing wage and certified payroll, Skilled and Trained Workforce requirements, apprenticeship ratios, subcontractor licensing and DIR Public Works Contractor (PWC) registration
- Manages owner insurance documentation and controlled insurance program (OCIP/CCIP) enrollment, Project Labor Agreement (PLA) and Project Stabilization Agreement (PSA) compliance, and Department of Justice (DOJ) fingerprinting
Claims & Legal
- Manages major legal claims and dispute resolution, including investigation, litigation strategy, settlement recommendations, and the selection, direction and cost of outside counsel
- Leads regular claims reviews with Operations, tracking loss trends, reserves and lessons learned to reduce the frequency and severity of claims
- Oversees risk policy governance, licensing and regulatory compliance, employment-related risk (with HR) and records retention
Qualifications:
Education and Experience
- Bachelor's degree in construction management, engineering, business, risk management or a related field; JD valued
- 15+ years of progressive experience in construction risk management, insurance, construction law or construction operations, including 5+ years in a senior leadership role
- Hands-on leadership of a contractor insurance program, including renewals, broker and carrier relationships and claims; experience with a group captive is a strong plus
- Experience overseeing, or partnering closely with, a construction safety program, including Cal/OSHA matters
- Has negotiated prime agreements and subcontracts across delivery methods, including design-build, on large commercial and public projects
- Background with a commercial general contractor or construction manager strongly preferred, including working knowledge of California public works compliance
- Professional designations such as ARM, CPCU, CRIS or CSP are a plus, not required
Candidate Backgrounds
We welcome seasoned executives from either of two paths and will weigh every candidate on judgment, results and breadth:
- Construction law: a JD with deep construction practice, as outside counsel to contractors or in-house, and the business sense to lead an operating function
- Construction operations: a senior operations or project executive with firsthand command of contracts, claims, insurance and surety
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
- Executive presence, sound judgment and excellent communication, with credibility among the President, owners, sureties, carriers and counsel
- Strong grasp of construction contract law, insurance, surety and risk transfer; skilled negotiator who balances risk mitigation against project and client relationships
- Financial acumen: reads contractor financial statements and WIP schedules, understands how they drive bonding capacity, and turns loss and premium data into clear recommendations
- Manages multiple priorities across Blach's three regions; proficient with contract, insurance-tracking and safety management software
Location: San Jose, CA (HQ), with regular travel to the Monterey and Orange regional offices and to jobsites
Compensation: Competitive base salary and performance bonuses; three weeks of paid vacation to start (four weeks after five years), holidays and sick leave; medical, dental and vision coverage; a 401(k) with company match; an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP); long-term disability; paid parental leave; student loan paydown; education assistance; and wellness reimbursement.
