Airport Development Program Director

About the role

MJ seeks an Airport Development Program Director to help our Aviation clients in the region expand their terminal capacity to meet growing demand. The Program Director will embed with Airport leadership to help implement more than $500M in capital improvements over the next five to ten years.

Key Responsibilities

• Represent the Owner and MJ by providing comprehensive program oversight of all capital projects assigned to the team.
• Provide day-to-day oversight of the MJ team and promote proactive communication and collaboration between the MJ team and Owner leadership and staff.
• Plan, define and document program goals and intended outcomes, based on Owner objectives and airport plans.
• Collaborate with Owner to institute project controls capability to forecast, measure and document the financial and operational performance of Owner’s engineering designers and construction contractors, individually at a project level and collectively at a program level.
• Collaborate with Owner to establish programmatic and project-level KPIs and ensure proper tracking and analysis of project performance data to measure financial and operational progress and forecast upcoming activities.
• Participate in internal and external meetings and support effective coordination and collaboration between the Owner, regulatory authorities, the engineering designers and construction contractors to anticipate and overcome challenges to the timely and cost-efficient completion of assigned projects.
• Implement risk identification and mitigation strategies to reduce delays or disruptions to projects and the program.
• Draft project scopes, schedules and budgetary-level cost estimates to help fund and award design projects.
• Lead and oversee design project management and ensure Owner and constructability reviews are performed of the engineering consultants’ project design phase packages.
• Accountable for overseeing assigned design and construction projects are executed in accordance with owner policies and procedures; contractual, regulatory and quality requirements; and approved project schedules and budgets.
• Depending on the urgency or volume of projects, the Program Director may need to manage some projects personally.
• Manage MJ team staff to provide effective administration and oversight of design and construction projects through close monitoring and detailed record-keeping of individual projects and the overall capital improvement program.
• Oversee coordination with contractors and construction management, administration and inspection activities of construction projects, (including daily/weekly reporting, submittals and RFIs, pay applications, materials testing, change orders etc.) to fulfill contract compliance, quality, safety, and documentation standards.
• Support Owner to create and/or update operational dashboards to report program and project status and highlight updates.
• Liaise between the owner and various project teams to communicate, coordinate and implement change management strategies and activities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in construction/program management, Architecture, or Engineering or related field from an accredited college.
• Minimum 15 years of program/project management experience, including prior experience as an Owner's Representative or Project/Program Manager for airport projects of at least $100M in construction value.
• Familiarity with FAA regulations and advisory circulars (AC 150) and related design, construction, quality management, safety and environmental standards and requirements.
• History of leading project teams to deliver projects in collaboration with Owner and key stakeholders.
• Demonstrated experience in planning, monitoring, and controlling scope, risks, schedules, and budgets/costs.
• Experience in developing and presenting detailed reporting of progress, performance, and status.
• Experience with various project delivery methods including Design-Bid-Build, Design+CMAR, Design/Build, and Progressive Design/Build alternative delivery.
• Proficient with Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, Teams, Outlook) and experience working with MS Project, Primavera P6 Scheduling, and Project Management Information Systems (PMIS) as an end user.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Thorough knowledge of aviation design and construction industry practices and regulations.

Nice-to-haves

• Previous Experience as an Owner's Representative or Project/Program Manager for public agency programs exceeding $500M and airport projects exceeding $200M.
• Familiarity with Upstate SC aviation design and construction market.

Additional Requirements

• Ability to regularly access secure airport facilities, active construction sites, and project locations.
• Ability to observe and evaluate work in progress, attend on-site meetings, and perform field oversight duties associated with active aviation design and construction projects as needed.
• Must be able to comply with airport security requirements and obtain and maintain any required airport access credentials.