Director of Project Management

About the role

A rapidly growing family-owned fire protection and security contractor serving Ohio, Kentucky, and surrounding states is seeking a Director of Project Management to lead and standardize project delivery across the organization. This newly created leadership role will build the company's Project Management Office, establish consistent processes and performance standards, and develop a high-performing team of Project Managers across multiple business units.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead the company's Project Management Office
• Establish standardized project management processes, SOPs, governance, and best practices
• Develop project KPIs, dashboards, and executive reporting
• Create consistent project planning, forecasting, and accountability standards
• Oversee project execution across multiple business units
• Monitor schedules, budgets, profitability, labor productivity, forecasting, and project risk
• Support Project Managers with complex customer, contractual, scheduling, and operational issues
• Develop recovery plans for underperforming or high-risk projects
• Improve project profitability through stronger forecasting, cost control, billing, change order management, and margin visibility
• Partner with Finance on project forecasting, cash flow, billing, and financial reporting
• Improve resource planning, staffing, workload balancing, and project assignment practices
• Recruit, coach, mentor, and develop Project Managers
• Establish clear performance expectations and development plans for PM teams
• Build a culture centered around accountability, communication, execution, and customer service
• Partner closely with executive leadership, operations, finance, and field teams
• Maintain strong relationships with customers, contractors, vendors, and internal stakeholders
• Participate in executive-level customer meetings when needed
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across the project management organization
• Support active projects initially while building long-term PMO structure and processes

Requirements

• 10+ years of progressive project management experience in commercial construction, specialty contracting, systems integration, or a related project-driven environment
• 5+ years of experience leading Project Managers or project management teams
• Experience managing multiple concurrent projects across teams, customers, or business units
• Strong understanding of project budgets, forecasting, margins, change orders, billing, contract administration, and risk management
• Proven ability to improve project execution and operational performance
• Strong leadership, coaching, and team development skills
• Experience implementing standardized processes, KPIs, dashboards, or project management best practices
• Excellent communication and organizational skills
• Ability to work effectively with executive leadership, operations teams, finance, customers, and field personnel
• Bachelor's degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Business, Project Management, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience
• PMP certification
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and project management software
• Willingness to travel approximately 20-30%
• Ability to travel up to approximately 40% initially if working fully remote

Preferred Qualifications

• Previous experience building or leading a formal Project Management Office
• Specialty contracting experience
• Fire protection, security, low-voltage, electrical, mechanical, or systems integration experience
• Lean Construction experience
• Lean Six Sigma certification or training
• ERP implementation experience
• Microsoft Project experience
• Primavera P6 experience
• Procore experience
• Autodesk Construction Cloud experience
• JIRA or comparable project management platform experience
• Experience leading organizational change in a fast-growing company
• Experience creating project management career paths and training programs
• Experience integrating project management standards across multiple locations or business units

Benefits

• Competitive compensation based on experience
• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• Flexible Spending Account
• Company-paid life insurance
• Company-paid short-term disability
• 401(k) with company match
• Tuition reimbursement
• Paid training
• Paid holidays
• Generous paid time off
• Mileage reimbursement
• Company-paid travel expenses

Additional Opportunities

• High-visibility leadership role with direct executive exposure
• Opportunity to build the company's Project Management Office from the ground up
• Significant influence over operational strategy and project execution
• Opportunity to develop and mentor Project Managers across the organization
• Long-term leadership growth within a rapidly expanding company
• Flexibility to be based from multiple company locations
• Fully remote arrangement may be considered for the right candidate with appropriate travel