Director, Pre-Construction & Scheduling

Who You Are

The Director, Pre-Construction & Scheduling is responsible for establishing and governing the processes, standards, systems, and controls that enable predictable execution across the QTS Development portfolio. Serving as a strategic partner to regional development execution teams, this leader oversees portfolio-wide planning, pre-construction governance, schedule management, cost and schedule compliance, production reporting, risk management, contractor evaluation support, and project controls functions.

Reporting to the VP, Development Pre-Construction & Scheduling, this role develops and drives the standards, metrics, and governance necessary to improve delivery predictability, increase organizational consistency, and provide leadership with visibility into cost, schedule, and execution risks across a rapidly growing development portfolio.

What You Will Do

• Portfolio Planning & Controls Leadership

• Lead development and implementation of enterprise planning and controls processes across the Development organization.
• Establish governance frameworks supporting project planning, cost management, schedule management, and execution readiness.
• Partner with Development executives to improve portfolio predictability, performance measurement, and project outcomes.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across pre-construction, project controls, and schedule management functions.
• Develop organizational standards, templates, methodologies, and best practices.

• Pre-Construction & Development Planning Support

• Project evaluation and early-stage planning activities.
• Development and maintenance of cost, schedule, and execution planning standards.
• Provide oversight of estimating methodologies, budgeting assumptions, and cost benchmarking programs.
• Evaluate contractor proposals, schedules, commercial terms, and project delivery strategies.
• Identify value engineering opportunities and risk mitigation strategies during project development.
• Support procurement, contract administration, and work authorization processes.

• Schedule Governance & Production Tracking

• Establish portfolio-wide scheduling standards and governance processes.
• Define schedule compliance requirements and performance expectations.
• Lead production tracking, forecasting, and schedule analytics initiatives.
• Develop executive reporting tools and dashboards supporting project and portfolio management.
• Identify emerging schedule risks and coordinate intervention strategies when required.
• Maintain enterprise schedule risk management and escalation processes.

• Portfolio Reporting & Analytics

• Develop and maintain performance metrics that provide insight into portfolio health, project execution, schedule performance, and cost management.
• Ensure consistent and accurate reporting throughout the Development organization.
• Partner with Data & Analytics teams to improve reporting capabilities and data quality.
• Deliver executive-level insights and recommendations based on portfolio performance trends.
• Establish KPIs and reporting frameworks supporting strategic decision-making.

• Risk Management & Compliance

• Lead development and implementation of portfolio risk management processes.
• Monitor compliance with approved development standards, planning requirements, schedules, budgets, and governance expectations.
• Drive identification, escalation, and resolution of significant project risks.
• Collaborate with Development, Procurement, Finance, Quality, and Design & Engineering leaders to mitigate delivery risks.
• Establish project intervention processes for underperforming or high-risk initiatives.

• People Leadership

• Build, develop, and lead teams responsible for development planning, controls, analytics, scheduling, pre-construction, and project governance functions.
• Establish performance expectations and technical standards.
• Mentor and develop future functional leaders within the organization.
• Drive organizational capability building related to project controls and portfolio management.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Architecture, Project Management, Business, or related field.
• Nine or more years of experience in project controls, construction management, pre-construction, scheduling, development, or similar disciplines.
• Three or more years of direct people leadership experience.
• Experience managing complex capital projects or programs.
• Demonstrated expertise in planning, cost management, scheduling, project controls, governance, and risk management.
• Proven experience developing enterprise standards, reporting, and performance management processes.
• Strong collaboration skills and ability to influence leaders across a matrixed organization.
• Strong analytical, business, and executive communication capabilities.

Nice to Have

• Twelve or more years of construction, development, project controls, or related experience.
• Data center, mission-critical, or large-scale infrastructure development experience.
• MBA, master's degree, PMP, CCM, PSP, or other relevant professional certification.
• Expertise with scheduling, project controls, analytics, and portfolio management tools including Primavera P6, Power BI, Tableau, Procore, Autodesk Construction Cloud, or similar platforms.
• Experience establishing new organizational functions and operating models.
• Advanced experience leading enterprise transformation or process improvement initiatives.

Other Key Skills

• Strong knowledge of project planning, pre-construction, scheduling, project controls, and portfolio governance.
• Ability to analyze complex business and project data to identify risks, trends, and opportunities.
• Knowledge of cost management, schedule management, contractor procurement, and risk mitigation practices.
• Ability to develop KPIs, dashboards, reporting frameworks, and executive-level insights.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to build teams, develop talent, and drive accountability.
• Ability to influence and collaborate effectively across a highly matrixed organization.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Proven ability to lead process improvement, standardization, and organizational change initiatives.
• Proficiency with project controls, scheduling, analytics, and reporting platforms.
• Demonstrated strategic thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities.