Senior Fiber Construction Technician (Foreperson)

About the role

TDS Telecom is seeking a Senior Outside Plant Construction Technician (Foreperson) to lead and coordinate construction crews in the installation and maintenance of fiber networks. This is a full-time, year-round position requiring hands-on fieldwork while coordinating people, equipment, and timelines.

Responsibilities

• Receives maps and staking sheets for the full construction project and ensures project is built, with limited guidance from supervisors.
• Communicates updates to the project team as required.
• Manages daily and weekly project work based on deadlines, material and equipment availability, weather, and other factors.
• Covers for supervisors and performs other duties as assigned.
• Coordinates with supervisor to ensure continual supply of work and availability of materials.
• Drafts and submits redlines upon completion of project.
• Ensures locates are performed on time and prior to team and equipment arriving at the worksite.
• Regularly engages municipalities, utility companies, suppliers, contractors, and property owners in order to smoothly coordinate project tasks and avoid disputes.
• Reads construction plans and municipality permits, and determines approach for completing work.
• Maintains all project documentation and records costs of project materials and material transfers.
• Ensures DOT inspections are performed on equipment.
• Works with project managers to ensure projects remain on schedule and within budget.
• Performs general construction labor in various weather conditions while utilizing safety fundamentals.
• Advanced operation of trenchers, backhoes, end loaders, plows, and other excavating equipment to construct and maintain outside plant cable facilities.
• Advanced operation of all test equipment associated with outside plant facilities and construction duties.
• Installs, troubleshoots, tests, splices, repairs, and maintains fiber optic facilities.
• Identifies location of defective cable using various test equipment and repairs buried, aerial, underground, and/or customer cable.
• Locates cable and fiber in response to customer requests and/or construction needs.
• Performs cable fault acceptance tests on newly constructed facilities.
• Actively trains, monitors, and coaches team members while sharing construction knowledge and experience.
• Performs quality control inspections and makes training recommendations.
• Ensures safety protocols are enforced.
• Services, cleans, maintains, and repairs equipment.
• Completes all related paperwork in a timely manner.
• Provides assistance to field services technicians, as needed.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of construction equipment operation utilizing various underground and aerial construction equipment such as directional drills, trencher/plow/rock saw, backhoe, or bucket trucks -OR- current military service, or prior military service with honorable discharge.
• 1+ years of experience leading construction projects as a crew foreperson or project manager.
• Must follow the TDS attendance guidelines in order to meet TDS’s business needs including but not limited to our obligations to our customers and to our customers’ needs.
• Must have and maintain a valid driver’s license and remain eligible for DOT requirements.
• Must have the ability to obtain a Class A CDL.
• A current CDL is preferred at hire, but TDS will train and certify eligible associates through its in-house CDL certification program after hire.
• Ability to climb poles, ladders, towers, and other structures as needed.
• Ability to kneel, dig, lift, and pull.