You are a process piping construction expert and a leader capable of managing a department within a self-performing at risk process system construction contractor.  You know what FDA approved pharmaceutical process piping systems look like, how they are properly specified and detailed for installation, how to schedule and man that work, how to manage multiple projects staffed with project managers or superintendents, how to do QA and QC on process/piping systems, how business is conducted with large and demanding users on fast track process projects, how to successfully manage client expectations and communications, and how mechanical/process piping installations will be inspected. Your knowledge on the mechanical/piping side is exceptional and deep, but your knowledge base is wide enough to allow you to give consideration to the attendant electrical systems needs, the mechanical and electrical precedents in a schedule, and issues of physical fit and space.

WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT

We are a custom process system construction company that builds one of a kind system(s) for the pharmaceutical, chemical, semi-conductor, and food/beverage industries.

We are a unique organization that has achieved a really fine mix of quality people, high operational morale, business integrity, business flexibility and agility. We have also refined a practical implementation of business selectivity. Selectivity is a simple idea few businesses seem to be able to implement in practice. We know the capabilities of our people, the capacity of our systems, workload and the peculiarities of each of the industries we serve and even the nature of individual clients. We engage work that we will prevail at, and we make money doing right fit work. We do not flail; we strategically pursue.  

We plan thoroughly, schedule using critical path methodologies in a computer based system, track daily production, manpower allocations, cash, materials requirements and do WIP cost accruals. The tools we employ are the same tools applied with the same rigor as in the really big firms. Under control is the only way to run. We have a repeatable method of procedure for every step in a planning, construction, and commissioning process that includes financial planning and safety planning. Opportunityreview through delivery of O&M and as-built documents; we are working with a plan.

A mid sized player in this business, we are large enough and sufficient legacy success to be recognized and regarded seriously by fortune 100 companies, but we are small enough for you to have major impact and direct contact with the very top of the organization at all times. You will be a top tier leader joining our organization as a department head. We have been as careful hiring with consideration for personality and attitude as we are careful about hiring the correct technical acumen and in that way have assembled a team that is happy to work together and teams effectively. The leaders here have been with the company for a very long time, are educated, polished, reasonable, fair, capable, and genuine experts in the field. The combination of business attributes, a great location for quality of life and lifestyle, and the security that comes with being a key member of a historically stable and financially responsible medium sized organization make this a unique opportunity.

Finally, we a private business and we are not a family business. Management is open book, the profits stay in the company and they are shared equitably.

YOU AND OUR BUSINESS

The Department Head we need is a solid process and piping mechanical operational program manager. You have deep technical process piping experience, but you also are a professional that also knows a good bit about all the disciplines required to complete a process system project. You are a person capable of reading an RFI, a contract and all the associated documents and drawings and “seeing” the system and the issues the company may face if that work is pursued technically and from the perspective of terms and conditions.

You have worked in a self-performing process systems contractor’s business that does small to mid-sized new systems, expansions, renovations and toll process additions. Our general/routine projects are in the $50,000.00 – $500,000.00 range, and our larger projects this year were in the $2 - 3 million dollar range. We are an open shop and so we encourage our senior managers to be hands on and willing to support technical field issues, and we would be thrilled to find THE genuine technical leader in our operations manager.

You have some evolved estimating skills, perhaps even some proven value engineering talent. While we have a dedicated estimating department, and even a dedicated service-estimating department, we have found that the disciplines used to put together an estimate are the precise disciplines it takes to really know and understand a job. Certainly, it helps when operations can be a genuine second set of eyes as estimates are reviewed or we are assessing risk in a competitive situation. Even better is the possibility that your personal technical insight and operations savvy might elevate and refine a good estimate into a shrewd market approach with considerations for build issues, value engineering possibilities, and a set of tactics for taking the proposal to the client in a unique way.

You have a history of success in managerial roles (such as project management or operations management), and you have the skills in place that allow leaders to get work done through others (willingly). Some examples of the skills we are chasing include exceptional planning skills, belief in and use of IT, high energy level, good intuitive people skills, the ability to analyze and grade the skill levels of the staff, the ability to prioritize tasks intelligently and clearly see necessary milestones in the order that they need to be approached. We need your political skills and just plain wisdom. You need to be pretty smart to do this job. We also want you to be a person that has a “do what needs to be done” heart and a person that will not be frustrated by the occasional need to do some that is traditionally beneath your station.

Departmental management will be analyzing a vast set of variables with the goal of protecting the interests of the company and its employees, satisfying the client, building durable professional relationships, identifying additional work scope or new work all while making money on mechanical process systems construction projects. There may be a time when you make a decision to do a favor for a general contractor or client that represents and annuity client when you know that the client can be counted upon to return the favor at some later date or in some other way.

Lots of complex judgment calls must be made, and the need to make solid and clear decisions will be relentless and will often take place under pressure. The Mechanical Department Manager may have to take firm stands. We would hope you to have some good basic contract law experience, and know what clients can and cannot ask for, what OSHA is looking at and what the FDA is going to inspect.

From a financial point of view, you are a person that has assembled (AIA) schedules of values in the past. You have the experience to ask for the traditionally accepted conventional payment amounts (like mobilization as a percentage of contract) and the experience to reasonably front load your schedules such that the company begins to see cash flow on your departments projects as soon as possible, and cash in exceeds our cash on the street for as long as possible into the constructions. You can teach a project manager how to think through a schedule of values development and, ultimately, how to do it (a tactical schedule of values). On smaller projects, just a budget may be required, but we expect to see increasing numbers of projects that will require detailed financial schedules.

As Mechanical Department Manager you must have the skills to financially track cost to complete throughout the projects your department is running, and you must have the discipline to do WIP cost accruals throughout any projects your team is running. There will always be a number of projects running simultaneously and you are a professional that is an effective multi-task performer. We have computer systems to allow project managers to track their jobs and these tools must be used religiously which means you must make sure your team uses all the systems. You will insure that your PMs walk their jobs, use their heads and use the tools.  We need a business head that knows that the goal of any business is to make money, and a professional that can and will look for and capitalize on honest opportunities to do so whenever possible.

ESTIMATING AND PRECONSTRUCTION SUPPORT

• Strategic review of work coming into estimating and operational input into selection of work pursuits.
• Identification of client needs, and unique performance requirements.
• Evaluation of design and document quality.
• Support for the proposal process and submittal preparation.
• Potential support during the presentation and sales processes.
• Detailed operational review of estimates done by estimating and the work of a project manager or two that still estimate their work.
• Contract review and terms and conditions development and negotiations.
• The development and oversight of development of critical path schedules
• Preparation, and review of schedules of values

PROJECT START UP

• Assist in the “sales” of schedules of values.

PROJECT OPERATIONS

• Tracking of all projects
• Review of critical path schedules for manpower allocations, materials buyouts and other milestone mobilization or action items.
• Review of WIP forecasts and cost to completes.
• Tracking change orders and change of scope on projects.
• Maintaining good practices. Getting timely estimates on change orders. Making certain project managers get acknowledgements for change orders.
• Maintaining administrative discipline. Making sure data that affects schedules or costs is recorded and appropriate written communications are prepared, sent and received by all affected parties.
• Cross teaming with estimating and purchasing on projects under construction

CLIENT CONTRACTOR AND VENDOR LIAISON

• A critical responsibility is the management of “crisis”. For the mechanical department you will provide clients with a point of escalation for serious issues or problems that have not or cannot be managed to the satisfaction of those clients at the project manager’s level.
• Intra-corporate crisis management. You will support your project managers when they are facing unique of difficult circumstances or feel the need for support.
• You will support the ceaseless search for new opportunities as relationships are built with and strengthen with our clients.
• Support for negotiations with coordinated trades.
• Subcontractor review.
• Relationship building with vendors.

FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Teaching sound project management principles.
• Supervision for and participation in the creation of sound, reasonably front loaded schedules of values.
• Tracking of billings and accounting department interface.
• Tracking of change orders and change of scope activities. That includes proposal, estimation, client acknowledgement/sign off, and notifications to accounting for billings.
• Maintenance of financial discipline at the project manager’s level.

SYSTEMS RESPONSIBILITIES

• Oversight of safety issues
• Oversight of a QA and QC process
• Development of training programs and schedules
• Learning our software systems for ERM, and scheduling
• Maintenance of good administrative process and quality uniform project files

You will lead project teams, and constantly monitor the work in process from every perspective, but certainly progress rate on jobs as percentage complete, schedule adherence, forecast cost to complete, and quality. You will participate in meetings with the clients on projects that may be delayed or are otherwise not running smoothly, and may help with interface with the general contractors when there is one, and support trade coordination meetings where there are unique challenges or projected difficulties.

You will maintain a purchasing interface for monitoring critical path purchases. Support for buyout may be a responsibility on occasions where project requirements can be aggregated to make combined purchases that will positively affect pricing. Saving money by looking ahead is as smart a way to increase profits as any.

All of the traditional functions of keeping the client and/or client/owner happy, keeping the teams inspired, making sure the PMs are on top of their responsibilities, making certain that there is an optimized and well coordinated labor contingent on all the jobs, making sure critical materials are ordered, available and staged in accordance with the project plans and superintendents inputs, watching the estimating and documentation process for changes, and changes of scope, making certain that the PMs have their clients understand, acknowledge and accept changes that will alter the job pricings, helping less experienced managers improve their job planning as the physical realities of the jobs are exposed or changed, reviewing project forecasts and accrued cost to complete reports, making sure the managers are documenting all relevant changes on the jobs related to other trades that might affect access, schedule or scope, and teaching the project management staff how to offer constructive suggestions where possible that might result in additional work for the company, and a better job for the client are responsibilities of this job.  We want every manager to be a point of sales for the company.

Supporting the financial arm of the company by making sure that all the project managers are getting their data to finance in a timely fashion is part of the Department Manager’s job.

You will be a principal contact for subcontract relationships with the company related to mechanical systems work.

GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• P&L responsibility for overall projects.
• Conduct project reviews
• Participation in pre-bid meetings, bid meetings, submittal events, job meetings, coordination meetings, budget reviews and the like.
• Intelligent delegation, monitoring, teaching, mentoring and support
• Enforcement of general discipline.
• Provide inspiration to others to work willingly towards a common goal.
• Support and control operational emergencies on all projects related to materials, schedules, quality, changes, safety, agency inspection or client pressures.
• Respond to and manage client expectations and emergencies.
• Assist in business development by building client relationships and expanding those relationships as possible. A willingness to solicit; presenting ideas, concepts, and service offerings to a client where it will be of benefit to the client and the company is part of this down the road.
• We expect the department keep accurate documentation on all major project events and, where there is financial impact, get the properly formatted and accurate information into the finance department or upper management on time. We may need data to file a construction claim and that data collection must be part of routine departmental practice.
• Suggest and evolve improvements for company systems to compliment company growth. Participate in recruiting and hiring process.
• Develop necessary training for management.
• Assure the evolution of formal programs to match the growth of the company. These may include QA/QC, Safety and HR support and development.

CRITICAL RESPONSIBILITIES

We wish to give significant decision making power and authority to a person that will allow tough situations that require executive attention to be addressed by other than the company president or owner. We want you to be the court of last resorts for the mechanical construction department. The goal is to free the president up to perform sales and marketing, relationship building with surety and banking institutions necessary for sustained growth, and to engage in long term strategic planning.

CONFIDENTIAL EXCHANGE

We have hired a consultant to allow your first discussions to be confidential discussions. If after this exchange you are not interested, no information whatsoever will enter company records protecting your privacy and the nature of your search.

COMPENSATION

Base salary range is $89 -$120,000.00. Bonus for this position is subjective, but has been generally based upon profits for all department heads and has been a meaningful addition to base compensation routinely. Very good insurance and benefits are part of the package in addition to salary and bonus.

• Please respond (cover letter, resume, and project profiles) directly to the email below.
• Never post a resume on the Internet in response to this ad.

EMAIL: engineering@entermail.net

SUBJECT LINE: MECHDIRECTOR