Project Manager Construction
Operations
East Peoria, IL, USA
Job Summary:
The Project Manager - Construction is responsible for supporting functional teams within and adjacent to the Construction organization to ensure company goals, project milestones, and deployment schedules are met on time. This role provides project coordination, schedule visibility, dependency tracking, and risk management across the full construction pipeline, including the teams that proceed construction such as Business Development, Planning, Design, and Permitting, as well as Construction Managers, Supervisors, Inspectors, contractors, and other external partners.
This Project Manager does not have direct reports, but must influence alignment, engagement, and accountability across multiple workstreams. By maintaining a clear view of dependencies, risks, dates, and milestones, this position enables subject matter experts to remain focused on their work while ensuring blockers are identified, escalated, and resolved before they impede the project schedule. The role reports directly to the Vice President of Construction and produces regular status reporting for the VP and executive leadership to provide accurate visibility into project health, risks, and progress.
Key Responsibilities:
Project Planning & Execution
- Utilize Sitetracker to maintain project plans that identify milestones, owners, dependencies, and target dates, while identifying risks and required decisions across the construction lifecycle
- Monitor the overall project pipeline from pre-construction readiness through field execution to ensure work remains aligned with company goals and committed schedules
- Track progress across multiple markets, projects, and workstreams, identifying schedule impacts before they become critical blockers
- Coordinate with subject matter experts to clarify priorities, due dates, handoffs, and decision points while allowing functional teams to remain focused on their deliverables
- Drive project momentum through disciplined follow-up, action item tracking, escalation, and communication of next steps
Stakeholder Coordination
- Serve as a central coordination point across all stakeholders who contribute to the construction pipeline
- Facilitate alignment across teams that do not report directly to the Construction Project Manager by maintaining clear expectations, commitments, due dates, and accountability
- Ensure stakeholders understand how their deliverables affect downstream construction milestones, schedule commitments, and company objectives
- Document decisions, action items, ownership, open issues, and unresolved risks to maintain transparency and follow-through across workstreams
Risk, Dependency & Issue Management
- Maintain a close view of dependencies, constraints, risks, milestone dates, and handoffs that could affect project execution or construction readiness
- Identify blockers related to business development commitments, planning assumptions, design completion, permitting approvals, materials, utilities, contractor readiness, or field execution
- Escalate risks with clear context, impact, required decisions, recommended next steps, and ownership for resolution
- Monitor recurring delays, dependency gaps, and process breakdowns, and recommend improvements that increase schedule predictability and reduce execution risk
Communication & Reporting
- Prepare regular project status reports for the Vice President of Construction and executive leadership, including progress, milestone health, key risks, blockers, escalations, and upcoming decisions
- Maintain reporting tools, action item logs, meeting summaries, escalation trackers, and other documentation needed to provide accurate visibility into project status
- Facilitate project meetings and working sessions that keep cross-functional stakeholders aligned on timelines, responsibilities, dependencies, and required outcomes
- Communicate clearly with technical, operational, construction, and leadership audiences
Qualifications:
Education and Experience:
- Bachelor’s degree preferred in Construction Management, Engineering, Business, Operations, Project Management, or a related field; equivalent experience considered
- 5–8+ years of experience in telecommunications, broadband, utility, or infrastructure construction programs, or project/program coordination within multi-stakeholder environments
- Proven ability to manage schedules, dependencies, risks, action items, milestones, and stakeholder follow-ups without direct supervisory authority
- Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple projects, workstreams, milestones, and reporting requirements simultaneously
- Experience developing clear reports, dashboards, presentations, and status updates for stakeholders at all levels
- Valid driver’s license with a clean driving record
- Ability to travel locally or regionally as needed
Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience supporting fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) construction programs
- Working knowledge of telecommunications design, permitting, and construction processes
- Experience using Sitetracker
Skills and Competencies:
- Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and follow-through discipline
- Effective written and verbal communication skills with technical, operational, field, contractor, and executive audiences
- Ability to influence, coordinate, and drive accountability across stakeholders without direct reporting authority
- Strong understanding of how dependencies, risks, handoffs, and milestone dates affect project schedules
- Ability to proactively identify risks, clarify ownership, escalate blockers, and support timely decision-making
- Professional and collaborative approach when working with internal teams, contractors, and leadership
Working Conditions:
- Office and project coordination role with periodic travel to construction sites, contractor meetings, jurisdictional meetings, or field review locations as needed
- Requires coordination across geographically diverse projects and stakeholders who may be located in different markets, departments, or organizations
- May require occasional field visits in active construction or utility environments and varying weather conditions
- Occasional extended hours may be required to support project deadlines, executive reporting, escalations, utility schedules, contractor availability, or critical milestones
- Ability to sit for extended periods of time up to 8 hours per day, in front of a computer
- Ability to stand and work in all weather conditions while in the field