Position Title: Senior Project Manager / Owner’s Engineer – High-Voltage Transmission
Company: Strategic Technology Institute, Inc. (STi)
Location: Phoenix, AZ / Remote Eligible with Required Travel
Number of Openings: Up to 4
Job Type: Full-time
Anticipated Start Date: 1 August 2026
Screening Requirement: WAPA facility-access, badging, fingerprinting, and background-screening requirements may apply
EMPLOYMENT NOTE
- Full-time positions are contingent upon contract award. STi is actively identifying highly qualified candidates for proposal submission and rapid post-award onboarding.
- Anticipated period of performance is 1 August 2026 through 31 July 2031, consisting of one base year and four option years, with the potential for an additional six-month extension.
- Multiple Project Managers are anticipated to support the Vail-Tortolita, Baseline, Southline, and ED high-voltage transmission projects.
- Remote performance may be authorized; however, candidates must be available for required travel to WAPA offices, meetings, construction sites, and project locations.
- Candidates selected for proposal submission must be able to provide detailed project examples substantiating required experience, including project name, location, voltage, construction value, delivery method, role, responsibilities, and reference contacts.
POSITION OVERVIEW
STi is seeking experienced Senior Project Managers / Owner’s Engineers to support the U.S. Department of Energy’s Western Area Power Administration, Desert Southwest Region, under the Project Management Engineering Support Services contract.
These positions will provide project management, technical engineering, and Owner’s Engineer support for large-scale, multi-year electric transmission capital projects. Support will span project development, design, environmental and regulatory coordination, procurement, construction, commissioning, and project closeout.
The ideal candidate has extensive experience managing high-voltage Bulk Electric System transmission-line construction projects and direct accountability for project scope, schedule, budget, risk, technical coordination, and construction execution. The candidate must also possess demonstrated experience supporting federal or utility construction contracts, cross-functional project teams, environmental and cultural-resource requirements, stakeholder coordination, and active-construction Owner’s Engineer functions.
PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Responsibilities include:
- Provide comprehensive project management and Owner’s Engineer support for large-scale, multi-year high-voltage transmission capital projects.
- Develop, maintain, and update project scopes, schedules, budgets, milestones, resource plans, cost-loaded schedules, and performance baselines.
- Estimate labor hours and resource requirements for assigned project activities and recommend adjustments needed to meet project objectives.
- Support transmission-project development, implementation, construction, commissioning, and closeout.
- Coordinate multidisciplinary project teams that may include WAPA personnel, engineering firms, construction contractors, consultants, environmental specialists, land and right-of-way personnel, and other stakeholders.
- Monitor project scope, schedule, cost, risk, performance, and key issues and prepare periodic written and verbal status reports.
- Research and assess project risks, technical issues, construction concerns, and contractual matters and develop recommended mitigation or corrective actions.
- Schedule and facilitate project meetings, prepare agendas and presentation materials, document decisions and action items, and track assigned actions through completion.
- Support work-order establishment, dissemination of work-order information, expenditure monitoring, and identification of potential discrepancies or improper charges.
- Maintain project records, files, correspondence, reports, and supporting documentation in accordance with applicable federal records-management and project-closeout requirements.
- Serve as a liaison between WAPA and external customers, private partners, utilities, contractors, consultants, tribal entities, landowners, and other project stakeholders.
- Support projects governed by power-marketing, transmission-service, interconnection, cost-recovery, or similar utility contractual arrangements.
- Communicate schedule impacts, outages, access constraints, construction requirements, and other project updates while maintaining professional and constructive working relationships.
Owner’s Engineer and Construction Support
- Review technical submittals and provide recommended dispositions for materials, shop drawings, design documents, test reports, and other construction submittals.
- Triage and technically evaluate Requests for Information and assess potential cost, schedule, design, and construction impacts.
- Perform constructability reviews and evaluate field changes, design revisions, work sequencing, and proposed corrective actions.
- Review project schedules, identify critical-path concerns, evaluate schedule updates, and support development of recovery plans.
- Support project cost control, financial reporting, expenditure analysis, purchase requisitions, purchase orders, work-status reporting, budget tracking, forecasting, and change management.
- Lead construction-issue triage and incident response, including receiving and validating construction notifications, initiating issue tracking, and coordinating resolution and closure.
- Support Federal Acquisition Regulation-based construction contract administration.
- Review contractor pay applications and invoices against contract line items, schedules of values, completed work, and documented progress.
- Support claims avoidance, contemporaneous recordkeeping, issue documentation, dispute resolution, and preparation of supporting narratives.
- Evaluate change-order requests and assist with negotiation documentation, scope validation, cost and schedule analysis, and independent estimates.
- Integrate environmental, cultural, land, access, and stakeholder requirements into project planning and construction execution.
- Coordinate National Environmental Policy Act commitments and mitigation measures affecting construction timing, access, or work methods.
- Support cultural-resource and State Historic Preservation Office coordination, including Section 106 requirements and inadvertent-discovery procedures.
- Coordinate biological constraints, seasonal restrictions, habitat-mitigation measures, vegetation-management requirements, and right-of-way access considerations.
- Support projects requiring coordination with tribal entities or work near tribal lands, culturally sensitive areas, or protected resources.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
U.S. citizenship required.
- Bachelor of Science degree from an accredited university in engineering or construction management.
- Minimum 15 years of professional experience in engineering, construction, or utility infrastructure.
- At least 10 years of experience serving as a project manager, senior project manager, or deputy project manager with direct accountability for project scope, schedule, and cost.
- At least five years of the required project-management experience must specifically involve high-voltage electric transmission projects.
- At least 10 years of experience managing Bulk Electric System transmission-line construction projects at 115 kV.
- Demonstrated experience managing at least three transmission construction projects, each with a total construction value exceeding $100 million.
- Demonstrated experience supporting or managing transmission-line rebuild projects.
- Demonstrated design-bid-build project-delivery experience, including coordination between the designer of record and construction contractor.
- Experience leading and coordinating multidisciplinary, cross-functional project teams in complex utility, federal, or similarly structured organizations.
- Demonstrated experience performing Owner’s Engineer functions throughout project development and active construction.
- Experience supporting projects governed by power-marketing, transmission-service, interconnection, cost-recovery, or similar utility contractual arrangements.
- Demonstrated experience supporting FAR-based construction contract administration.
- Experience reviewing construction pay applications or invoices tied to contract line items, schedules of values, progress measurements, or completed work.
- Experience supporting claims avoidance, issue documentation, contemporaneous recordkeeping, change-order evaluation, negotiation support, or independent estimates.
- Demonstrated experience coordinating environmental, cultural-resource, biological, vegetation-management, right-of-way, landowner, and stakeholder requirements on transmission construction projects.
- Experience with SHPO or Section 106 coordination affecting construction planning or execution.
- Experience coordinating at least two construction projects involving tribal entities, culturally sensitive areas, tribal lands, or resources located near tribal lands.
- Working knowledge of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, National Electrical Safety Code, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requirements, and North American Electric Reliability Corporation standards applicable to transmission planning and construction.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Project, SharePoint, Visio, and Teams.
- Experience using Maximo, SAP BusinessObjects Enterprise, or comparable project, asset-management, reporting, or business-intelligence systems.
- Working familiarity with geographic information systems sufficient to interpret project mapping, right-of-way information, and environmental constraints.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to prepare executive briefings, project reports, technical recommendations, meeting materials, and formal project documentation.
- Ability to travel to WAPA offices and transmission-project or construction locations, including occasional overnight travel.
- Valid government-issued driver’s license and ability to meet WAPA vehicle-use and defensive-driving requirements when project duties require operation of a Government vehicle.
- Ability to work safely in office, utility, and active-construction environments and use required personal protective equipment.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Active Professional Engineer license in any U.S. state or territory.
- Prior experience supporting WAPA, the Department of Energy, a federal Power Marketing Administration, or another large electric utility.
- Experience with multiple transmission voltage classes, including high-voltage or extra-high-voltage infrastructure.
- Experience supporting federal transmission construction, utility modernization, system-rebuild, or capital-improvement programs.
- Familiarity with federal project-controls, asset-management, financial-management, or work-order systems used to support utility capital projects.
ABOUT STi
Strategic Technology Institute, Inc. (STi) supports national security missions across Engineering MRO Logistics IT & Cybersecurity Program Control. STi is a minority-owned Small Disadvantaged Business focused on delivering flexible, mission-driven solutions that help Federal customers solve complex operational challenges.
WORK ENVIRONMENT
- The primary Government location is the WAPA Desert Southwest Regional Office at 615 S. 43rd Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona.
- Remote performance may be available based on contract and Government requirements.
- Required travel may include project meetings, design reviews, stakeholder sessions, construction inspections, field visits, and support at transmission-project locations.
- The standard work schedule is generally Monday through Friday, eight hours per day, excluding federal holidays.
- Personnel must generally remain available during WAPA’s core business hours of 9:00 a.m. through 3:00 p.m.
- Occasional overtime, schedule adjustments, or overnight travel may be required to support urgent issues, construction activities, project milestones, or field conditions.
- Field work may involve industrial areas, active construction sites, substations, transmission rights-of-way, uneven terrain, noise, dust, weather exposure, and required personal protective equipment.
Keywords: project manager, senior project manager, owner’s engineer, high-voltage transmission, transmission line, Bulk Electric System, BES, 115 kV, electric utility, WAPA, Department of Energy, DOE, construction management, design-bid-build, FAR, NERC, FERC, NESC, Maximo, SAP BusinessObjects, GIS, project controls, utility infrastructure, Phoenix
EEO: STi is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other protected status.
Pay: $175,000.00 - $205,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Education:
Experience:
- engineering, construction, or utility infrastructure: 10 years (Required)
- high-voltage electric transmission project management: 3 years (Required)
- transmission-line rebuild project: 1 year (Required)
Ability to Commute:
- Phoenix, AZ 85009 (Required)
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Phoenix, AZ 85009
