Job Title: Senior Project Manager (Land Development)
Company: VIA / 7B Development Team
Location: Office / remote as assigned; travel required for project, client, and site milestones
Reports To: President of Development
Position Type: Full-time
Target Base Pay: $125,000 - $165,000, commensurate with experience and portfolio responsibility
Position Summary
The Senior Project Manager is a senior execution leader, coach, and escalation point for the Land Development team. This role owns complex and high-risk development projects from onboarding through closeout while mentoring PM/APM staff, strengthening repeatable process discipline, and improving portfolio-level execution. The Sr. PM must be fully independent, client-facing, and able to anticipate risk, recover schedule or budget drift, and model the leadership standards expected as VIA / 7B enters its next stage of growth.
Role Level and Workload Expectations
- Manage complex projects and/or a selected portfolio load generally equivalent to 5-7+ Active Project Equivalents (APE), adjusted for project risk, client intensity, phase, and escalation demands.
- Serve as a coach-player: directly run high-risk projects while supporting PMs/APMs through mentoring, work product review, escalation support, and process training.
- Operate as a fully independent senior leader who brings solutions, options, and recommendations forward rather than simply reporting issues.
- Support portfolio improvement by identifying process gaps, standardizing best practices, and helping the team execute the Development Playbook consistently.
Key Responsibilities
Senior Project Execution and Portfolio Ownership
- Lead assigned land development projects from onboarding, feasibility, due diligence, design coordination, entitlements, permitting, construction handoff, construction support, closeout, and turnover.
- Own scope, schedule, budget, risk, quality, communication, and decision tracking for assigned projects.
- Maintain project control systems, including schedule updates, budget tracking, RAID logs, action items, key decisions, open issues, and client reporting.
- Drive projects to meet approved budgets, committed schedules, client requirements, and internal quality expectations.
- Recover schedule, budget, or process drift through proactive action plans, clear escalation, and disciplined follow-through.
Development Playbook and Process Discipline
- Ensure projects are executed in accordance with the Development Team Playbook and applicable SOPs, including feasibility reviews, due diligence standards, design milestones, permitting, construction handoff, and closeout requirements.
- Act as an escalation point when projects deviate from approved process, budget, schedule, or client commitments.
- Help refine repeatable templates, dashboards, trackers, checklists, meeting cadences, and reporting standards so the team can scale with consistency.
- Identify process breakdowns and recommend corrective actions, training needs, or workflow improvements to the President of Development.
Budgeting and Financial Oversight
- Lead and review project budgeting, including initial budgets, cost-to-complete tracking, APE assumptions, change tracking, allowances, consultant fees, and final reconciliation.
- Coordinate with estimating, pre-construction, construction, accounting, and finance teams to maintain budget accuracy and timely reporting.
- Identify potential cost overruns early and lead value-engineering efforts when appropriate without compromising client commitments, design intent, operational needs, or long-term quality.
- Review PM/APM budget work product before executive, client, or stakeholder submission when requested or when risk level requires senior review.
Schedule, Entitlement, and Risk Management
- Build and maintain realistic schedules that reflect critical path items, entitlement and permitting dependencies, AHJ review cycles, utility coordination, consultant deliverables, long-lead items, and construction handoff needs.
- Lead risk identification and mitigation across title, survey, environmental, geotechnical, civil, architectural, MEP, utility, permitting, construction, and closeout issues.
- Use RAID tracking and other team tools to keep risks visible, assigned, dated, and actively managed.
- Escalate material risks, client concerns, budget impacts, scope changes, or schedule threats to the President of Development with recommended paths forward.
Team Leadership, Mentorship, and Accountability
- Mentor and coach Project Managers and Assistant Project Managers in planning, communication, budgeting, risk management, forecasting, consultant coordination, and client leadership.
- Review PM/APM work product, including schedules, budgets, reports, issue logs, first-look checklists, due diligence summaries, and client updates, for consistency and quality.
- Support onboarding and training for new PM/APM team members and help build repeatable development execution habits.
- Model ownership, relational leadership, urgency, calm escalation, and a no-surprises standard across the team.
- Help identify performance gaps, unclear responsibilities, training needs, and process weaknesses that may affect team execution.
Stakeholder, Client, and Consultant Communication
- Serve as a primary senior contact for clients, ownership, consultants, AHJs, utilities, design teams, construction teams, and internal stakeholders on assigned projects or escalated matters.
- Lead meetings with clear agendas, action items, owners, due dates, and follow-up expectations.
- Prepare and present project reports, executive summaries, budget updates, schedule updates, decision logs, and risk summaries.
- Maintain strong client presence by communicating early, clearly, professionally, and with recommended solutions when issues arise.
Construction Interface and Closeout
- Coordinate with construction leadership to ensure smooth handoff from development to construction, including design completeness, permitting status, budget alignment, schedule assumptions, constructability concerns, and known risks.
- Ensure PM-led coordination items such as signage, equipment, PEMB/structural scope, utility coordination, and owner/vendor interfaces are tracked with construction manager input as needed.
- Support construction-phase issue resolution where development, design, entitlement, client, or consultant decisions affect field execution.
- Drive closeout discipline, including certificate of occupancy, punch list, warranty items, stormwater/stabilization requirements, final documentation, client acceptance, and lessons learned.
Required Qualifications
- 8+ years of project management experience in real estate development, commercial construction, civil/site development, owner representation, or a closely related field.
- Successful history leading complex, multi-million-dollar projects with schedule, budget, consultant, client, entitlement, and construction coordination responsibility.
- Strong understanding of commercial land development, permitting, design coordination, civil/site work, construction methods, budgeting, scheduling, and project closeout.
- Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects while mentoring other project team members and supporting escalations.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to present clearly to clients, executives, consultants, AHJs, and internal teams.
- High proficiency with project management and reporting tools such as Smartsheet, Procore, Microsoft Office, Bluebeam, Microsoft Project, or equivalent systems.
- Ability to travel as required for project milestones, client meetings, jurisdictional meetings, site visits, and team meetings.
Preferred Qualifications
- Bachelor degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Architecture, Business, Real Estate, Planning, or related field.
- Professional certification such as PMP, CAPM, CCM, LEED, or similar credential.
- Experience with national retail, multi-site programs, ground-up commercial development, owner/developer representation, or design-build/general contracting environments.
- Experience building or improving project management systems, dashboards, SOPs, stage-gate processes, or team training programs.
Success Profile
- Consistent execution history with strong follow-through and visible ownership of outcomes.
- Proactive risk mitigation with the ability to see around corners and prevent surprises.
- Strong client presence and professional judgment in difficult conversations.
- Ability to recover schedule and budget risk through disciplined planning and leadership.
- Mentor mindset with the ability to raise the performance of PM/APM staff.
- Process improver who strengthens repeatable systems rather than working around them.
- Fully independent operator who can lead complex projects and support the broader portfolio without constant direction.
First 90-180 Day Priorities
- Learn and pressure-test the current Development Playbook, templates, reporting cadence, KPI structure, and project controls.
- Take ownership of assigned complex projects and establish clear schedules, budgets, RAID logs, issue paths, and stakeholder communication rhythms.
- Identify the highest-risk portfolio items and create action plans to stabilize schedule, budget, client communication, and decision-making.
- Establish a consistent mentoring cadence with assigned PM/APM staff and begin improving work product quality, forecasting, and escalation habits.
- Recommend practical process improvements that increase consistency, accountability, and scalability across the Development team.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $125,000.00 - $165,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Experience:
- Commercial Construction Development: 5 years (Required)
Work Location: In person
