Burns McDonnell is proud to be the market leader in providing program management services to the electric utility industry. As our clients focus on their capital investment in the energy delivery market, Burns McDonnell brings a seasoned team to assist them across a variety of operational roles to ensure the needed grid improvements are executed on time and on budget. The ideal candidate will have a safety-first mindset, be dedicated to making their clients and teams successful, and take an entrepreneurial approach to their job. As programs are an extension of our clients day-to-day operations, roles within the program management track allow for frequent, often daily, client interaction. Engineers on the program management track leverage their technical expertise and education to make informed decisions in the execution of projects on behalf of our clients.

Project managers at Burns McDonnell are a key part of our informal leadership structure. They will be expected to mentor junior staff and lead multi-disciplinary teams in the execution of our most complex projects. In the program management organization, project managers will be relied on to support the overall development of project management capabilities through the functional leadership of day-to-day task execution. Project managers may lead specific functional areas within a larger program or lead the entirety of a smaller program working directly with our clients to provide a premier client experience.

Generally, project managers in program management will pursue job responsibilities in the following areas:

Project Management:

Lead a cross-functional team to execute substation, transmission line, and telecommunication projects from inception through design and construction to closeout.Oversee 5-20 projects concurrently of varying sizes ($100k-$50M ) and voltages (4kV-765kV).Manage projects for schedule adherence identifying risks and requirements to successfully achieve a project’s in-service date.Navigate projects through client gate approval processes including presentations to senior and executive management as required by each client.Manage projects for financial adherence maintaining an accurate cost forecast reflecting committed and uncommitted costs for an estimate-at-completion.Coordinate craft labor resources with client approved vendors for construction, testing and other field activities.Provide regular status updates on projects by maintaining project data and routine reporting as well as meeting updates for clients.Lead project meetings with cost, schedule, real estate, environmental, construction and engineering resources to facilitate project execution.

Portfolio Management:

Develop a multi-year capital expenditure plan to support client’s replacement and betterment of electric transmission and distribution assets.Regular interface and coordination with project sponsor organizations to determine details of proposed plans and business justification.Ensure synergies across projects are incorporated into the portfolio of work to prevent scope from being duplicated or performed inefficiently.Monitor composition of client’s capital investment allocation to align with stated subsidiary investment targets for optimal rate of return.Engage with project sponsors to evaluate need-by date for realistic schedules and budgets.Assist with creation and compilation of rate filing support for federal and state filings.Review tabletop engineering estimates for accuracy and scope.Review project change requests (scope, In-service date, etc.) and reconcile with the existing and long-range portfolio of work.Interface with client’s accounting group to establish financial setup for projects.Create analyses reports to assist the client in tracking, coordination, and execution of projects.Build baseline scopes, schedules, and budgets to be released to multiple client’s stakeholders.

Outage/Construction Sequencing:

Responsible for development of substation and transmission project construction lifecycles with focus on outage efficiency and constructability.Manage multiple projects simultaneously while meeting specified deliverable dates and expectations.Analyze scoping and project documents to determine boundaries of required construction within substation and within electric grid.Conduct site walkdowns and project calls with project team as necessary to establish an achievable construction sequence with attainable outages.Analyze needed outages against adjacent outages scheduled in the area.Create initial outage sequence to communicate proposed construction lifecycle to project team.Coordinate with drafting resources to create engineering-caliber drawings that document the evolution of a project from present conditions to final state and all needed incremental steps.

As part of the Burns McDonnell team we are looking for team members that foster a culture based on our MacCulture Principles, quality, diversity, and inclusion to enhance team cohesion and camaraderie. Individuals who want to tackle new and novel challenges within the utility industry to help our clients improve the execution of capital investment work can find entrepreneurial opportunities to assist in the pursuit and expansion of our program management offerings.