Building Controls Major Projects Executive

Johnson Controls; Wilmington (NC); On-site; USD 113,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Company vehicle

Paid vacation/holidays/sick time - 15+

401K and comprehensive benefits

Extensive training and career growth

Job summary

Johnson Controls seeks a senior Project Executive to deliver, govern, and financially manage its most strategic projects. You will collaborate with Area Vice Presidents, Market General Managers, and customers across the lifecycle from pursuit through closeout, with day-to-day project management support from project managers.

Responsibilities include leading executive reviews, aligning priorities, and driving recovery actions when needed.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in construction management, engineering, architecture, business or related field.
• Demonstrated experience leading executive-level customer interactions and project recoveries.
• Proven ability to lead through influence across a matrixed organization and align leaders, project teams, and partners around outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Provide executive leadership for assigned major projects, portfolios, and growth markets.
• Lead executive customer meetings and reviews to address delivery, commercial, or relationship issues.
• Ensure governance, risk management, and recovery actions are embedded in project delivery.

Skills

Leadership

Executive communication

Project management

Travel

Education

Bachelor’s degree in construction management, Engineering, Architecture, Business, or related discipline

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Build your best future with the Johnson Controls team

As a global leader in smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, our mission is to reimagine the performance of buildings to serve people, places and the planet. Join a winning team that enables you to build your best future! Our teams are uniquely positioned to support a multitude of industries across the globe. You will have the opportunity to develop yourself through meaningful work projects and learning opportunities. We strive to provide our employees with an experience focused on supporting their physical, financial, and emotional wellbeing. Become a member of the Johnson Controls family and thrive in an empowering company culture where your voice and ideas will be heard – your next great opportunity is just a few clicks away!

What We Offer

• Competitive salary
• Relocation assistance or sign-on bonus (as applicable)
• Company vehicle (as applicable)
• Paid vacation/holidays/sick time - 15 days of vacation first year
• Comprehensive benefits package including 401K, medical, dental, and vision care - Available day one.
• Extensive product and on the job/cross training opportunities
• With outstanding resources Encouraging and collaborative team environment Dedication to safety through our Zero Harm policy
• Career advancement opportunities

What You Will Do

The Project Executive (PE) is a senior Major Projects leader responsible for the successful delivery, governance, and financial performance of Johnson Controls' most strategic and complex projects, customer portfolios, and growth initiatives. PE provides executive leadership across the full project lifecycle, from pursuit support and project kickoff through execution, transition, closeout, recovery, and customer expansion.

Day-to-day execution will typically remain with Project Managers. However, the PX may directly lead a project, portfolio, transition, or recovery when scale, complexity, strategic importance, staffing needs, or business risk warrant executive-level delivery leadership.

The PE partners closely with Area Vice Presidents, Market General Managers, Major Projects Installation Managers, Sales Leaders, Project Managers, Branch Installation Managers, functional teams, and customers to align business strategy, delivery execution, and customer commitments.

How You Will Do It

Executive Project Leadership

• Provide executive leadership for assigned major projects, customer portfolios, strategic sites, and growth markets.
• Serve as a senior point of accountability for project outcomes, customer confidence, risk visibility, margin protection, and escalation management.
• Lead executive customer meetings, internal leadership reviews, and resolution of significant delivery, commercial, contractual, or relationship issues.
• Align Area leadership, project teams, sales, and support functions around clear project priorities, decisions, and recovery actions.

Governance and Delivery Oversight

• Establish the governance structure, review cadence, decision rights, reporting expectations, and escalation paths appropriate for each assigned project or portfolio.
• Lead project health reviews, Estimate-at-Completion (EAC) challenges, risk assessments, schedule reviews, and recovery planning.
• Challenge assumptions related to forecasts, staffing, subcontracting, procurement, engineering, commissioning, schedule performance, and customer commitments.
• Ensure project teams consistently apply Major Projects standards, risk registers, financial controls, change management practices, and recovery discipline.
• Create timely visibility for leadership on issues that may affect margin, cash, schedule, safety, customer confidence, or company reputation.

Direct Project and Recovery Leadership

Based On Business Need, The Project Executive May

• Directly manage a large, complex, high-risk, or strategically important projects or portfolios.
• Serve as the delivery executive over an Area Project Manager while retaining hands-on accountability for critical project outcomes.
• Lead distressed project recovery, including stabilization, recovery planning, customer alignment, accountability, and executive reporting.
• Assume temporary project leadership during staffing gaps, organizational transitions, or other critical delivery periods.
• Provide focused intervention on commercial strategy, customer issues, schedule recovery, subcontractor performance, or cross-functional execution.

Project Lifecycle Support

• Support pursuit strategy, pre-bid risk assessment, execution planning, value engineering, partner selection, and alignment of sales commitments with delivery capability.
• Support or lead project kickoff activities to establish governance, team roles, customer communication protocols, project controls, risk plans, and success criteria.
• Guide critical transitions between sales, project delivery, field execution, commissioning, service, and customer operations.
• Support project closeout, final commercial resolution, customer acceptance, lessons learned, service handoff, and follow-on opportunity planning.
• Engage at targeted points in the lifecycle when executive leadership can materially improve delivery outcomes or reduce business risk.

Financial and Commercial Leadership

• Protect project profitability through active oversight of forecasts, cost performance, billing, collections, cash flow, procurement, change orders, and contingency management.
• Review contract terms and assess exposure associated with liquidated damages, performance guarantees, fixed-price commitments, aggressive milestones, owner-favorable terms, and claims potential.
• Drive forecast accuracy and ensure recovery plans contain clear owners, dates, financial impacts, and measurable outcomes.
• Support negotiation and resolution of significant change orders, claims, disputes, and commercial settlements.
• Maintain an effective balance between customer satisfaction, contractual obligations, and project financial performance.

Customer and Stakeholder Leadership

• Develop trusted relationships with customer executives, contractors, consultants, subcontractors, partners, and internal leadership.
• Provide clear, credible executive communication regarding project status, risks, decisions, commitments, and recovery actions.
• Serve as an escalation point for major customer concerns and coordinate the appropriate internal response.
• Support customer retention, confidence, and future growth by connecting strong delivery performance to long-term account strategy.

Talent and Organizational Leadership

• Mentor Project Managers and emerging project leaders in project controls, financial management, risk, contract strategy, customer leadership, and executive communication.
• Promote consistent delivery practices across Controls, Fire, and Security teams.
• Share lessons learned, reusable practices, and recovery insights across Areas and Major Projects teams.
• Contribute to Major Projects playbooks, governance tools, talent development, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Required Qualifications

What We Look For

• Bachelor’s degree in construction management, Engineering, Architecture, Business, or a related discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in construction project delivery, building systems, or complex program management, including leadership of large, multi-million-dollar projects.
• Demonstrated experience with project financial management, forecasting, EAC reviews, cash flow, change management, contract administration, procurement, scheduling, and risk management.
• Proven ability to lead through influence across a matrixed organization and align leaders, project teams, and functional partners around business outcomes.
• Experience leading executive-level customer interactions, difficult issue resolution, negotiations, and project recovery efforts.
• Strong understanding of construction contracts, commercial risk, claims avoidance, subcontractor management, and project controls.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and executive communication skills, including the ability to translate technical and financial information for various audiences.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and relevant project management, scheduling, document control, and financial systems.
• Ability to travel as required to support assigned projects, customers, and leadership reviews.

Desired Qualifications

• 15 or more years of progressive construction or major-project leadership experience.
• Experience delivering complex projects or portfolios valued at $10M or greater.
• Experience in one or more strategic or highly regulated verticals such as airports, healthcare, higher education, federal or military, correctional, semiconductor, or transportation.
• Experience integrating multiple lines of business, including Controls, Mechanical, Fire, Security, Digital Solutions, or HVAC Equipment
• Demonstrated success leading project kickoffs, transitions, closeouts, commissioning strategies, or distressed-project recoveries.
• Experience with design-build, design-assist, occupied facilities, phased turnover, multi-building campuses, or complex commissioning programs.
• PMP certification or equivalent project/program management credential.
• Advanced knowledge of scheduling practices and tools, project controls, cost-to-complete forecasting, and executive reporting.
• Experience coaching Project Managers and improving delivery consistency across multiple teams, branches, or geographic areas.
• Ability to balance strategic governance with hands-on project leadership when project conditions require direct intervention.

HIRING SALARY RANGE

HIRING SALARY RANGE: $113,000 - $150,000 (Salary to be determined by the education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the applicant, internal equity, and alignment with market data.) This role also offers a competitive Sales Incentive Plan that will take into account volume and margin on a project, quarterly, and annual basis. This position includes a competitive benefits package. The posted salary range reflects the target compensation for this role. However, we recognize that exceptional candidates may bring unique skills and experiences that exceed the typical profile. If you believe your background warrants consideration beyond the stated range. To support an efficient and fair hiring process, we may use technology assisted tools, including artificial intelligence (AI), to help identify and evaluate candidates. All hiring decisions are ultimately made by human reviewers. For details, please visit the About Us tab on the Johnson Controls Careers site at https://jobs.johnsoncontrols.com/about-us.