Director of Capital Engineering/Projects

Ecovyst; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Ecovyst Inc. in Houston, TX seeks a Director of Capital Engineering/Projects to lead the enterprise-wide capital portfolio, govern prioritization, and optimize capital investments to maximize business value while ensuring safety, regulatory compliance, and reliability.

The role partners with executive leadership, platform engineering, operations, and finance to balance demand and capacity, provide governance, and deliver timely financial reporting and benefits realization across North America.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, finance, or related discipline.
• Master’s degree in business administration, or engineering management preferred.
• Minimum of 10–15 years of capital project management, program management, or portfolio management experience.
• Experience in capital portfolio selection, prioritization, and funding allocation.
• Must be able to obtain a TWIC Card.

Responsibilities

• Validate alignment of capital projects with organizational strategies and defined measures of success.
• Balance demand, priorities, and available resource capacity.
• Allocate capital funding across projects and programs in alignment with approved budgets and strategic priorities.
• Develop portfolio-level financial plans and oversee capital spend to ensure adherence to approved funding.
• Track and report expected versus realized business benefits at the portfolio level.
• Prepare and present decision-ready analyses and recommendations to executive forums.
• Manage enterprise capital portfolio governance, including communication, escalation, and constraint management.
• Drive standardization and maturity of portfolio management practices across the enterprise.

Skills

Capital portfolio management

Financial analysis

Strategic planning

Executive communication

Stakeholder influence

Excel

Education

Bachelors in engineering or finance

MBA or engineering management preferred

Tools

SAP

Excel

Presentation software

Job description

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Director of Capital Engineering/Projects

Eco Houston TX SALARY FT EXEMPT Houston, TX, US

The Director of Capital Engineering/Projects is responsible for the enterprise‑wide selection, prioritization, optimization, and governance of the capital project portfolio to ensure alignment with organizational strategy, maximum business value realization, and optimized use of financial and organizational resources.

This role oversees the capital portfolio for North America from strategic concept through execution and post‑implementation benefit realization, ensuring that capital investments deliver intended outcomes related to safety, reliability, regulatory compliance, capacity, and financial performance.

The Director of Capital Engineering/Projects partners closely with executive leadership, platform engineering, operations, finance, and project delivery teams to balance strategic objectives, demand versus capacity constraints, risk exposure, and capital efficiency. The position provides portfolio governance oversight, facilitates executive decision‑making, and ensures transparency, discipline, and consistency in capital investment decisions and execution across the enterprise. This role is based in Houston with travel.

Responsibilities

• Validate alignment of capital projects and programs with organizational strategies and defined measures of success.
• Ensure portfolio decisions support long‑term business objectives and risk tolerance.
• Recommend selection, deferral, acceleration, or termination of capital initiatives based on value, risk, capacity, and strategic alignment
• Optimize the capital portfolio pipeline by balancing demand, priorities, and available resource capacity.
• Manage portfolio-level trade-offs to maximize value delivery and execution effectiveness.
• Analyze portfolio dependencies, constraints, and scenario impacts to support informed investment decisions
• Allocate capital funding across projects and programs in alignment with approved budgets and strategic priorities.
• Develop portfolio-level financial plans and oversee capital spend to ensure adherence to approved funding.
• Track and report expected versus realized business benefits at the portfolio level
• Deliver accurate and timely financial reports to leadership.

Governance & Oversight

• Manage enterprise capital portfolio governance, including communication, oversight, escalation, and constraint management.
• Support and facilitate governance reviews, stage‑gate decisions, and executive approval forums.
• Prepare and present decision‑ready analyses and recommendations to executive and investment approval forums
• Ensure consistent application of capital governance standards across sites and platforms

Roadmap & Performance Reporting

• Track and report progress against the enterprise capital portfolio roadmap.
• Monitor portfolio performance metrics, business value realization, and key performance indicators.

Executive Support

• Facilitate executive management participation by providing clear analysis, recommendations, and decision‑ready information.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to leadership on portfolio risks, opportunities, and trade‑offs.
• Promote lessons learned, continuous improvement, and knowledge sharing across projects and programs.
• Drive standardization and maturity of portfolio management practices across the enterprise.

Required Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, finance, or related discipline
• Master’s degree in business administration, or engineering management preferred

Experience

• Minimum of 10–15 years of experience in capital project management, program management, or portfolio management within an industrial, manufacturing, or heavy‑asset environment
• Experience in capital portfolio selection, prioritization, and funding allocation
• Strong working knowledge of capital governance, financial planning, and demand‑versus‑capacity management
• Experience supporting executive leadership through governance forums, investment reviews, and stage‑gate decision processes
• Proven ability to develop portfolio metrics, dashboards, multi‑year roadmaps, and executive‑level reporting
• Experience overseeing portfolio‑level risk, interdependencies, and value realization
• Must be able to obtain a TWIC Card

Skills

• Strong analytical and financial acumen, proficiency with SAP, preferred but not required
• Ability to evaluate portfolio‑level value, risk, and trade‑offs
• Excellent organizational, prioritization, and decision‑support skills
• Effective communicator with ability to present to executive leadership
• Ability to influence cross‑functional stakeholders without direct authority
• Strong proficiency in portfolio management tools, Excel, and presentation software

Certifications (Preferred, Not Required)

• Project Management Professional (PMP)
• Lean / Six Sigma (Black Belt or equivalent)