Director of Capital Engineering/Projects

Ecoservices; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Ecovyst, Inc. is seeking a Director of Capital Engineering/Projects based in Houston with travel. The role leads the enterprise-wide capital project portfolio governance, prioritization, and optimization to maximize business value and efficiency.

You will partner with executive leadership, finance, operations, and platform engineering to balance demand, capacity, risk, and capital efficiency, while delivering transparent governance and executive-ready analyses.

Qualifications

• 10–15 years of experience in capital project management, program management, or portfolio management in industrial/ manufacturing environments.
• Experience in capital portfolio selection, prioritization, and funding allocation.
• Must be able to obtain a TWIC Card.
• MBA or engineering management preferred for senior leadership track.

Responsibilities

• Validate alignment of capital projects with organizational strategies and success measures.
• Oversee portfolio decisions to support long-term objectives and risk tolerance.
• Allocate capital funding across projects per budgets and priorities.
• Develop portfolio-level financial plans and oversee capital spend.
• Track and report expected vs realized benefits at the portfolio level.
• Provide executive-ready analyses and recommendations to leadership.

Skills

Analytical thinking

Financial acumen

Executive communication

Cross-functional influence

Portfolio management

Decision support

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, finance, or related discipline

MBA or engineering management Master’s preferred

Tools

Excel

Presentation software

SAP

Portfolio management tools

Job description

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)