Director of Constuction

Ivanhoe Electric Inc.; Casa Grande (AZ); On-site; USD 180,000 - 320,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Employee benefits package

Job summary

Ivanhoe Electric Inc. in the United States seeks a Director of Construction for the Santa Cruz Copper Project in Arizona. The role leads owner-side construction, translating engineering deliverables into field work and commissioning readiness.

You will oversee safety, schedule, cost, quality, and contractor performance, manage field teams and interfaces, and ensure execution aligns with critical milestones.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Mining Engineering, or related technical discipline.
• 15+ years of construction and project delivery experience on major capital projects.
• Strong knowledge of CPM scheduling, project controls, cost management, and change management.
• Experience leading multiple contractors and complex interfaces.
• Strong safety leadership and adherence to HSE practices.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership for construction execution across the Santa Cruz Project.
• Develop and implement Construction Execution Plan and site logistics.
• Lead organization staffing, responsibilities, and field management processes.
• Direct construction activities across underground development, heavy civil, earthworks, and facilities.
• Ensure plans align with engineering, permits, schedules, and budgets.
• Maintain field presence, resolve issues, and drive schedule progress.
• Lead leadership and governance for safety, quality, and turnover to operations.

Skills

Construction leadership

Project controls

CPM scheduling

HSE management

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering/Mining

Job description

We are a United States-based minerals exploration and development company with a focus on supporting American supply chain independence by finding and delivering copper and other critical metals vital to advanced manufacturing, infrastructure development, technology, and national security.

We use our powerful Typhoon™ geophysical surveying system, together with advanced data analytics provided by our subsidiary, Computational Geosciences Inc., to accelerate and de-risk the mineral exploration process in the search for new deposits of critical metals that may otherwise be undetectable by traditional exploration technologies.

By advancing our portfolio of critical metals exploration projects, headlined by the Santa Cruz Copper Project in Arizona, we intend to contribute to domestic supply by developing resources that support industrial and strategic sectors. We also operate exploration joint ventures and alliances in Saudi Arabia with Maaden, in Chile with Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile ("SQM"), and in the United States with BHP.

We are committed to establishing strong relationships with our local communities and the responsible development of our projects by incorporating best practices for health, safety, and environmental standards, water management, protection of local cultural heritage and biodiversity, and minimizing our environmental footprint.

The Director of Construction is a senior project leadership position responsible for the safe, efficient, and successful execution of construction activities for the Santa Cruz Project. This position provides overall owner-side leadership of construction and is accountable for translating engineering and procurement deliverables into executable field work and ultimately completed, commissioned, and operational facilities.

The Director of Construction will lead the construction organization and provide direct oversight of construction management teams, contractors, consultants, and other project partners. The role is accountable for construction safety, schedule, cost, quality, productivity, constructability, contractor performance, field coordination, and turnover to commissioning and operations.

This position requires a highly experienced construction leader with a demonstrated record of delivering large, complex mining, underground, heavy civil, industrial, or process facility projects. Significant hands‑on field construction leadership experience is essential.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide overall leadership and accountability for construction execution across the Santa Cruz Project.
• Develop and implement the overall Construction Execution Plan, including construction sequencing, contracting strategy, work packaging, site logistics, temporary facilities, laydown areas, access, utilities, and construction infrastructure.
• Establish the construction organization, staffing plan, responsibilities, reporting structure, and field management processes required to execute the project.
• Direct construction activities across underground development, heavy civil, earthworks, concrete, structural steel, mechanical, piping, electrical, instrumentation, infrastructure, utilities, and process facilities.
• Ensure construction activities are properly planned, coordinated, resourced, and executed in accordance with approved engineering, specifications, schedules, budgets, permits, and project standards.
• Maintain a strong field presence and actively engage with construction teams and contractors to identify constraints, resolve issues, and maintain execution momentum.
• Ensure construction priorities are aligned with the overall project critical path and key project milestones.

Engineering & Constructability

• Work closely with Engineering to ensure designs are safe, practical, constructible, cost-effective, and appropriately sequenced for field execution.
• Lead constructability reviews and provide construction input during engineering development.
• Ensure engineering deliverables, drawings, specifications, material take‑offs, and construction work packages are issued in accordance with construction priorities.
• Identify engineering constraints that could impact field execution and drive timely resolution.
• Manage field engineering, technical queries, RFIs, design changes, and construction‑related engineering interfaces.
• Promote modularization, prefabrication, alternative construction methodologies, and other opportunities to improve safety, productivity, cost, and schedule.

Procurement & Contractor Management

• Coordinate closely with Procurement to ensure equipment, materials, construction contracts, and services support the construction schedule.
• Participate in development and review of scopes of work, bid packages, contractor evaluations, commercial evaluations, and contractor selection.
• Ensure construction contracts clearly define scope, deliverables, interfaces, schedule requirements, quality standards, safety expectations, and performance requirements.
• Provide senior‑level oversight of construction contractors and hold contractors accountable for safety, productivity, quality, schedule, staffing, equipment, and contractual performance.
• Ensure contractor Schedule of Values, payment applications, quantity verification, change management, and supporting documentation are aligned with contractual requirements and project controls systems.
• Review contractor execution plans, manpower forecasts, equipment plans, schedules, progress measurement, productivity, and recovery plans.
• Support commercial and contract management activities including change management, claims, variations, contractor performance, and dispute resolution.

Schedule, Cost & Project Controls

• Own construction performance against the approved project schedule, budget, and established project baselines.
• Work closely with Project Controls to establish and maintain the construction WBS, detailed CPM schedules, cost controls, progress measurement, forecasting, productivity metrics, and reporting systems.
• Ensure contractors maintain appropriate project controls and scheduling systems and provide timely, accurate, and auditable schedule, cost, quantity, productivity, and progress data.
• Monitor critical and near‑critical path activities, quantities, earned progress, manpower, equipment utilization, productivity, commitments, and contractor performance.
• Challenge contractor schedules, progress measurement, forecasts, and recovery plans to ensure reported performance accurately reflects physical progress in the field.
• Identify emerging schedule and cost risks and implement mitigation and recovery plans.
• Support construction cost forecasting, cash flow, contingency management, and estimate‑at‑completion.
• Ensure construction changes are identified, evaluated, authorized, documented, and incorporated into project cost and schedule controls.

Health, Safety & Environmental

• Demonstrate visible leadership and establish a strong safety culture across all construction activities.
• Ensure contractors and project personnel comply with project HSE requirements, applicable regulations, permits, and company standards.
• Ensure construction planning incorporates appropriate hazard identification, risk assessment, safe work practices, and critical controls.
• Participate in field safety interactions, inspections, incident reviews, and corrective‑action follow‑up.
• Ensure environmental and permit requirements are integrated into construction planning and execution.

Quality & Construction Assurance

• Establish and maintain effective construction quality assurance and quality control processes.
• Ensure construction complies with approved drawings, specifications, codes, standards, inspection requirements, and CQA/QC plans.
• Ensure appropriate inspection and testing plans are implemented and construction records are maintained.
• Drive timely resolution of non‑conformances, deficiencies, punch‑list items, and quality issues.
• Ensure completed facilities are properly documented and meet requirements for commissioning and final acceptance.

Commissioning, Turnover & Operational Readiness

• Integrate construction planning with commissioning and operational readiness requirements.
• Establish systematic completion, turnover, punch‑list, and handover processes.
• Ensure systems and facilities are completed in the sequence required to support commissioning and startup.
• Coordinate with Commissioning and Operations to ensure safe and orderly transfer of completed facilities.
• Ensure construction documentation, as‑built drawings, quality records, equipment documentation, and turnover packages are complete prior to handover.

Leadership & Stakeholder Management

• Build, lead, mentor, and develop a high‑performing construction organization.
• Establish clear accountability throughout the construction team and contractor organizations.
• Work collaboratively with Engineering, Procurement, Project Controls, Commercial, Environmental, Permitting, Safety, Operations, and other project functions.
• Provide clear and concise construction updates to executive leadership, including progress, risks, decisions required, and mitigation plans.
• Develop productive working relationships with contractors, engineering partners, vendors, regulators, local stakeholders, and other project participants.
• Promote a culture of accountability, collaboration, urgency, transparency, and continuous improvement.

Skills and Experience Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Mining Engineering, or a related technical discipline preferred. Equivalent extensive construction leadership experience may be considered.
• Typically 15+ years of progressively responsible construction and project delivery experience, including significant leadership responsibility on major capital projects.
• Demonstrated experience managing construction schedules, budgets, productivity, progress measurement, forecasts, changes, claims, and contractor performance.
• Knowledge of applicable construction codes, standards, permitting requirements, quality systems, and HSE practices.
• Strong working knowledge of CPM scheduling, project controls, construction cost management, progress measurement, quantity‑based contracting, change management, and contractor payment processes.
• Demonstrated experience managing multiple concurrent construction contractors and work fronts with complex interfaces and competing schedule priorities.

Diversity Statements:

Ivanhoe Electric is an equal opportunity employer that recognizes the value of a diverse workforce. All suitably qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment on the basis of objective criteria and without regard to the following (which is a non‑exhaustive list): race, color, age, religion, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other characteristics in accordance with the relevant governing laws.

The Company offers a professional, entrepreneurial office environment and the opportunity to work alongside and grow with talented colleagues. The Company offers competitive compensation and an employee benefits package.