Director of Operations

United Services Group; Charlotte (NC); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

United Services Group seeks a Director of Operations to lead project execution across our specialty welding, mechanical construction, prefabrication, machining, and industrial field-service operations. This senior role demands deep experience in estimating, staffing, mobilizing, executing, and delivering profitable industrial work.

You’ll guide bids across lump-sum, unit-rate, time-and-material, and managed-task models, translate bid assumptions into budgets, and drive safety, quality, schedule,

Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive industrial construction or operations leadership experience.
• Strong background in piping, welding, mechanical construction, fabrication.
• Experience leading field operations in both union and non-union environments.
• Ability to read drawings, specifications, scopes of work, schedules, and bid documents.
• Solid financial acumen and understanding of project profitability, margins and forecasting.

Responsibilities

• Lead project execution across project managers, supervision, field crews, fabrication ops, and operations support.
• Own operational performance across safety, quality, schedule, productivity, customer satisfaction, and profitability.
• Involve in estimating on piping, welding, prefabrication, mechanical installation, and industrial service bids.
• Review labor hours, productivity assumptions, and resource requirements; align execution plans with budgets.
• Drive bids across lump-sum, unit-rate, time-and-material, and other models; translate bid assumptions into budgets and manpower plans.

Skills

Project leadership

Estimating

Industrial operations

Piping & welding

Field operations

Job description

United Services Group is seeking a Director of Operations to lead project execution across our specialty welding, mechanical construction, prefabrication, machining, and industrial field-service operations.

This is a senior operational leadership role for someone who understands how industrial work is estimated, staffed, mobilized, executed, and delivered profitably.

The ideal candidate will bring deep experience in piping, welding, mechanical construction, fabrication, field operations, and project leadership, along with the commercial judgment to help evaluate and develop bids across lump-sum, unit-rate, time-and-material, managed-task, and supplemental-labor models.

What You’ll Lead

• Lead project execution across project managers, supervision, field crews, fabrication operations, and operations support.
• Own operational performance across safety, quality, schedule, productivity, customer satisfaction, and profitability.
• Be actively involved in Estimating on piping, welding, prefabrication, mechanical installation, and industrial service bids.
• Review labor hours, productivity assumptions, crew composition, weld and pipe quantities, prefabrication strategy, schedule, equipment requirements, and execution risk.
• Support development and review of lump-sum, unit-rate, time-and-material, managed-task, and supplemental-labor estimates.
• Ensure estimates reflect how the work will actually be executed in the field.
• Translate bid assumptions into clear project budgets, manpower plans, productivity targets, schedules, and execution plans.
• Conduct regular project reviews to identify margin erosion, productivity issues, resource needs, change opportunities, and corrective actions.
• Own project profitability, including labor performance, gross margin, change orders, rework, equipment utilization, and field efficiency.
• Provide oversight of fabrication operations and improve coordination between shop and field execution.
• Build and develop strong supervision and field leadership.
• Establish practical operating disciplines, project reviews, and accountability processes that support consistent execution as the business grows.
• Partner with Business Development on customer meetings, site walks, proposal reviews, strategic pursuits, and larger managed mechanical opportunities.

What We’re Looking For

• 10+ years of progressive industrial construction, operations, project management, estimating, or related leadership experience.
• Strong background in piping, specialty welding, mechanical construction, fabrication, and industrial services.
• Significant experience developing or reviewing mechanical estimates, including pipe, welding, fabrication, and field-installation scopes.
• Strong understanding of labor-hour development, productivity, unit-rate work, lump-sum projects, managed-task work, and time-and-material execution.
• Ability to read and interpret drawings, specifications, scopes of work, schedules, and bid documents.
• Demonstrated experience leading field operations in both union and non-union environments.
• Strong financial acumen and understanding of project profitability, margin performance, forecasting, and change management.
• Experience in Power Generation, Data Centers, Advanced Manufacturing / Semiconductor, or Industrial Process & Manufacturing.

The Right Leader

We are looking for a hands‑on operations leader who can move comfortably between a bid review, project-performance meeting, fabrication shop, jobsite, and customer conference room.

This person should understand how the work is estimated, how it gets executed, where projects gain or lose margin, and how strong field leadership and disciplined execution drive results.

Reports to: President

United Services Group. Trusted When It Matters Most.