Head of Construction Technology

JDL Search Partners; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

JDL Search Partners is seeking a Head of Construction Technology in Boston to own the ecosystem end-to-end. Reporting to the CTO, you will align strategy with operations, lead a small team, and personally contribute 60-70% hands-on work while guiding 30-40% strategic initiatives.

You will manage platform architecture, governance, security, vendor relationships, and budget, while driving adoption with field teams.

Qualifications

• 8+ years in technology with 3+ years in construction technology, including hands-on platform work.
• Deep expertise with construction platforms, esp. Procore and Autodesk.
• Experience in data governance, security, and privacy for business platforms.
• Construction industry experience with understanding of field operations and preconstruction.

Responsibilities

• Own construction tech strategy and ecosystem roadmap in collaboration with CTO and leaders.
• Personally administer and optimize the stack; lead agile delivery and governance.
• Build trusted partnerships with field teams and drive adoption of digital tools.
• Manage vendor relationships, budget, and security/compliance across systems.

Skills

Hands-on leadership

Strategic thinking

Stakeholder communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Agile delivery

Team coaching

Education

Bachelor's degree in information technology / computer science / engineering / construction management

Tools

Procore

Autodesk products

Cloud platforms

Data governance tools

Job description

Player-Coach | Steward of the Construction Technology Ecosystem and Team

I. Position Title

Head of Construction Technology (Sr. Manager / Director)

II. Position Summary

CM investing in the technology that runs its projects, and we are hiring the person to own that ecosystem end-to-end. Reporting to the CTO, the Head of Construction Technology carries accountability for the strategy, delivery, adoption, and operation of the construction and field technology platforms that support the full project lifecycle, from pursuits and preconstruction through operations and closeout, along with the enterprise applications that surround them.

This is a hands-on leadership role, and we are explicit about that. The Head of Construction Technology will lead a small team, personally administer and configure platforms, build automations, own the system architecture and documentation, and ship improvements that project teams feel in the field. The role also includes hiring and coaching a talent-dense team and growing the function as the business case supports it. Candidates should expect roughly 60-70% hands‑on work and 30-40% strategy, governance, and leadership in the first 18 months, with the mix shifting toward leadership as the team scales. Success in this role is measured in client outcomes, jobsite metrics, and full engagement in the role. The Head of Construction Technology builds trusted partnerships with operations, preconstruction, and business development leaders, drives adoption and value realization on projects, and makes it easier for the people pursuing, planning, and building the work to do their jobs.

III. Key Responsibilities

Strategy and Roadmap

• Own the construction and field technology strategy and ecosystem roadmap, developed with the CTO and functional leaders across operations, preconstruction, pursuits, and business development, and keep it aligned with the evolving company strategy.
• Serve as the subject matter expert in digital technology for the full construction lifecycle, advising leadership on initiatives, emerging tools, and industry direction.
• Evaluate return on technology investments in financial terms, employee effectiveness and efficiency, client experience, and project outcomes. Retire or replace tools that fail to earn their keep.
• Prioritize the technology portfolio and translate business priorities into an actionable delivery backlog, balancing new capabilities with technical debt and platform stability.
• Establish metrics to demonstrate the business impact of construction technology, and report progress candidly to leadership.

Hands-On Delivery and Platform Ownership

• Personally administer, configure, and optimize the construction technology stack, serving as the senior-most escalation point of contact.
• Collaborate to design and maintain system architecture and technical documentation.
• Run delivery with agile discipline: requirements gathering with stakeholders, backlog management, sprint planning, testing, and high-quality releases aligned with business priorities.
• Implement monitoring of platform performance and availability, address issues before they impact project teams, and own incident response for escalated construction technology issues.
• Prototype and validate emerging technologies, including applied AI, before committing spend.

Field Partnership, Adoption, and User Experience

• Build trusted partner relationships with project executives, superintendents, and field teams; spend regular time on jobsites to understand how work gets done.
• Drive adoption and value realization on projects through enablement, training, and workflow design, while upholding a high bar for digital user experience.
• Gather and prioritize technical and functional requirements directly from users and close the loop so the field sees its feedback shipped.
• Champion a culture where technology serves the build, and where project teams view the function as a partner rather than a help desk.

Governance, Security, and Vendor Management

• Establish and enforce data governance for construction platforms (data quality, security, access control, and compliance) in partnership with the Head of Data & Analytics.
• Ensure platforms meet security and privacy standards, coordinating with [IT Security/MSP] on data protection and access management.
• Shepherd changes through architecture and change governance appropriate to scale: lightweight, documented, and consistent.
• Manage strategic and commercial vendor relationships across the ecosystem, overseeing implementations, customizations, and integrations, and influencing vendor product roadmaps to better serve needs.
• Develop and manage the construction technology budget, including licensing, implementation, and cloud spend.

Team Leadership and Operating Model

• Define the roles, hire, and develop a small, talent-dense construction technology team, with a deliberate sequencing plan for which skills to add first.
• Coach through the work: pair on configurations and integrations, review deliverables, set clear accountabilities, and give candid, high-impact feedback.
• Build the operating model for intake, prioritization, and delivery so project teams and functional leaders know how to engage and what to expect.

IV. Qualifications

Knowledge and Experience

• 8+ years in technology roles with 3+ years in construction technology, including recent, demonstrable hands‑on platform and integration work; candidates who have been purely managerial for several years are unlikely to be a fit.
• Deep, current expertise with construction and project delivery platforms, specifically including Procore and Autodesk products; experience across preconstruction, estimating, and field tools is strongly preferred.
• Proven ability to manage the full product lifecycle from concept to deployment, including integrating complex systems and ensuring data flows cleanly between platforms.
• Experience establishing data governance, security, and privacy practices for business platforms, scaled appropriately to organization size.
• Experience with agile delivery: sprint planning, backlog management, and user story development.
• Experience managing vendor commercial relationships strategically through the procurement lifecycle.
• Construction industry experience is required; time spent on jobsites and fluency in how projects are pursued, planned, and built.

Skills and Attributes

• A genuine player-coach temperament; finds energy in both shipping work personally and making a small team better and can move between the two daily without dropping either.
• A people‑first, hands‑on leadership style that develops and motivates a high‑performing, collaborative team.
• Able to communicate technical concepts to field and executive audiences alike, and to sell ideas at all levels of the company.
• Pragmatism about scope: comfortable being the architect, the administrator, and the leader in the same week, and honest about trade-offs when capacity is constrained.
• Builder's bias toward action; delivers value incrementally and lets adoption, rather than ceremony, prove the roadmap.
• High standards for documentation, security, and operational discipline, applied with judgment.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in information technology, computer science, engineering, construction management, or a related field, and/or equivalent practical experience.