Net Zero Program Lead - Decarbonization Portfolio

Cushman & Wakefield; New York (NY); On-site; USD 145,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Vision insurance

Dental insurance

Retirement savings plan

Paid time off

Job summary

Cushman & Wakefield in New York, NY is seeking a Net Zero Program Manager Lead to shape decarbonization roadmaps and manage a portfolio of Net Zero projects across multiple sites.

You will collaborate with Account Executives, client leaders, project teams and Sustainability specialists to move initiatives from concept through implementation and verified results. This role requires strong governance, data-driven reporting, and the ability to drive decisions with executive stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, construction or related field.
• Seven+ years of experience in program management, Net Zero, energy or decarbonization.
• Strong command of scope, schedule, budget, forecasting, risk, governance and reporting.
• Ability to develop decarbonization roadmaps and translate strategy into executable projects.
• Experience creating integrated schedules, budgets, dashboards and decision-ready reporting.
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams in a matrixed org without direct authority.
• Excellent analytical, communication and client-service skills; senior stakeholder engagement.
• Advanced Excel and PowerPoint; experience with enterprise PM platforms.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day management of a portfolio of Net Zero projects across multiple sites.
• Translate program objectives into defined scopes, work plans, milestones, ownership, and measurable outcomes.
• Maintain the integrated program roadmap, master schedule, governance calendar, and project pipeline.
• Establish meeting cadences, decision rights, escalation paths, and accountability across internal teams and service partners.
• Drive action-item closure, resolve cross-project dependencies, and escalate decisions that require executive direction.
• Manage schedule baselines, critical-path activities, milestones, resource constraints, and recovery plans across the portfolio.
• Maintain program-level visibility into approved budgets, commitments, actuals, forecasts, variances, and future funding needs.
• Partner with finance, procurement, and project teams to reconcile cost information and support annual and multi-year capital planning.
• Maintain risk, issue, assumption, dependency, decision, and change logs with clear owners, due dates, and mitigation actions.
• Apply change control to material changes in scope, schedule, budget, or expected outcomes and elevate variances with recommended corrective actions.
• Produce standardized weekly and monthly reporting on schedule, cost, milestones, risks, decisions, and program performance.
• Develop executive dashboards and governance materials that convert detailed project information into concise, actionable insights.
• Define and maintain program KPIs for project delivery, capital deployment, energy, emissions, savings, and other agreed outcomes.
• Coordinate source-data collection and validation across project, sustainability, engineering, finance, and data teams.
• Serve as a Net Zero subject-matter lead for Account Executives and client stakeholders, advising on decarbonization pathways, building systems, electrification, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and emissions-reduction priorities.
• Own and maintain the portfolio decarbonization roadmap, including asset-level opportunities, equipment-replacement strategies, capital requirements, implementation timing, and expected energy and carbon outcomes.
• Establish evaluation and prioritization criteria that balance carbon impact, financial performance, operational needs, asset strategy, regulatory requirements, and delivery readiness.
• Guide initiatives from opportunity identification through feasibility, business case, approval, design, procurement, implementation, commissioning, measurement and verification, and closeout.
• Partner with engineering and technical specialists to validate assumptions and ensure projects meet agreed scope, schedule, budget, quality, and performance requirements.

Skills

Program management

Net Zero strategy

Stakeholder management

Risk management

Cross-functional leadership

Analytical skills

Executive reporting

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field

Tools

Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

Cushman & Wakefield in New York, NY is seeking a Net Zero Program Manager Lead to shape decarbonization roadmaps and manage a portfolio of Net Zero projects across multiple sites.

You will collaborate with Account Executives, client leaders, project teams and Sustainability specialists to move initiatives from concept through implementation and verified results. This role requires strong governance, data-driven reporting, and the ability to drive decisions with executive stakeholders.