Project Manager

American Electric Power; Columbus (OH); On-site; USD 102,000 - 138,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Base salary

Annual bonus

401K match

AEP Pension

Comprehensive benefits package

Job summary

American Electric Power in Columbus, OH seeks a Project Manager to lead customer‑facing capital and infrastructure projects. You will drive planning, budgeting, risk management, and stakeholder engagement to deliver on time, within budget, and with high customer satisfaction.

The role emphasizes safety, collaboration, and continuous improvement across engineering, procurement, construction, and operations. You will manage relationships with customers and business partners, ensuring requirements

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience as required by the business unit.
• Valid state driver’s license is required.
• Experience with project management in utility or infrastructure settings is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead or support planning, execution, monitoring, and closeout of customer‑facing projects.
• Serve as primary customer interface ensuring proactive communication and exceptional experience.
• Develop and maintain relationships with customers, teams, contractors, and suppliers.

Skills

Customer relationship management

Project leadership

Stakeholder management

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Business, Project Management, Computer Science, or related field

Associate’s degree in the same disciplines

High School Diploma/GED

Job description

Job Posting End Date

08-24-2026

Please note the job posting will close on the day before the posting end date

Job Summary

Manage and lead base, intermediate, and complex customer-facing projects in a matrix team environment. Provide leadership, direction, coordination, and effective communication to initiate, plan, execute, monitor, control, and close projects safely, efficiently, economically, and with a strong focus on customer outcomes.

The Project Manager serves as the primary point of contact for customers throughout the project lifecycle, ensuring an exceptional customer experience while delivering projects on schedule, within budget, and to agreed quality standards. This role requires strong relationship management skills and the ability to work directly with commercial, industrial, utility, data center, and infrastructure customers in a competitive market environment.

The successful candidate will build trusted relationships with customers, contractors, suppliers, and internal stakeholders while continuously improving project delivery processes, enhancing customer satisfaction, and supporting the growth of AEP's infrastructure and energy services business.

Job Description

What You'll Do:

• Lead or support the planning, execution, monitoring, and closeout of customer-facing capital, construction, infrastructure, and energy-related projects.

• Serve as a primary customer interface, ensuring proactive communication, issue resolution, and an exceptional customer experience throughout project execution.

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with customers, project teams, contractors, suppliers, vendors, and business partners.

• Ensure customer requirements, expectations, and business objectives are understood and incorporated into project plans and execution strategies.

• Conduct project planning activities including scope development, scheduling, budgeting, resource planning, risk management, and stakeholder engagement.

• Coordinate project activities across engineering, procurement, construction, operations, supply chain, and commercial functions.

• Support and hold employees and contractors accountable for the AEP System Safety Process and a culture focused on Zero Harm.

• Effectively communicate project status, risks, opportunities, schedule performance, budget performance, and customer concerns to stakeholders.

• Lead customer meetings, project reviews, planning sessions, and project progress updates.

• Provide clear and concise written and verbal communications to customers, management, project teams, and executive leadership.

• Act on behalf of senior project leadership when required.

• Identify and implement continuous improvement opportunities that enhance project delivery performance and customer satisfaction.

• Support business growth initiatives by identifying opportunities to strengthen customer relationships and expand services.

• Develop and manage procurement plans for external resources, equipment, materials, and specialized services.

• Assist with or lead RFP development, bid evaluations, contract negotiations, contractor management, and vendor performance reviews.

• Ensure project objectives are achieved safely, efficiently, and in alignment with customer commitments.

• Conduct project closeout activities, including lessons learned, customer feedback reviews, benefit realization assessments, and project performance evaluations.

• Support the implementation of AEP project management standards, procedures, and best practices.

Customer Experience Focus

The Project Manager is expected to:

• Serve as a customer advocate while balancing project scope, schedule, cost, quality, and risk.

• Deliver a best-in-class customer experience from project award through project completion.

• Build long-term customer relationships that promote repeat business and customer loyalty.

• Anticipate customer needs and proactively address concerns before they impact project outcomes.

• Maintain a high level of responsiveness, professionalism, and accountability in all customer interactions.

• Develop a thorough understanding of customer operations, business drivers, and project objectives.

• Contribute to the growth of AEP's competitive services business through superior project execution and customer satisfaction.

What We're Looking For:

Project Manager (Grade7):

Bachelor's degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Business, Project Management, Computer Science, or related field of study dependent upon business unit requirements with three (3) years qualified experience, two-year Associate’s degree in the same required disciplines with five (5) years of qualified experience, or High School Diploma/GED with seven (7) years qualified experience (see below).

Three (3) years of qualified experience as a PROJECT MANAGER ASSOCIATE (Grade 6) as applicable is preferred, OR demonstrated competencies, knowledge, and skillset through achieved results in a shorter timeline.

Project Manager (Grade 8):

Bachelor's degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Business, Project Management, Computer Science, or related field of study dependent upon business unit requirements with five (5) years qualified experience, two-year Associate’s degree in the same required disciplines with seven (7) years of qualified experience, or High School Diploma/GED with nine (9) years qualified experience (see below).

Five (5) years of qualified experience as a PROJECT MANAGER as applicable is preferred, OR demonstrated competencies, knowledge, and skillset through achieved results in a shorter timeline.

Project Manager (Grade 9):

Bachelor's degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Business, Project Management, Computer Science, or related field of study dependent upon business unit requirements with seven (7) years qualified experience, two-year Associate’s degree in the same required disciplines with nine (9) years of qualified experience, or High School Diploma/GED with eleven (11) years qualified experience (see below).

Seven (7) years of qualified experience as a PROJECT MANAGER as applicable is preferred, OR demonstrated competencies, knowledge, and skillset through achieved results in a shorter timeline.

Preferred Experience

Qualified experience may include:

• Utility infrastructure projects

• Transmission and distribution projects

• Substation construction or modernization

• Commercial and industrial construction

• Data center infrastructure projects

• Energy services projects

• Large capital projects

• Outage management activities

• Construction management

• Project controls and estimating

• Procurement and contract administration

• Customer-facing project delivery roles

• EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) project management

Preferred qualifications:

• PMP Certification
• Experience working directly with commercial, industrial, utility, or data center customers
• Experience in competitive infrastructure, construction, or energy service markets

Required:

• Valid state driver's license

Other Must-Haves

• Demonstrate strong customer relationship management and customer service skills.

• Develop trusted advisor relationships with customers and stakeholders.

• Effectively manage customer expectations while balancing safety, cost, schedule, quality, and risk.

• Possess strong business acumen with the ability to understand customer objectives and project value drivers.

• Lead teams in a collaborative, results-oriented environment.

• Demonstrate strong negotiation, conflict resolution, and problem-solving skills.

• Apply strategic thinking and risk management principles to project execution.

• Foster accountability, teamwork, and continuous improvement.

• Maintain a strong commitment to safety, ethics, integrity, and operational excellence.

• Support AEP's growth objectives by delivering projects that create outstanding customer experiences and strengthen customer relationships.

• Travel typically 25% or less; additional travel may be required to support customer projects and business needs.

Where You'll Work:

• On-Site in the AEP Headquarters in Columbus, OH

What You'll Get:

• Base salary

• Annual bonus

• 401K match

• AEP Pension

• Comprehensive benefits package that aims to support and enhance the overall well-being of our employees.

Where Putting the Customer First Powers Everything We Do!

At AEP, we’re more than just an energy company — we’re a team of dedicated professionals committed to delivering safe, reliable, and innovative energy solutions. Guided by our mission to put the customer first, we strive to exceed expectations by listening, responding, and continuously improving the way we serve our communities. If you're passionate about making a meaningful impact and being part of a forward-thinking organization, this is the company for you!

Compensation Data

Compensation Grade:

SP20-7

Compensation Range:

$87,633.00 - $151,132.50

The Physical Demand Level for this job is: L – Light Work: Exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally and/or 10 to 12 pounds of force frequently, and/or greater than negligible up to 5-6 pounds of force constantly to move objects. Physical demand requirements are in excess of those for sedentary work. Even though the weight lifted may be only a negligible amount, a job should be rated Light Work: (1) When it requires walking or standing to a significant degree; or (2) when it requires sitting most of the time, but entails pushing and/or pulling of arm or leg c ontrols; and/or (3) when the job requires working at a production rate pace entailing the constant pushing and/or pulling of materials even though the amount of force exerted is negligible

It is hereby reaffirmed that it is the policy of American Electric Power (AEP) to provide Equal Employment Opportunity in all respects of the employer-employee relationship including recruiting, hiring, upgrading and promotion, conditions and privileges of employment, company sponsored training programs, educational assistance, social and recreational programs, compensation, benefits, transfers, discipline, layoffs and termination of employment to all employees and applicants without discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, veteran or military status, disability, genetic information, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law. When required by law, we might record certain information or applicants for employment may be invited to voluntarily disclose protected characteristics.