Senior Construction Claims Coordinator

Gateway Development Commission (GDC); New Jersey; On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Prescription, Dental, Vision

Flexible Spending Accounts

Life Insurance

401(a) Retirement Plan

457(b) Retirement Plan

Earned Vacation & Sick Time

Paid Holidays

Job summary

Gateway Development Commission (GDC) seeks an experienced Senior Construction Claims Coordinator to analyze claims, evaluate entitlements, and manage change processes on the Hudson Tunnel Project. The role reports to the Chief Engineer and coordinates internal staff and external stakeholders across design and construction phases.

The candidate will lead claims strategy, assist in risk mitigation, and ensure adherence to change control procedures within a federally scrutinized program

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering, Construction Management, or related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience as a construction professional.
• PE license or JD with construction focus preferred.
• Experience with tunneling or major infrastructure projects preferred.
• Ability to interpret complex technical specifications and evaluate field conditions.

Responsibilities

• Lead claims strategy, analysis, and negotiation for major construction contracts.
• Coordinate with GDC departments and external stakeholders to evaluate change requests and entitlement positions.
• Support risk assessment and mitigation within a federally scrutinized environment.
• Assist in dispute resolution, contract interpretation, and lessons learned during procurement and project delivery.
• Contribute to program-wide compliance with change control processes and audit expectations.

Skills

Claims analysis

Change management

Risk assessment

Schedule analysis

Multidisciplinary collaboration

Technical interpretation

Education

Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering or Construction Management

Tools

Primavera P6

Microsoft Excel

Job description

The Gateway Development Commission (GDC) is seeking an experienced professional to serve as Senior Construction Claims Coordinator to support claims analysis, entitlement evaluation, and change management activities on the Hudson Tunnel Project (HTP). This role reports directly to the Chief Engineer (CE) and supports the management of engineering changes, claims, and dispute resolution across both the design and construction phases of the program.

The selected individual will coordinate internal GDC staff and external stakeholders to ensure that all changes and claims are identified, evaluated, tracked, and resolved in accordance with program procedures and requirements. Additionally, this role will support participation in the program's ongoing risk assessment process and will assist the CE in risk avoidance and mitigation measures.

Essential Functions

• Support the application of claims, contracts, and changing management expertise on major construction and engineering contracts in coordination with GDC's Change Control Committee to implement GDC's change control processes, while independently leading claims strategy, analysis, and negotiation, as well as preparation of formal notice letters and responses;
• Assist in the implementation and coordination of plan of action associated with change conditions such as unforeseen conditions, delays or interferences, interpretation of specifications, changes during the design phase or proposed by outside stakeholders, value engineering proposals, breaches of implied warranty, schedule acceleration, and extensions of time;
• Coordinate with other GDC departments, including construction management, project controls, and contract administration teams to evaluate change requests, support development and documentation of entitlement positions, support negotiations, and ensure adherence to defined change control processes and audit expectations in politically sensitive, federally scrutinized environments, including without limitation, supporting schedule analysis when considering directed acceleration schedules, directed recovery schedules, time related claims, and time impact analysis procedures, etc;
• Assist the CE, GDC Procurement, and other project stakeholders in administering existing construction and design contracts with regards to any changes/claims and contributing to lessons learned and commercial risk insights during the procurement phase;
• Assist the CE, GDC Procurement, and GDC Legal in resolving potential disputes arising from the existing construction and engineering services contracts, including supporting dispute response, contract interpretation, and coordination with internal teams and external partners;
• Perform any other related duties or responsibilities as assigned by the Chief Engineer and/or Chief of Program Delivery.

Job Requirements

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering, Construction Management, or a related field
• Minimum of 5 years of experience as a construction professional (e.g., Project Engineer, Field Engineer, Assistant Resident Engineer, or similar).
• Technical Knowledge: Working knowledge of tunneling, geotechnical baseline reports (GBR), and heavy civil construction. Must be able to interpret complex technical specifications and evaluate field conditions against contractual baselines.
• Experience resolving engineering design and construction changes and dispute resolution.
• Strong understanding of construction contracts, scheduling, and cost analysis.
• Ability to review and interpret technical, schedule, and cost information.
• Excellent coordination and communication skills, with the ability to work across multidisciplinary teams.
• Tunneling or other major infrastructure project experience is preferred.
• Professional Engineer (PE) license or Juris Doctor (JD) with a focus on construction law is preferred.
• Software Proficiency: Working proficiency in Primavera P6 for forensic schedule auditing and Microsoft Excel for quantum modeling is preferred.
• Medical, Prescription, Dental, Vision Benefits subject to employee contributions
• Medical and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
• Life Insurance
• 401(a) Retirement Plan (6% of employee's salary funded by GDC)
• 457(b) Retirement Plan - (Roth or Pre-Tax Salary Contributions Elected by Employees)
• Earned Vacation (20 days per year) and Sick Time (12 days per year)
• Paid holidays

Project Background

The Hudson Tunnel Project (HTP) is the most urgent passenger rail infrastructure project in America.It involves constructing a nine miles of new passenger rail track, including a new two-track tunnel under the Hudson River connecting New Jersey to New York Penn Station, and the full rehabilitation of the existing 116-year-old North River Tunnel. The project will create operational flexibility and rail network redundancy to finally deliver reliable transportation to hundreds of thousands of daily commuters.

The HTP is the cornerstone of the Gateway Program, a comprehensive rail investment program that will modernize rail travel and create new capacity for the most congested section of the Northeast Corridor.

The Gateway Development Commission (GDC) is the bi-state public authority charged with delivering the HTP. GDC is governed by a seven-member Board appointed by Amtrak, New Jersey, and the New York State Department of Transportation. GDC works in partnership with Amtrak, NJ TRANSIT, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The Gateway Development Commission is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and administers all personnel practices without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, protected veteran status or military status, or any other category protected under applicable law. We encourage qualified people from all backgrounds to apply.