Senior Manager, Project Operations & Administration

VEC; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 160,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Competitive compensation

Job summary

VEC in San Francisco is seeking a hands‑on Senior Manager to lead Finance & Administration during a major ERP transition. You will own the process library, manage a team of seven (3 PA Leads and 4 PAs), and ensure billing integrity across projects while aligning contracts, POs, and change orders with project setup.

This role emphasizes building on existing workflows, training the team, and serving as the operational voice through the transition.

Qualifications

• Owned ERP/system migration end-to-end, not just participation.
• Experience with project accounting, billing configuration, and revenue recognition.
• Direct experience managing staff with performance accountability.
• Built system-specific SOPs and workflows tied to actual screens and fields.
• Ability to drive compliance through documentation and escalation.
• Strong written communication to stand on its own without the author present.

Responsibilities

• Own Billing Integrity: perform monthly review of billable vs invoiced amounts.
• Lead and manage three PA leads and seven staff with performance accountability.
• Own the process library: maintain, audit gaps, update during ERP transition.
• Coordinate cross-functionally with Project Managers and Accounting on billing and documentation.
• Own contracts, POs, change orders tracking; align terms with setup.

Skills

ERP ownership & migration

Billing reconciliation

Staff management

SOPs & documentation

Cross-functional collaboration

Compliance & risk management

Tools

Kantata/Mavenlink

Deltek Vantagepoint/Vision

Unanet

Ajera

BST

Job description

Who We Are

VEC is a leading construction technology services provider at the forefront of innovation in the construction industry, delivering cutting‑edge technology solutions that improve how construction projects are planned, designed, and built. Our mission is to challenge the status quo and reshape the built world so humanity can thrive sustainably.

We partner with contractors, engineers, and developers/owners across the United States and deploy our team of construction and technology professionals across large, complex projects in sectors including Data Centers, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Technology, Education, Transportation, Aviation, Commercial Office Space, and Public Works.

We value our VECommunity, continuous improvement, and helping the best build better.

Our Core Values

• Goodness: Be ethical and do right by yourself, your teammates, and our partners
• Extreme Ownership: We take responsibility and deliver results
• Curiosity: We continuously seek better solutions
• Better Together: Collaboration drives stronger outcomes
• Balance: We support sustainable, long‑term success for our people

Position Overview

This is a hands‑on senior role for someone who has carried out this work before: built the process, knew the system, and trained the team. You will improve and build upon our existing system, not just maintain it.

You will inherit a lean, well‑documented process library and a functional team. Your job is not to invent from scratch. It is to take what works, make it better, and rebuild it for a more complex ERP environment we are currently implementing. You will initially manage a team of seven Project Administrators (PA), including three PA Leads, and your team and role will continue to grow based on business needs. You will own billing integrity review, serve as the functional voice from business operations to the integrations engineer, and ensure the new system is built to support our administration and operational workflows.

This is not a hands‑off oversight role. If you have been the person who actually knew the system, trained the team, caught the billing gap, and fixed the workflow, and you are looking for the next environment to do it in, we want to talk!

At‑a‑Glance

• Department: Finance & Administration
• Reports To: VP of Finance & Administration
• Direct Reports: 3 PA Leads, 4 Project Administrators (indirect)
• Primary Work Location: Either at VEC HQ in San Francisco or our East Bay office in Tracy, CA
• Employment Type: Full‑Time Senior Manager; 4 days/week in the office(s), 1 day remote if desired
• Experience: Proven ownership of project administration, billing reconciliation, and staff performance and management (see Required)

Key Responsibilities

Billing Integrity

• Conduct monthly review of billable fees versus invoiced amounts across the project portfolio
• Identify and root‑cause billing gaps: PA execution issues, missing or incorrect data entry, workflow breakdown, or Project Manager (PM) non‑compliance
• Distinguish between what requires training, what requires a process or SOP change, and what requires PM escalation
• Report findings to VP with clear pattern analysis and recommended corrective action

PA Lead Management

• Directly manage three PA leads and hold performance management for all seven team members (3 PA leads + 4 Project Administrators); the leads coordinate daily work and quality but do not hold performance authority
• Hold PA leads accountable for data accuracy, workflow compliance, and team output quality
• Ensure leads understand not just how to enter data but why it matters, the downstream billing and revenue consequences of errors or omissions
• Serve as the escalation point for issues leads cannot resolve independently
• Train leads on new ERP processes and ensure they can effectively train their team

Process Library Ownership

• Maintain, organize, and improve the existing SOP library: audit for gaps, outdated content, and process inconsistencies
• Update all current processes for the new ERP environment as configuration progresses
• Own workflow documentation standards across the PA function; all work instructions must be system‑specific and actionable

Cross‑Functional Operations

• Communicate with Project Managers regarding documentation, compliance, and billing requirements
• Document non‑compliance and elevate through appropriate channels (PX leadership) with a clear paper trail
• Coordinate with Accounting on billing and AR‑related operational issues

Contract & Commercial Administration

• Own intake, organization, and tracking of contracts, POs, and change orders across the project portfolio
• Ensure alignment between contract terms and project setup: billing structure, rates, and scope
• Establish and maintain processes to track approvals, pending change orders, and contract modifications
• Own administration of insurance requirements, COIs, and client compliance documents; coordinate with brokers and internal stakeholders
• Ensure all commercial and compliance documentation is complete and properly stored before and during project execution
• Does not include contract negotiation or interpretation of legal terms, those remain with leadership and counsel

What Makes This Opportunity Unique

• Our Company, Team, Mission: We challenge the status quo and reshape the way we plan, design, and construct the built world so Humanity can thrive sustainably.
• Real Ownership: You own a process library, a team, a system transition, and a billing function that directly impacts revenue realization.
• Stable Foundation: Well‑documented processes, a functional team, and clear leadership above you; you are improving and building, not rescuing.
• ERP Opportunity: Shape how this function operates for years by being the operational voice through a significant system transition.
• Visible Impact: Lean structure means your work is visible and your contributions are direct, no layers between your effort and its outcome.
• Clear Scope: You will know exactly what you own and what you don’t, no ambiguity about authority or accountability.

Scope Boundaries

• This Role Owns:
  • SOP authorship & process library
  • Billing integrity review & root cause
  • Performance management of all 7 department staff (3 Leads + 4 PAs); hiring & compensation recommendations
  • Contract & commercial administration, COI & compliance
• This Role Does Not Own:
  • ERP system design decisions (VP‑led)
  • ERP technical configuration (integrations engineer)Final billing approval or client disputes
  • Final PA hiring and compensation approval (held by VP Admin & Finance)
  • Contract negotiation or client relationship
  • ERP vendor relationship or IT administration
  • HR, payroll, or financial reporting functions

Required Skills & Qualifications

• Demonstrated ownership, not participation, of the operations side of an ERP or major system migration, carried end to end
• Direct functional experience with a complex, project‑based AEC/professional‑services ERP (Kantata/Mavenlink, Deltek Vantagepoint/Vision, Unanet, Ajera, BST, or equivalent), including project accounting, billing configuration, and revenue recognition
• Personally owned billing reconciliation in a T&M and/or Fixed Fee environment: found the gap, traced the cause, and changed the process, not just flagged it
• Managed staff with real performance accountability: reviews, performance conversations, and holding people to standards, not task coordination
• Built system‑specific SOPs and workflows from scratch, tied to actual system screens, fields, and steps, not conceptual process maps
• Track record of driving compliance without positional authority, influence through documentation and escalation, with a clean paper trail
• Strong written communication; a significant portion of this role's output is documentation that must stand on its own without the author present
• Builder disposition: plans ahead, takes initiative, methodical, has own views and challenges ideas constructively, high integrity

Preferred Skills & Qualifications

• Deeper fluency in AEC Industry project‑financial logic: how a professional‑services firm bills, recognizes revenue, and structures projects
• Experience in a lean administrative structure where you were simultaneously doing, building, and enforcing, not just delegating all execution to a large team
• Background in a firm that operates both T&M and Fixed Fee/Lump Sum project types with distinct billing and revenue recognition treatment
• Exposure to AI/automation tools (Claude, Cowork, or similar) used to build real workflow efficiencies, a signal of curiosity and workflow instinct

Cover Letter Requirement

• Keep the cover letter to a one page maximum.
• Please do not describe your management philosophy, your team’s accomplishments, or your career arc.
• Rather, describe one operational problem you inherited or identified in a project‑based environment, specifically related to billing, project administration, or system workflow, and what you personally did to fix it. Be precise about what was broken, what you did, and what changed.
• Applications without a substantive cover letter addressing this requirement will not be reviewed.

Work Environment: Hybrid -4 days/week in the office(s), 1 day remote if desired; either at VEC HQ in San Francisco or our East Bay office in Tracy, CA

Compensation Range: $160,000–$190,000 + benefits

EEO Statement

VEC is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. In accordance with federal, state, and San Francisco law, VEC does not discriminate in employment because of race, color, religion, creed, sex, national origin, place of birth, ancestry, age, physical and mental disability, marital status, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or related condition, medical condition (associated with cancer, a history of cancer, or genetic characteristics), veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or gender expression, HIV/AIDS status, height, weight, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.