Senior Project Manager

Ayres; Saint Paul (MN); On-site; USD 115,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision insurance

401K with company match

PTO and holidays with floating days

Flexible work schedule

ESOP

Job summary

Ayres is seeking a confident Senior Project Manager to lead and manage projects from concept to completion within our Engineering Services Group in Saint Paul, MN. You will guide project teams, maintain strong client relationships, and ensure delivery on time and within budget for municipal, state, federal, and private clients.

The role combines strategic leadership with hands-on problem solving, leveraging our experienced staff in Eau Claire and St.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field or project management.
• 10+ years of experience in engineering consulting with at least 5 years in project management.
• Proven ability to monitor budgets and manage multiple projects with multidisciplinary teams.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and client management skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead engineering projects from concept to completion.
• Build trusted client relationships and uncover opportunities to add value.
• Manage project delivery phases: initiating, planning, execution, monitoring, and closing.
• Ensure contracts and quality standards are met while delivering within financial metrics.
• Develop project plans with resources and time estimates.
• Identify and mitigate project risks and address challenges.
• Drive delivery innovation through new technologies and sustainable practices.
• Serve as primary client contact and coordinate with internal and external stakeholders.
• Support business development through proposals, estimates, presentations, and marketing materials.
• Negotiate contracts and change orders within established limits.
• Identify and pursue new project opportunities with existing and prospective clients.
• Provide supervision or mentoring for less experienced project managers.
• Champion accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Skills

Project management

Client management

Budget management

Communication

Negotiation

Leadership

Risk management

PM software proficiency

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field

Tools

Microsoft Project

Primavera P6

PM software

Job description

We are seeking a confident and motivatedSenior Project Managerto lead and manage projects of varying scope and complexity within our Engineering Services Group. This role will be responsible for managing client relationships, directing project teams, and ensuring successful delivery of projects on time and within budget.The ideal candidate will be both a strategic leader and a hands-on problem solver with proven experience working in engineering consulting and successfully delivering projects.

As an Ayres Project Manager, you will work closely with our highly experienced municipal and site engineering staff in our Eau Claire, Wisconsin and St. Paul, Minnesota office to deliver technically sound, sustainable solutions to municipal, state, federal, and private-sector clients.

Join Ayres - a USA TODAY Top Workplace recognized in both 2025 and 2026 - where people-first leadership, collaboration, and professional growth create an environment where great teams do their best work.

On any given day, you'll:

• Lead engineering projects from concept to completion, ensuring technical excellence and client satisfaction.
• Act as a strategic partner to clients, building trusted relationships and uncovering opportunities to add value.
• Manage the phases of project delivery: initiating, planning, execution, monitoring & control, and closing.
• Oversee project execution, ensuring compliance with contracts and quality standards, and delivering projects within defined financial performance metrics.
• Partner closely with technical leads to develop a project plan that identifies the resources and time needed to successfully deliver the scope of work.
• Identify and mitigate project risks, proactively addressing challenges and developing mitigation strategies.
• Drive project delivery innovation through new technologies, ways of working, sustainable practices, and creative solutions.
• Serve as primary client contact and coordinate with internal experts and external stakeholders.
• Support business development, including proposals, fee estimates, presentations, and marketing materials.
• Negotiate contracts and change orders within established limits.
• Identify and pursue new project opportunities with existing and prospective clients.
• Provide supervision or mentoring for less experienced project managers.
• Champion accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement across teams.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in a related field (i.e., engineering or closely related discipline) or project management.
• 10+ years of experience in engineering consulting, with at least 5 years in project management role.
• Proven ability to independently monitor project budgets to a successful outcome and manage multiple projects and lead multidisciplinary teams.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and client management skills, including experience developing and maintaining clients and obtaining new and repeat work.
• Strong technical writing and verbal communication skills.
• Proficiency in project management tools and software.
• Valid driver's license and good driving record.

Desired skills and experiences:

• Professional registration in related discipline (i.e., PE, PG, PLA, CFM, CEM) or project management (i.e., PMP, PgMP).
• Progressive experience managing engineering projects, with the ability to create and maintain working relationships with clients, funding partners and permitting agencies.

Benefits of being part of the Ayres team:

• Health, dental, and vision Insurance.
• Short and long-term disability and life insurance.
• Employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) and 401K with company match.
• PTO, paid holidays including two floating holidays, and a flexible work schedule.

Our good-faith compensation approach is fair and equitable, and takes into consideration only permissible factors including, but not limited to, market data, education, training, skills, and experience, and geographic location where the work is performed. A salary range for this posting is $115000 - $160000. The foregoing salary range represents what the company believes, in good-faith, it will pay for the posted opportunity. The individual selected for this role will be evaluated with the compensation factors in mind and placed appropriately.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws.For further information, please review the Know Your Rights notice from the Department of Labor.