Senior Project Manager - Utility Scale Solar and BESS - Austin Hybrid

Leap29; Austin (TX); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Leap29 seeks a Senior Project Manager to lead commercial, financial, scheduling, contractual, and administrative management for utility-scale renewable energy projects from execution through closeout. The role collaborates with the Construction Manager to control budgets, schedules, and governance.

The position requires coordinating diverse stakeholders across development, procurement, finance, legal, and operations, with proactive risk management and strong communication skills.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Business, Project Management, or a related discipline.
• Minimum of five years' relevant project management experience within utility-scale renewable energy, energy storage, construction, infrastructure, or a comparable project environment.
• Demonstrable experience managing project budgets, schedules, forecasts, and cost controls.
• Experience working with EPC contractors and/or major construction subcontractors.
• Practical understanding of construction-phase project delivery and commercial administration.
• Experience managing changes, variations, claims, and contractual issues.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of projects as they transition from pre-construction into the execution phase.
• Review project handover information, including commercial documentation, contracts, approved budgets, schedules, assumptions, and relevant project records.
• Validate the initial project baseline and establish appropriate systems for tracking cost, schedule, risk, and performance.
• Set up project reporting structures, documentation, meeting schedules, and governance processes.
• Support project mobilisation and participate in initial project and construction kick-off activities.
• Establish clear responsibilities, deliverables, milestones, and communication channels across the project team.

Skills

Project management

Stakeholder coordination

Contract administration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering/Construction Management/Business

Tools

Primavera P6

Microsoft Project

Excel

PowerPoint

Job description

Senior Project Manager – Utility-Scale Renewable Energy & Energy Storage

Location: Austin – Hybrid

Our client is an established organisation operating within the renewable energy and infrastructure sector, developing and delivering large-scale clean energy projects for the electricity grid.

They are seeking an experienced Senior Project Manager to take responsibility for the commercial, financial, scheduling, contractual, and administrative management of utility-scale renewable energy projects throughout the construction phase.

The role begins when a project transitions from development/pre-construction into execution and continues through construction, commissioning, commercial operation, and closeout.

The Senior Project Manager will work closely with the field-based Construction Manager, who is responsible for day-to-day site activities. While the Construction Manager leads physical project execution, the Senior Project Manager provides overall project management leadership, maintaining control of the budget, schedule, contracts, reporting, risks, and key stakeholder relationships.

The successful candidate will be expected to:

• Take direct ownership of project performance rather than simply monitoring activity.
• Manage budgets, schedules, contracts, commercial matters, and reporting with a high degree of independence.
• Work effectively where processes may continue to evolve as the organisation grows.
• Coordinate multiple internal and external stakeholders and ensure actions remain aligned with project objectives.
• Establish effective communication between development, construction, procurement, commercial, finance, legal, and project teams.
• Identify potential problems early and take a proactive approach to resolving issues.

Key Responsibilities

Project Transition & Execution Planning

• Take ownership of projects as they transition from pre-construction into the execution phase.
• Review project handover information, including commercial documentation, contracts, approved budgets, schedules, assumptions, and relevant project records.
• Validate the initial project baseline and establish appropriate systems for tracking cost, schedule, risk, and performance.
• Set up project reporting structures, documentation, meeting schedules, and governance processes.
• Support project mobilisation and participate in initial project and construction kick-off activities.
• Establish clear responsibilities, deliverables, milestones, and communication channels across the project team.

Project Schedule Management

• Maintain overall responsibility for the master project schedule throughout execution.
• Work with the Construction Manager and relevant contractors to incorporate site progress and forecast information into the overall schedule.
• Monitor actual performance against approved baselines and identify emerging delays or critical-path issues.
• Assess the schedule implications of design changes, procurement issues, contractor performance, unforeseen site conditions, and other project developments.
• Coordinate the development and monitoring of recovery plans where project milestones are at risk.
• Ensure key contractual and commercial milestones are reflected accurately within the project schedule.

Budget & Cost Control

• Maintain ownership of the project budget and overall cost-management process.
• Monitor committed and forecast expenditure against the approved project budget.
• Prepare regular cost forecasts, variance analyses, and financial reports.
• Identify potential cost overruns and work with the wider project team to develop appropriate mitigation measures.
• Review contractor applications for payment, invoices, and supporting documentation.
• Coordinate assessment and approval of project changes and associated costs.
• Maintain visibility of contingency, commitments, forecast final costs, and other key financial metrics.

EPC & Contract Administration

• Manage the commercial and administrative aspects of EPC agreements and significant project subcontracts during execution.
• Monitor contractor obligations, milestones, deliverables, notices, and other contractual requirements.
• Review contractual correspondence, requests for information, technical submissions, change requests, and other project documentation from a cost and schedule perspective.
• Work with commercial, contracts, and legal colleagues on contract interpretation and administration.
• Support the assessment, negotiation, and resolution of variations, change orders, claims, and other commercial matters.
• Ensure agreed contractual commitments remain aligned with the project's approved scope, budget, and schedule.
• Maintain appropriate records to support commercial decisions and future claims or dispute resolution where required.

Leadership & Stakeholder Reporting

• Act as a central point of contact for internal stakeholders regarding project progress, financial performance, schedule, risks, and key issues.
• Provide clear and concise updates to senior management and project leadership.
• Produce regular project reports, dashboards, forecasts, and management presentations.
• Coordinate milestone reviews, governance meetings, and project stage assessments.
• Translate detailed construction and commercial information into clear business-level reporting.
• Maintain visibility of project commitments made during development, contracting, and execution.
• Ensure significant risks, delays, cost movements, and contractual matters are communicated promptly.
• Work alongside procurement and project teams to coordinate delivery of major equipment and materials.
• Ensure procurement and logistics activities remain aligned with the construction programme.
• Monitor supplier commitments, delivery dates, and potential impacts on project execution.
• Identify and escalation risks associated with late deliveries, supplier performance, logistics constraints, or equipment availability.
• Coordinate with contractors and suppliers where procurement issues have the potential to affect cost or schedule.

Risk, Issues & Change Management

• Establish and maintain a comprehensive project risk and issues register.
• Identify emerging commercial, financial, contractual, procurement, construction, and schedule risks.
• Ensure appropriate owners and mitigation actions are assigned to material risks.
• Work closely with the Construction Manager and wider project team to resolve execution issues.
• Monitor the effectiveness of mitigation and recovery measures.
• Escalate material issues appropriately and ensure decisions and actions are documented.
• Assess the impact of proposed changes on scope, cost, schedule, contractual obligations, and project objectives.

Project Completion & Closeout

• Coordinate the administrative and commercial closeout of projects following completion and commissioning.
• Manage outstanding change orders, final accounts, retainage, warranties, and other contractual closeout requirements.
• Ensure project documentation is complete and appropriately archived.
• Coordinate the transition of completed assets into the relevant operational or asset-management function.
• Support the capture and dissemination of lessons learned.
• Contribute to improving project-management processes and practices for future developments.

Additional Responsibilities

• Produce routine and ad-hoc management information as required.
• Support special projects and other business priorities where appropriate.
• Undertake other duties reasonably associated with the position.

Required Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Business, Project Management, or a related discipline.
• Minimum of five years' relevant project management experience within utility-scale renewable energy, energy storage, construction, infrastructure, or a comparable project environment.
• Demonstrable experience managing project budgets, schedules, forecasts, and cost controls.
• Experience working with EPC contractors and/or major construction subcontractors.
• Practical understanding of construction-phase project delivery and commercial administration.
• Experience managing changes, variations, claims, and contractual issues.
• Ability to coordinate multiple stakeholders across technical, commercial, construction, procurement, finance, and legal functions.
• PMP certification would be advantageous.
• Must have existing legal authorisation to work in the United States.

Technical Skills & Professional Capabilities

The successful candidate is likely to demonstrate:

• Strong knowledge of EPC contracting models and construction contract administration.
• Practical understanding of change-order and claims processes.
• Experience with project scheduling software such as Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project.
• Familiarity with construction management and project collaboration platforms.
• Strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office, including Excel and PowerPoint.
• Experience using project cost-control, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting systems.
• Strong commercial and financial awareness, with the ability to understand and manage project-level financial performance.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to present complex project information clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong organisational and time-management capabilities.
• Ability to manage competing priorities across multiple projects or workstreams.
• A structured and analytical approach to problem solving.
• Confidence operating independently while maintaining close collaboration with wider project and functional teams.
• Strong attention to detail, particularly in relation to contractual, financial, and schedule information.

Working Arrangements

This is a hybrid position based in Austin Texas, combining office-based work with regular interaction with project sites, contractors, suppliers, and other stakeholders.

Travel will be required periodically to construction sites, supplier or contractor meetings, industry events, and other project-related locations.

The role is expected to involve moderate travel, with the precise level varying according to project requirements.

Additional working hours may occasionally be necessary around significant project milestones, commercial negotiations, critical construction activities, reporting deadlines, or other time-sensitive project requirements.

The successful candidate will work on major renewable energy and energy infrastructure projects, which may include:

• Battery energy storage systems.
• Electrical substations and associated infrastructure.
• Collection systems and medium/high-voltage electrical works.
• Grid interconnection infrastructure.
• Civil, electrical, mechanical, and balance-of-plant construction activities.