Director of Risk

Kokosing (www.kokosing.biz) is one of America's 50 largest General Contractors and services a broad spectrum of clients in both the private and public business sectors. Kokosing's services include heavy civil/industrial construction such as highways, bridges, underground utilities, water/wastewater facilities, and marine construction. For over 75 years, Kokosing has successfully attracted the most qualified technical personnel in the construction industry by offering visible challenges, superior quality, and attractive rewards. With over $2.8 billion in annual sales and a commitment to its workforce, Kokosing is the winning team.

Job Description:

Position Summary:   

The Director of Risk is responsible for leading the enterprise-wide risk management strategy for a large, self-performing heavy civil general contractor with approximately $3.1 billion in annual revenue. This role provides leadership and direction of all risk-related functions, including insurance, claims, contract risk and compliance, and loss prevention.

The Director of Risk partners closely with executive leadership, operations, legal, finance, and safety teams to proactively identify, assess, and mitigate risks that could impact the company’s financial performance, reputation, and long-term strategic objectives. This position plays a critical role in influencing enterprise risk decision making, protecting company assets, optimizing total cost of risk, and ensuring alignment with industry best practices and regulatory requirements.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Risk Strategy and Leadership

• Develop and execute a comprehensive Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) strategy aligned with corporate objectives.
• Serve as the senior advisor to executive leadership on risk exposure, mitigation strategies, and emerging threats.
• Establish risk tolerance frameworks and governance processes across all operating companies and regions.
• Monitor insurance market trends, regulatory changes, and emerging risks affecting the construction industry.

Insurance Program Leadership

• Oversee the design, placement, and administration of the company’s corporate insurance program across all lines of coverage, including but not limited to:
• General liability, umbrella/excess, workers’ compensation, auto, equipment, builder’s risk, property, professional liability, pollution, cyber, D&O, crime, and specialty coverages.
• Oversee broker strategy, contract negotiations, and carrier relationships to optimize coverage, terms, and total cost of risk.
• Leverage insurance brokers, carriers, and surety partners as strategic advisors to identify emerging risks and innovative risk transfer solutions
• Build and maintain long-term partnerships that drive continuous improvement, enhance coverage structures, and strengthen claims management outcomes
• Lead annual insurance renewals, program structure decisions, and long-term risk financing strategies (including captives or alternative risk structures).

Claims Oversight

• Establish claims handling strategies, reserve methodologies, and settlement authority protocols to drive disciplined and efficient claims management.
• Provide executive oversight of all claim activities, ensuring effective resolution and alignment with organizational risk objectives.
• Analyze claims data and monitoring key risk metrics to drive proactive risk mitigation, enhance performance, and optimize total cost of risk.
• Collaborate with legal counsel to develop litigation strategies for insured matters, particularly high-exposure or complex cases.

Contract Risk and Compliance

• Partner with the legal team on contract review standards, risk transfer strategies, and insurance requirements across all projects.
• Integrate risk evaluation into all project phases, including pursuit, estimating, contract negotiation, execution, and closeout.
• Establish and support subcontractor prequalification risk management standards, including financial strength, safety performance, and operational capability.
• Partner with legal and operations teams to mitigate contractual risk exposure by ensuring appropriate risk transfer and alignment with company standards.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements, insurance obligations, and contractual commitments.

Operational Risk and Loss Prevention

• Partner with operations and safety leadership to champion an enterprise-wide risk culture, driving accountability at all levels to minimize loss frequency and severity.
• Embed risk management expectations into performance and leadership development frameworks while driving clear accountability across operations, estimating, and project management to strengthen risk ownership.
• Develop and deliver training programs to equip field and operational leaders with risk identification and mitigation capabilities.

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Risk Management, Business, Finance, Law, or a related field; or equivalent relevant experience and work history.
• 7-10 years+ of progressive experience in risk management, insurance, or a related role in construction or related industry. One or more of the following designations preferred ARM, CRM, CIC, CPCU or other relevant designations.
• Prior leadership experience.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Deep understanding of construction risk, insurance structures, and claims management.
• Strong financial and analytical capabilities, including loss modeling and forecasting.
• Proven ability to lead large, complex insurance programs and broker relationships.
• Expertise in contract risk transfer and construction agreements.
• Exceptional leadership, communication, and executive presence.
• Ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive enterprise-wide initiatives.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.

Relationships:

• Reports to: Chief Risk Officer
• Regular interaction with: CEO, Presidents, Legal Counsel, Finance, Safety, Operations Leadership, and Board/Committee members
• Leads: Risk Management, Claims, and Insurance teams

WORKING CONDITIONS:

• Primarily office-based with regular interaction across departments.
• Travel required (approximately 10–20%) to job sites and regional offices.
• Periodic engagement in high-pressure situations involving claims, litigation, or major incidents.