Director - Construction Project Manager (PL)

Your Opportunity

At Schwab, you’re empowered to make an impact on your career. Here, innovative thought meets creative problem solving, helping us “challenge the status quo” and transform the finance industry together.

 

The Director, Construction Project Management will report to the Managing Director, CRE Project Management, and provide strategic leadership for complex Branch and Corporate construction and real estate programs. This leader will establish standards, governance, and operating rhythms that strengthen project delivery, financial stewardship, risk management, vendor performance, and stakeholder confidence.

 

This Director will lead and develop project management professionals while partnering across Design, Telecommunications, Security, Real Estate, Property Management, business teams, vendors, and executive stakeholders. The successful candidate will translate business priorities into measurable outcomes while balancing team leadership, portfolio oversight, and hands-on management of complex projects.

 

This role will:

 

• Provide strategic leadership for the Construction Project Management team by setting priorities, establishing performance expectations, and ensuring consistent delivery across assigned programs and projects.
• Lead, coach, and develop project management professionals through performance feedback, mentoring, resource planning, succession planning, and targeted professional development.
• Establish governance and leadership cadences for portfolio reviews, budgets, risks, vendor performance, project decisions, and stakeholder communication.
• Oversee complex construction projects from planning and design development through execution and closeout, including project objectives, schedules, budgets, quality standards, and compliance requirements.
• Serve as the escalation point for issues involving scope, schedule, cost, quality, vendor performance, contract compliance, change orders, and stakeholder alignment.
• Manage architects, designers, engineers, construction firms, general contractors, and owner vendors to support successful project delivery.
• Oversee project estimates, expenditure commitments, costs, and change-order negotiations to maintain alignment with approved budgets and project objectives.
• Provide on-site oversight during construction and lead job-site meetings, documentation, and cross-functional coordination.
• Ensure projects comply with Schwab requirements and applicable legal, regulatory, audit, safety, environmental, and building-code standards.
• Build trusted relationships with senior leaders, business partners, internal clients, vendors, architects, engineers, and code-enforcement officials.
• Present recommendations, risks, trade-offs, and business impacts clearly to senior leaders and executive stakeholders.
• Identify process inefficiencies and implement improvements that strengthen delivery predictability, quality, cost discipline, risk management, and operational performance.
• Contribute to CRE strategies, policies, standards, practices, and procedures while representing Project Management, Corporate Real Estate, and internal clients with professionalism.

What you have

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree.
• 10 or more years of progressive corporate (not general contracting company) construction management experience, including leadership of large, complex, multi-stakeholder construction projects or programs.
• 8 or more years of experience leading, managing, and developing teams, including responsibility for performance management, coaching, resource planning, succession planning, and team effectiveness.
• Executive presence – Demonstrated ability to communicate with confidence, clarity, and credibility with senior executives, business partners, and external stakeholders.
• Practical knowledge and experience in design, construction, or engineering.
• Broad knowledge of real estate disciplines, including building systems, space planning, property management, real estate regulations, and building codes.
• Strong construction project management experience in scheduling, budgeting, prioritization, project planning, financial oversight, risk management, and project closeout.
• Demonstrated ability to manage construction project budgets, estimates, expenditures, vendor contracts, change orders, and cost controls.
• Experience leading outside resources, including architects, designers, engineers, construction firms, general contractors, and other project vendors.
• Demonstrated ability to establish strategic direction, align teams around priorities, and translate business objectives into actionable plans and measurable results.
• Proven direct people-leadership skills, including the ability to build accountable, collaborative, and high-performing teams. Experience operating at a Director-level scope, including responsibility for strategy, cross-functional leadership, and organizational outcomes, is required.
• Executive-level written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present complex information, recommendations, risks, and trade-offs clearly.
• Strong relationship management, negotiation, conflict management, decision-making, analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through ambiguity and organizational or project-related change.
• Experience ensuring compliance with legal, regulatory, audit, safety, environmental, and quality requirements.
• Ability to travel up to 30%

 

Preferred Qualifications:

• 5–10 years of experience managing projects in critical data center environments.
• Working knowledge of data center mechanical, electrical, and critical support systems.
• Strong real estate management and development experience.
• Advanced real estate, financial, project management, data, and metrics analysis skills.
• Demonstrated success improving project delivery, financial discipline, vendor performance, process efficiency, risk management, quality, and stakeholder satisfaction.