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Senior Project Manager / PMO Lead

Engineered-to-Order Industrial Manufacturing

Location: Itasca, IL (Onsite)

Compensation: $125-170k base

Reports to: Vice President of Operations, Enclosures

Team: Leads a team of four including this seat: two Project Managers and a Project Controls Coordinator

Required

• PMP certification strongly preferred; candidates without a PMP who hold a comparable credential, such as Lean Six Sigma, will be considered
• 5-8+ years of project management experience on complex customer projects in an industrial manufacturing environment, with a progressive career path (typically 8+ years overall) and a clear, explainable work history
• Engineered-to-order manufacturing experience (ETO), ideally in a heavy manufacturing setting, managing a critical path of engineering, procurement, fabrication, testing, and shipment items on every project
• Experience leading, mentoring, or coaching Project Managers or project teams
• Strong grasp of project financials, including budgets, forecasts, cost-to-complete, change management, and project margin, with the discipline to track cost as closely as schedule
• Advanced risk assessment, mitigation planning, and recovery planning skills, with a habit of anticipating problems rather than reacting to them
• The assertiveness to hold peers and department leaders accountable without direct authority, paired with the communication skills to do it well with customers, executives, and the shop floor
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Project, Planner, Excel, Power BI, Teams, and SharePoint, or comparable tools
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, Operations Management, or a related field

Nice to Have

• Lean Six Sigma training or certification, or a continuous improvement or operational excellence background
• Experience with electrical enclosures, e-houses, modular buildings, power skids, switchgear, or data-center infrastructure
• Experience in a hybrid environment that blends higher-volume, low-variation work with engineered-to-order and customized builds
• Experience with Factory Acceptance Testing and customer-witnessed testing
• Experience building or standardizing a PMO, a project controls function, or a weekly reporting cadence
• Exposure to structural steel fabrication and electrical/mechanical integration

The Opportunity

Our client is a 120+ year manufacturer of industrial enclosures, e-houses, power skids, and modular buildings, serving data center, utility, telecom, oil and gas, mining, and water customers around the world. The enclosures business is now run as its own business within a larger group, and it is growing quickly. Over the past six months, the shop floor has roughly tripled, with a new electrical team and 20 to 25 welders brought on to keep pace.

To support that growth, leadership has moved project management out of engineering and into operations and is starting a new operational excellence function. The goal is to bring the same discipline to cost that already exists on schedule, and to give the business a project team that serves every function with an unbiased view. This role leads that team and personally runs the projects that matter most, reporting directly to the Vice President of Operations.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the PMO: Run a team of four, including this seat, with two Project Managers and a Project Controls Coordinator who handles project data so the PMs can focus on their projects. Set clear expectations, coach, and develop the team.
• Get structure in place early: In the first 30 days, put procedures, scheduling, and delivery meetings in place, and step into the weekly cost of goods sold review that is already running and take it forward.
• Own the projects that matter most: By the 90-day mark, expect to personally lead two to three major projects while continuing to guide the team.
• Manage the critical path: Every project carries a long list of engineering, procurement, fabrication, testing, and shipping steps. You will keep each one visible, sequenced, and moving, from contract handoff through closeout.
• Keep cost in view: Track budgets, forecasts, and change impacts so cost gets the same attention as schedule, and help the team spend the time each project actually needs.
• Manage risk and recovery: Identify risks early, assign owners and mitigation plans, and lead recovery when a project starts to slip.
• Hold the business accountable: Make sure Sales, Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Quality, and Finance understand how their decisions affect a project and the business. You are not a messenger who collects dates; you are expected to challenge and push when needed.
• Be a trusted voice for customers: Set expectations, communicate difficult news with credibility, and keep customers confident in the plan.
• Standardize how the team works: Build consistent processes, reporting, and lessons learned so the PMO gets stronger with every project.

Why This Role Is Different

Project management at our client is being rebuilt on purpose. The function now sits in operations, reports to a VP who wants independent oversight, and has no allegiance to any single department. That makes this a seat with real influence: you will help define what good project management looks like here, and you will have the leadership support to hold the rest of the business to it.

The foundation is already in place. There is an existing team, a regular cost review, and a clear plan for the first 30 and 90 days. What the business needs is someone to lead the team, tighten the process, and take ownership of the projects that carry the most risk and the most revenue.

The Culture

This is a company where people stay. Tenure runs long, the company promotes from within, and leadership has built an environment where employees are genuinely valued and invested in. That stability is real, and it comes with an honest expectation that whoever joins is building a career chapter here, not passing through. At the same time, this hire exists because leadership wants fresh rigor brought into a fast-growing part of the business, not because they want someone to maintain the status quo.