Sr. Construction Project Leader

Preconstruction and Delivery Readiness

• Join the project during design and in coordination with Project Technical Director, build the construction point of view into the documents before they are issued — construct ability, sequencing, phasing, site logistics, and trade availability.
• Lead internal construct-ability and coordination reviews at each design milestone, translating findings into actionable direction for the design team rather than a list of comments.
• Lead value engineering and target value design discussions, so scope decisions are made with cost consequences understood early rather than discovered late.
• Interrogate the schedule — CPM logic, long-lead procurement, permitting and regulatory approvals, trade partner onboarding, equipment procurement, commissioning and activation — and align the design delivery schedule to it.
• On integrated and progressive delivery models, participate in validation, target cost development, cluster team leadership, and the collaborative routines the multi-party agreement requires.
• Advise the Project Director on delivery model implications, bid packaging, early work packages, and what can safely be deferred, delegated, or carried as allowance.
• Support GMP development, bridging documents, and design-assist scopes where the project's delivery model requires them.
• Contribute to contractor pre-qualification, bid evaluation, risk assessment, and award recommendations.

Design Management Across the Construction Interface

• Serve as the translator between design and construction — anticipating where a builder will push, where a trade partner will substitute, and where the documents will not hold up.
• Lead resolution of interdisciplinary conflict where architecture, structure, MEP, technology, medical equipment, and specialty consultants collide, and drive it to a decision rather than a coordination meeting.
• Manage delegated design, design assist, deferred submittal packages, and trade partner design integration ensuring performance criteria are explicit and the responsibility boundary is documented.
• Guide the design team through cost and schedule pressure without eroding design quality or the firm's standard of care.
• Partner with the Project Director, Design Leaders, and discipline leaders so that construct-ability input strengthens the design rather than arriving as a veto.

Construction Leadership

• Lead CannonDesign's construction-phase services on the assigned project — the CA team, field presence, quality program, and the firm's standing with the client and builder throughout construction.
• Lead firm participation in OAC, cost, scheduling, and pre-installation meetings; own the issues that cross discipline lines.
• Direct the resolution of field conditions, RFIs, substitutions, and change proposals with a bias toward early resolution and documented rationale.
• Review and take a position on contractor change proposals, schedule impacts, and payment applications; escalate with a recommendation, not only a question.
• Support pull-planning and Last Planner routines with the builder and trade partners and hold the design team to the commitments made in them.
• Own the project risk register through construction, driving proactive mitigation and keeping the Project Director and Operations ahead of exposure rather than behind it.
• Direct QA/QC site observation programs and hold the team to consistent documentation standards.
• Maintain substantial, and where contractually required continuous, presence at the construction site.
• Lead punch-list management, certification of substantial completion, final completion, and transition into the warranty period.

Commercial and Risk Management

• Advise the Project Director on contractual risk in the Owner-Architect agreement and on our position related to the construction contract.
• Lead change and claim avoidance — notice requirements, documentation discipline, and defensible records.
• Support fee planning and staffing plans for construction-phase scope and hold the team to the effort that was sold.
• In coordination with the Risk Management Leaders and Project Technical Director, provide input on disputes, schedule impact analysis, claims mitigation, and cost recovery when they arise.

Firm Contribution

• Report construction performance metrics and issues monthly to the Project Director, firm leadership, and client as required.
• Capture and transfer lessons learned from mega project delivery to Operations and the Technical Leadership Group, so the next project starts smarter.
• Contribute to the firm's construction administration standards and design-build initiative.
• Mentor CA leaders, project architects, and engineers assigned to the project team.

General

• Travel as required.
• Adhere to CannonDesign and construction site safety program requirements and work rules.
• Perform other assigned duties.

HERE'S WHAT YOU'LL NEED

• Bachelor's degree in Architecture, Engineering, or Construction Management or advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum of 15 years of progressive experience in the design and construction of large-scale, complex building projects. 
• Registration or Licensure preferred.
• LEED accreditation preferred. 
• Progressive experience in a senior construction management role carrying direct accountability for cost, schedule, quality, and contractor performance. Experience limited to construction administration from the architect's chair will not meet this requirement. 
• Healthcare, Science & Technology, Education, Aviation and other complex facility experience.
• Demonstrated leadership of at least one project of mega project scale and complexity — a single large facility, a multi-building program, or a phased campus delivery.
• Experience on highly interdisciplinary projects where architecture, structural, MEP, technology, medical equipment, and specialty consultants must be coordinated under schedule pressure.
• Working command of both traditional and alternative delivery — design-bid-build, CM at Risk, design-build, progressive design-build, design-assist, and IPD — including how design responsibility, risk, and compensation shift under each.
• Demonstrated experience inside integrated or collaborative delivery: co-location, shared risk and reward, target value design, cluster or cross-functional teams, and Lean planning methods such as pull planning and the Last Planner System.
• Fluency with AIA, ConsensusDocs, and DBIA contract families and how risk allocates across owner, designer, and builder.
• Strong command of cost, schedule, and estimating fundamentals — able to test an estimate, read a GMP, and challenge a schedule with authority.
• Experience with construction in occupied and operational healthcare facilities, including phasing, infection control, and interim life safety requirements.
• Experience with commissioning, systems turnover, and owner activation.
• Knowledge of building codes, accessibility standards, FGI Guidelines, and the authority having jurisdiction, state health department, and permitting review processes that govern healthcare construction.
• Excellent written and verbal communication, with the presence to hold a room of owners, builders, and designers.
• Proficiency with construction management platforms (Procore, Autodesk Construction Cloud), Bluebeam, scheduling tools (Primavera P6, Microsoft Project), and Microsoft Office.

HERE'S WHAT WILL SET YOU APART

• CCM (CMAA), DBIA certification, PMP, or comparable professional certification.
• Experience on IPD projects governed by a multi-party agreement.
• Experience as a design manager inside a design-build entity, leading the design team from the builder's side of the table.
• Higher education, science and technology, or advanced manufacturing experience alongside healthcare.
• LEED accreditation, or experience delivering against high-performance energy and decarbonization targets.
• Experience standing up construction management standards, tools, or training within a firm or program.
• Experience on projects delivered across multiple jurisdictions.