Project Development Project Manager

Location: Akron, OH
Employment Type: Contract-to-Hire

Position Overview

We are seeking an experienced Project Development Project Manager for a contract-to-hire opportunity with our client in Akron, OH. This position will lead the upfront planning and early-stage development of large-scale electric utility infrastructure projects, including transmission lines and substations ranging from 34.5kV to 500kV.

Candidates must have direct project experience with BOTH transmission line and substation projects. Experience in only one of these areas will not meet the requirements for this position.

The Project Development Project Manager will manage projects from initial concept and planning through approximately 30% design completion, ensuring a seamless transition to project execution teams. This role requires strong project management capabilities, technical knowledge of utility infrastructure, and the ability to coordinate cross-functional teams while managing project scope, schedules, budgets, and risks.

Projects will primarily involve brownfield environments, including substation rebuilds, transmission line upgrades, equipment replacements, and infrastructure modernization.

Key Responsibilities

Project Development & Leadership

• Lead project kickoff meetings and coordinate cross-functional teams to establish project scope, objectives, schedules, and deliverables.

• Manage multiple concurrent transmission line and substation projects through early-stage development.

• Oversee engineering, environmental reviews, permitting, right-of-way acquisition, estimating, procurement planning, and constructability assessments.

• Coordinate the transition of projects to execution teams at approximately 30% design completion.

• Work closely with engineering, construction, operations, and project controls teams to ensure project readiness.

Project Planning & Scheduling

• Develop and maintain project schedules, execution plans, forecasts, and key milestones.

• Review technical documents and project requirements to identify scope, schedule, and budget risks.

• Coordinate resource planning, contractor requirements, and project durations.

• Work with scheduling teams to maintain accurate project timelines.

• Coordinate planned system outages with operations teams in accordance with PJM and internal scheduling requirements.

• Identify potential project challenges and implement mitigation strategies.

Financial Management & Project Controls

• Manage project budgets, cost forecasts, and financial reporting.

• Review project estimates for accuracy, completeness, and alignment with approved budgets.

• Monitor project costs and ensure compliance with established financial guidelines.

• Support capital expenditure authorization requests and project funding approvals.

• Implement change management procedures to document and control changes to project scope, schedule, and budget.

Stakeholder Coordination & Communication

• Serve as the primary point of contact for project sponsors, internal teams, contractors, and external stakeholders.

• Provide regular updates regarding schedules, budgets, risks, and development milestones.

• Collaborate with portfolio management teams to support multiyear capital planning and forecasting.

• Lead lessons-learned reviews and identify opportunities to improve project development processes.

Project Types

• Substations: Complete rebuilds, conversions, ring bus configurations, breaker-and-a-half systems, double-breaker configurations, terminal upgrades, and relay replacements.

• Transmission Lines: Line rebuilds, rehabilitation projects, switch replacements, and new customer connections.

• Communications: RTU replacements, microwave towers, cellular antennas, MPLS installations, and ADSS/OPGW fiber infrastructure.

• Interconnections: New transmission customer connections and renewable energy generator interconnections, including solar and wind.

• Distribution: Circuit rebuilds, pole replacements, reclosers, underground residential distribution, and infrastructure upgrades.

Required Qualifications

• Must have direct experience working on BOTH transmission line and substation projects.

• Strong technical understanding of transmission and substation infrastructure, including project development, engineering coordination, and construction requirements.

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Business, Finance, Construction Management, or a related technical field. In lieu of a degree, candidates with seven years of related experience or five years of transmission or distribution utility experience will be considered.

• Minimum of three years of experience in project management, engineering, construction, planning, finance, or project controls.

• Experience managing multiple projects simultaneously while maintaining control of schedules, budgets, and deliverables.

• Knowledge of utility construction processes, project development requirements, and engineering documentation.

• Strong organizational, analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams and coordinate with internal and external stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Four to eight years of experience within the electric transmission and distribution industry.

• Previous experience managing early-stage development of transmission line and substation capital projects.

• Experience with Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, or similar scheduling tools.

• Strong understanding of project controls, cost estimating, forecasting, and change management.

• Experience coordinating permitting, environmental reviews, right-of-way acquisition, and utility outage planning.

• Familiarity with PJM outage scheduling requirements.

• Experience supporting brownfield utility infrastructure projects and capital improvement programs.