Location
Santa Barbara, CA, preferred; Bay Area-based candidates must commit to ~50% travel to Santa Barbara for the first year.
Summary
SARES | REGIS is seeking a high-energy Vice President to lead a team delivering highly-technical research laboratories for a confidential, leading global technology client. The program operates like a start-up: the science is advancing quickly, requirements evolve while projects are being designed and built, and decisions are often made with incomplete information. We need a leader who thrives in that environment, brings organization to ambiguity, and keeps the team moving forward in spite of the challenges.
This is a player-coach role: the VP leads the people and processes behind the program while staying hands-on, producing deliverables alongside the team. The VP keeps the program moving, anticipates risk, and steps in on critical issues when needed. A large part of the role is navigating a complex client organization with many stakeholders whose priorities do not always align, so strong communication, people skills, and diplomacy are as important as technical expertise.
Key Responsibilities
Client & Stakeholder Management
- Serve as the senior point of contact for the program, building trust at working and executive levels.
- Own the outcome: hold ultimate responsibility for client satisfaction and project success, as well as the success of our team.
- Navigate multiple stakeholder groups (research users, real estate, facilities, EHS, security, finance); build consensus and reconcile competing requests across scope, cost, and schedule.
- Translate evolving technical requirements into clear project direction and advise client leadership with candor and well-supported recommendations.
- Maintain strict confidentiality regarding the client and its programs.
Team & Program Leadership
- Lead, coach, and develop a team of several project managers; set clear expectations and hold the team accountable for delivery to project budget, schedule, quality, and client satisfaction.
- Continually evaluate staffing and reallocate resources across projects as needs shift, supplementing some projects and scaling back others.
- Establish and enforce processes, standards, and reporting that keep projects moving and scale as the program grows.
- Lead as a hands-on contributor: work alongside the team to produce deliverables (budgets, schedules, reports, and client presentations), dig into technical issues directly, and spot problems early.
Risk Management & Forward Planning
- Identify schedule, cost, technical, and stakeholder risks early, and drive mitigation before they become problems.
- Oversee funding requests; ensure contracts have no scope gaps and risk is appropriately allocated.
- Plan ahead for long-lead equipment, phasing, and operational impacts in occupied research environments.
Design, Construction, & Entitlement Oversight
- Oversee design team selection, contracting, and management from concept through construction documents and permitting.
- Guide integration of complex MEP and process systems, which may include precise temperature and humidity control, vibration- and EMI/RF-sensitive spaces, cryogenics and specialty gases, process cooling water, specialty exhaust, and redundant power.
- Oversee construction across multiple concurrent projects, including change management, pay applications, and contractor performance.
- Maintain rigorous budget control through design and construction: track costs against approved budgets, manage contingency, and produce accurate, regularly updated cash flow projections.
- Provide reliable, timely reporting on budget, schedule, and risk to keep multiple stakeholder groups informed and aligned.
- Ensure effective commissioning, start-up, and turnover of complex systems to client users and operations teams.
- Secure entitlements and approvals as needed (zoning, CEQA, coastal, city approvals); Santa Barbara County or Central Coast experience is a plus.
Qualifications
Required
- 15+ Years in real estate development or construction project management, including substantial experience delivering laboratory, research, or other technically complex facilities.
- Bachelor’s degree; engineering or construction background strongly preferred (Construction Management, Civil, Mechanical, or Electrical Engineering, Architecture, or related field).
- Strong knowledge of complex MEP systems and the technical depth to support PMs.
- 5+ Years managing and developing teams of project managers.
- Experience representing corporate owners/users with multiple internal stakeholder groups.
- Demonstrated success in fast-paced environments with evolving requirements.
Preferred
- Experience with advanced computing, physics, or semiconductor research labs (e.g., cleanrooms, cryogenic labs, low-vibration and shielded environments).
- Experience in start-up or rapidly scaling client environments.
- Both ground-up lab and occupied-facility renovation experience; Design-Build delivery.
What We Are Looking For
- High energy and drive – leads from the front and moves the team forward through ambiguity and setbacks.
- Process orientation and a forward-looking, risk-sensitive mindset.
- Exceptional communication and people skills – builds trust across competing stakeholders and delivers difficult messages with tact and sound judgment.
- Patience and composure when requirements and priorities change.
Compensation
The expected base salary range is $215,000 - $275,000 per year, plus annual discretionary bonus eligibility and Sares | Regis benefits. Actual pay depends on experience, qualifications, and location.