Alternative Delivery Practice Leader

Lockwood Andrews & Newnam•Houston, TX

About The Position

The Alternative Delivery Practice Leader establishes and leads the firm’s alternative project delivery strategy, supporting profitable growth and successful project execution across transportation, municipal infrastructure, water/wastewater, and flood control markets. In collaboration with business group leaders, Operations, Marketing, Legal, and executive leadership, the role develops strategic contractor and owner relationships, guides opportunity selection and pursuit strategy, and establishes consistent practices for commercial evaluation, design management, and project delivery. The leader ensures that alternative delivery commitments align with the firm’s capabilities, capacity, financial objectives, and professional responsibilities. The role supports Design-Build and Progressive Design-Build opportunities, as well as CMAR/CMGC and P3 opportunities when aligned with the firm’s strategy. The role leads practice strategy and growth, contractor relationships and teaming strategy, opportunity evaluation and pursuit leadership, commercial and risk management, design management and project performance, and construction-phase support and practice development. It establishes consistent approaches to project evaluation, contracting, design management, construction-phase coordination, quality, and lessons learned, while guiding teams from pursuit through execution.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related discipline.
Active Professional Engineer (PE) license.
At least 15 years of engineering and/or construction management experience, including substantial leadership experience on alternative delivery pursuits and projects.
Demonstrated success as a Design Manager, Project Manager, Pursuit Leader, or Practice Leader on complex alternative delivery projects.
Demonstrated ability to grow client and contractor relationships and convert opportunities into successful projects.
Strong understanding of alternative delivery commercial structures, professional services agreements, design scope and fee development, and risk allocation.
Experience managing multidisciplinary teams and coordinating design with construction estimating, scheduling, procurement, and field activities.
Demonstrated ability to manage project financial performance, scope changes, quality, and schedule commitments.
Ability to lead across business groups and influence decisions.
Strong communication, negotiation, and relationship management skills.

Nice To Haves

DBIA certification.
Experience in multiple firm markets, particularly water/wastewater, transportation, municipal infrastructure, or flood control.
Experience with CMAR/CMGC or P3 projects.
Experience establishing or expanding a firmwide alternative delivery practice.

Responsibilities

Develop and implement the firmwide alternative delivery strategy with business group and executive leadership.
Work with business group leaders to establish annual business plans, priority markets and clients, growth targets, and strategic initiatives.
Maintain a coordinated opportunity pipeline, assessing timing, competitive positioning, staffing needs, and anticipated pursuit investment.
Track practice performance and contractor and client satisfaction.
Establish and maintain executive-level relationships with contractors, construction managers, owners, and strategic partners.
Evaluate potential teaming partners based on experience, market alignment, operational compatibility, financial capacity, and performance history.
Guide teaming strategy, including partner roles, workshare, exclusivity, pursuit responsibilities, and commercial expectations.
Coordinate teaming relationships and decisions across business groups to align commitments and resources.
Lead alternative delivery opportunity reviews, engaging business group leadership, Operations, Legal, and executive leadership early and before teaming commitments are made.
Make go/no-go recommendations addressing strategic fit, partner selection, scope, staffing, schedule, pursuit investment, commercial terms, and project risk.
Guide capture planning, proposal strategy, interview preparation, and coordination with contractor partners and owners.
Oversee development of technical differentiators, Alternative Technical Concepts where applicable, and value propositions.
Guide development of design scopes, fees, schedules, staffing plans, and compensation for pursuit-phase services.
Provide practice leadership on delivery models, commercial structures, and design-related risk in coordination with Legal and risk management.
Support evaluation and negotiation of teaming agreements, professional services agreements, and subconsultant agreements.
Identify and escalate contractual provisions that could conflict with the firm’s professional standard of care, insurance coverage, or approved risk tolerance.
Establish project-specific risk mitigation plans and communicate key commitments and assumptions to project teams.
Route contractual exceptions and significant commercial commitments through the firm’s established approval process.
Establish consistent design management practices for alternative delivery projects, including roles, decision-making authority, communication protocols, and design package requirements.
Support selection and development of qualified design managers and project teams with business group leaders.
Champion constructability reviews, value engineering, design-to-budget practices, and phased design delivery.
Promote coordination among design, estimating, scheduling, BIM, and construction teams.
Monitor major projects with project and business group leaders, addressing design progress, quality, staffing, financial performance, scope changes, and emerging risks.
Lead transition from pursuit to execution, documenting scope, budget, schedule, contractual commitments, and outstanding decisions.
Establish standards for RFIs, submittal reviews, design changes, delegated design interfaces, and field engineering support.
Promote timely contractor collaboration while maintaining clear responsibility for construction means, methods, sequencing, and safety.
Reinforce quality assurance and quality control requirements throughout design and construction.
Develop training, tools, and guidance for pursuit leaders, project managers, and design managers.
Capture lessons learned and apply them to future partner selection, contracts, pursuits, and project delivery.