Construction Engineering Group Manager

General Motors•Warren, MI

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Infrastructure & Corporate Citizenship (ICC) function — comprised of Global Real Estate, Construction, Facility Operations, and Corporate Citizenship — is seeking a seasoned leader to serve as Engineering Group Manager within Construction. Reporting to the Director of Construction, this role will lead a shared team of engineering subject matter experts across architectural, civil / structural, mechanical, and electrical disciplines, while also serving as a senior technical authority for the organization. This leader will manage a center-of-excellence model for approximately 13 SMEs supporting the planning and execution of roughly 4B in annual projects across manufacturing and non-manufacturing sites. The position requires advanced knowledge and broad experience across the areas led, ownership of a distinct business area within the function, and the ability to exercise independent judgment on key technical decisions that affect multiple projects, stakeholders, and business outcomes. The Engineering Group Manager will balance people leadership with deep technical credibility — setting priorities, assigning resources, guiding the team on complex engineering issues, strengthening technical consistency, and building organizational capability so that SME expertise is translated into better project outcomes, faster problem-solving, stronger standards, and more consistent delivery across ICC Construction.

Requirements

Significant experience leading engineering, design, or construction-related teams in a complex capital-project environment, including direct accountability for priorities, resources, and delivery.
Recognized senior technical expertise in facilities engineering, design, and construction, with the credibility to guide teams through complex technical issues, evaluate tradeoffs, and influence key engineering decisions.
Strong experience with facilities design and construction activities across manufacturing and / or large, technically complex facilities projects.
Demonstrated success leading people in a shared-services, center-of-excellence, or matrixed support model where priorities must be balanced across multiple stakeholders and projects.
Advanced knowledge and broad experience across the areas led, with the ability to identify and leverage expertise in specialized disciplines and translate strategy into clear direction for the team.
Proven leadership in performance management, coaching, talent development, and team capability building.
Strong ability to assign and coordinate technical work, manage competing priorities, and drive accountability for outcomes.
Working knowledge of engineering drawings, specifications, construction contracts, and the practical realities of project execution.
Strong understanding of the financial and commercial aspects of capital facilities projects, including estimating, contractor payments, change management, and key project risk considerations.
Demonstrated ability to influence across levels and functions in a large, matrixed organization.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate technical topics for business stakeholders and senior leaders.
Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
Comfort leading through ambiguity, organizational change, and cross-functional tension while maintaining forward momentum.
Proficiency with Excel, PowerPoint, Power BI, and other tools used for reporting, analysis, and decision support.
Bachelor’s degree in engineering, architecture, construction management, or a related field required; advanced degree preferred, or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
Minimum 10 years of relevant experience, including meaningful people-leadership experience.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree preferred

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, and develop a multi-discipline team of engineering SMEs supporting ICC Construction priorities, while serving as the team’s senior technical resource on complex engineering matters, cross-discipline tradeoffs, and critical design decisions.
Establish clear goals, priorities, roles, and performance expectations aligned with Construction and broader ICC objectives.
Build a high-performance culture grounded in safety, accountability, collaboration, inclusion, and continuous improvement.
Strengthen organizational capability through coaching, succession planning, skill development, and cross-training across disciplines where appropriate.
Manage the deployment of Engineering resources across multiple concurrent projects, ensuring the right expertise is engaged at the right time based on project scope, complexity, schedule, and risk.
Balance workload and priorities across a large capital portfolio, resolving resource conflicts and escalating tradeoffs when needed.
Ensure Engineering support is integrated early in scope development and remains effective through design, issue resolution, and execution support.
Provide leadership on complex technical issues by convening the right disciplines, aligning stakeholders, and driving timely decisions.
Own the governance and continuous improvement of engineering design guides, standards, specifications, and lessons learned for the Construction organization.
Promote consistent engineering approaches across projects and sites to improve quality, speed, constructability, and cost effectiveness.
Establish repeatable processes for capturing and sharing technical knowledge, recent project learnings, and emerging best practices across the SME team.
Evaluate new technologies, products, methods, and supplier capabilities that can improve facilities engineering and construction outcomes.
Work closely with Construction project leaders, Global Real Estate, Facility Operations, business stakeholders, and external partners to align technical resources to business priorities.
Communicate clearly on resource needs, risks, decisions, technical issues, and delivery status to leaders and stakeholders at multiple levels.
Review and approve key technical deliverables, reports, and presentations produced by the team.
Represent GM with industry groups, suppliers, and external partners as appropriate to strengthen technical capability and bring external insight into the organization.
Ensure the Engineering team’s work supports safe, robust, and cost-effective project delivery across scope, schedule, budget, and quality objectives.
Bring disciplined judgment to design reviews, constructability issues, contractor / supplier coordination, and technical problem-solving.
Partner with project teams to identify risks early, reduce avoidable rework, and improve consistency in technical decision-making.