Director, Capital Projects

Plantible • Austin, TX

5d • Hybrid

About The Position

Plantible is scaling from building our first commercial facility to developing and executing the next generation of Plantible facilities. We are looking for a Director of Capital Projects to own the execution of those builds. This is not a design-only or advisory role. You will be accountable for turning a defined facility need into an operating plant and will bring together Plantible's engineering, operations, development, finance, and technical teams with external engineers, contractors, vendors, and construction partners. You will own the project from FEL through design, procurement, construction, commissioning, and handoff to Operations.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Process Engineering, Bioengineering, Civil Engineering, Construction Management, or related technical field.
• 10+ years delivering industrial capital projects with increasing ownership and leadership responsibility.
• Required experience in biotechnology, food processing, fermentation, protein processing, pharmaceutical, biochemical, or similar hygienic process-manufacturing environments.
• Personally led a significant greenfield or major expansion project through engineering, construction, commissioning, and startup.
• Experience owning project budgets, schedules, forecasts, contingency, and change control.
• Managed multidisciplinary engineering teams, contractors, equipment vendors, and external engineering firms.
• Strong understanding of FEL/FEED, detailed engineering, procurement, industrial construction, commissioning, and startup.
• Sufficient technical depth to challenge an engineering firm without needing to personally design every system.
• Strong people leadership skills: ability to create clarity, set expectations, hold people accountable, and align technical teams.
• Comfortable making decisions with incomplete information and creating structure in an evolving environment.
• Willingness to spend significant time at project sites during design, construction, commissioning, and startup.

Nice To Haves

• Owner-side capital project experience.
• Delivered projects in the $50M–$250M+ range.
• Experience in food, ingredients, biotechnology, chemical/process manufacturing, agriculture, or another process-intensive industry.
• Experience building greenfield facilities around a technology or process that was itself being scaled.
• Experience with high-volume repetitive structural installation, modular construction, solar, PEMB, warehouse, or similar execution environments.
• Experience with agricultural production integrated with downstream processing.

Responsibilities

• Own scope, schedule, budget, risk, and execution strategy for major Plantible capital projects.
• Provide overall leadership for execution strategy, contractor performance, installation productivity, and standardization across repeated modules for upstream scope (large-scale greenhouse and cultivation infrastructure).
• Oversee downstream scope (food-processing environments across biomass handling, maceration, extraction, centrifugation, solid-liquid separation, filtration, purification, drying, and CIP).
• Build and maintain the integrated project plan from FEL through commissioning and startup.
• Identify and address critical path issues, track slippage, understand root causes, and implement recovery plans.
• Establish clear project governance, decision rights, stage gates, and accountability across internal and external teams.
• Surface problems early and present leadership with decisions and tradeoffs, not surprises.
• Partner with engineering and technical leaders to translate process and operational requirements into buildable facility designs.
• Manage interfaces between process, agricultural, mechanical, civil, structural, electrical, controls, utilities, and site infrastructure.
• Lead external engineering, EPC/EPCM, construction, and specialty partners.
• Challenge scope, design assumptions, and unnecessary complexity to prevent costly construction decisions.
• Ensure lessons learned from previous designs are incorporated as standards for future facilities.
• Own the project cost forecast, commitments, contingency, schedule, and change-control process.
• Partner with Finance to translate project forecast and schedule into accurate cash-flow planning.
• Track expenditures, commitments, remaining risks, and projected final project costs.
• Evaluate changes based on cost, schedule, technical, and operational impact before approving execution.
• Establish reporting that provides leadership with necessary information for decision-making.
• Develop procurement and contracting strategies for major equipment and construction packages.
• Identify and procure long-lead equipment in advance to avoid critical path delays.
• Hold engineering firms, contractors, and vendors accountable for scope, schedule, quality, and performance.
• Oversee construction execution and drive resolution of RFIs, field changes, design conflicts, and contractor issues.
• Spend significant time at project sites during design, construction, commissioning, and startup.
• Promote a strong culture of construction safety, process safety, hygienic design, and quality.
• Own the transition from construction through mechanical completion, commissioning, startup, and operational handoff.
• Ensure Operations is involved early in the project to build a facility that is operable and maintainable.
• Establish commissioning and turnover plans before construction is finished.
• Capture lessons learned and integrate them into Plantible's future projects.
• Build and lead Plantible's Capital Projects organization as the project portfolio grows.
• Develop Project Engineers into strong owner-side project leaders.
• Establish the necessary tools, standards, processes, and operating cadence for repeated successful delivery of major facilities.
• Contribute to establishing a repeatable model for how Plantible builds facilities.

Benefits

• Competitive health and wellness benefits
• Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance
• Discretionary Unlimited PTO Program
• Paid Holidays
• 401k Program
• Career Stipend
• Career development and growth opportunities
• Working in a rapidly growing, flexible and entrepreneurial environment
• Team building and company-wide events
• Financial support with your relocation, if necessary, ensuring a smooth transition
• Lots of beautiful land for outdoor activities!

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director