Lead Project Manager – Data Center

Altorfer•Bartonville, IL

4d•Remote

About The Position

The Lead Project Manager – Data Center is a player-coach leader in Altorfer’s Data Center Program, which delivers Caterpillar electric power generation projects and related solutions to key data center accounts. The role leads and mentors the New Equipment Project Management team and owns front-end execution from customer order acceptance through technical submittals and approvals, equipment and material release, procurement and production coordination, packaged-enclosure completion, and formal handoff to Data Center Product Support. The New Equipment team remains available for technical and commercial support after handoff, while Product Support assumes primary responsibility for delivery coordination, site startup, commissioning, testing, and final turnover. The Lead Project Manager is a highly customer-facing leader who builds trusted relationships with customer project managers across sites, leads program and project meetings, anticipates issues, develops project managers, and establishes clear, repeatable execution standards. The role requires urgency, technical depth, commercial judgment, customer focus, and servant leadership. The leader removes barriers, clarifies ownership and escalation expectations, coaches team members, and helps align stakeholders around priorities, risks, and next actions. This position works across Sales, customers, consulting engineers, Caterpillar, Engineering, suppliers, packaging partners, and internal teams. It oversees technical and commercial project execution, including scope, schedule, quality, risk, margin, financial performance, procurement, supplier integration, and customer commitments. It also defines and improves formal project processes and handoffs, ensuring project documentation, approvals, equipment information, testing records, open issues, commercial status, and delivery assumptions are complete and coordinated. Work may be performed in office, remote, manufacturing, vendor, and jobsite environments. The role is remote-eligible within the United States, with travel to Bartonville, other Altorfer locations, customer sites, Caterpillar facilities, suppliers, packaging partners, factory tests, and team meetings expected. The employee must maintain effective availability and attend required in-person meetings and visits. Schedule flexibility may be needed for customer milestones and time-sensitive issues.

Requirements

At least 7 years of progressive project management, project engineering, application engineering, sales engineering, or technical program experience in electric power generation, critical power, or mission-critical infrastructure.
Demonstrated leadership or mentoring of program managers or technical professionals, with a record of improving accountability and team performance.
Working knowledge of Caterpillar generator-set application and installation requirements, including ventilation, exhaust, fuel, cooling, electrical protection, controls, enclosures, and related balance-of-plant systems.
Familiarity with applicable codes and standards for standby and emergency power systems, including NFPA 70, NFPA 110, NFPA 37, and UL 2200.
Proven ability to manage multiple complex projects while protecting customer commitments, schedule, quality, margin, and stakeholder relationships.
Strong initiative and ownership, including following issues through to verified closure.
Exceptional people leadership, coaching, conflict-resolution, and team-building skills.
Customer- and sales-focused mindset, strong commercial judgment, and ability to deliver difficult messages constructively.
Ability to critically interpret electrical and mechanical drawings, one-line diagrams, technical specifications, submittals, supplier literature, schematics, and O&M documentation, and translate findings into technical decisions and action items.
Strong planning and portfolio-management discipline, including schedule logic, milestone tracking, risk registers, change control, cost forecasting, and executive reporting.
Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and meeting-facilitation skills, including the ability to translate technical and commercial complexity into clear decisions, owners, and action plans.
Ability to make timely decisions with incomplete information, escalate early, and present options with a recommendation.
Proficiency with Microsoft 365, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams, and with project scheduling or portfolio tools.
Commitment to safety, quality, ethical conduct, and continuous improvement.
Valid driver’s license with a clean driving record: no more than two minor violations in the past three years and no major violations in the past five years. A Motor Vehicle Report will be performed on the final candidate.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering is strongly preferred; a related technical degree with substantial electric power generation experience may be considered.
PMP certification is preferred.
Formal leadership, Lean, or continuous-improvement training is helpful.
Direct Caterpillar Electric Power Generation experience, including packaged diesel generator sets and proficiency with CSQ, GenSizer, TMI, and PowerNet, is preferred.
Experience with hyperscale, colocation, or enterprise data center projects and owner-furnished/contractor-installed equipment delivery models is strongly preferred.
Experience coordinating long-lead equipment, engineering submittals, production slots, factory milestones, packaging integration, and required-on-site schedule dependencies.
Power BI or dashboard-reporting experience is beneficial.
Working knowledge of AutoCAD or Autodesk tools for drawing review and markups is beneficial.

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, and develop the New Equipment Project Management team by setting priorities, balancing workloads, establishing accountability, and providing practical feedback.
Own front-end project execution from customer order acceptance through submittals, approvals, equipment and material release, packaged-enclosure completion, and formal handoff to Data Center Product Support.
Lead customer program and project meetings; communicate status and risks, drive timely decisions, document commitments, and close action items.
Serve as senior escalation point for customers, Sales, consulting engineers, Caterpillar, packaging partners, suppliers, and internal teams on scope, technical, schedule, and quality issues.
Lead Sales-to-project-management turnover by confirming purchase orders, specifications, quoted scope, exclusions, approved deviations, payment milestones, and schedule commitments.
Direct technical submittals to meet customer requirements, covering technical data, drawings, generator options, controls, circuit breakers, emissions and aftertreatment, fuel and cooling systems, ventilation, sound attenuation, enclosures, switchgear interfaces, and other balance-of-plant requirements.
Review and interpret customer and consultant electrical and mechanical drawings, one-line diagrams, schematics, and specifications; identify conflicts, gaps, and deviations from quoted scope and work with Engineering to resolve them before release.
Secure required approvals and customer decisions in time to protect production slots, supplier lead times, packaging schedules, and required-on-site dates; maintain portfolio visibility and escalate risks early.
Review supplier proposals and technical quotations against customer requirements and specifications; confirm equipment, options, exclusions, and assumptions are reflected accurately and escalate discrepancies.
Coordinate with Caterpillar, Engineering, suppliers, and packaging partners to produce accurate bills of material, purchase orders, production releases, integrated designs, inspections, and testing.
Apply Caterpillar application and installation guidelines when reviewing generator-set room and enclosure designs, including airflow, heat rejection, exhaust, fuel, cooling, electrical protection, controls, service clearances, and equipment integration.
Use and coach others in Caterpillar electric power application and information systems, including CSQ, GenSizer, TMI, PowerNet, and related tools.
Build relationships with customer project managers at each site through proactive communication and provide Sales with credible execution input during negotiations, changes, and customer recovery situations.
Manage project financial performance, including budgets, forecast costs, margin exposure, billing milestones, supplier impacts, and change-order control.
Define and enforce a continuously improving formal process and disciplined handoffs, including checklists, dashboards, lessons learned, approved drawings, equipment and serial-number information, O&M documentation, factory test records, shipment readiness, open issues, commercial status, delivery assumptions, test requirements, and customer commitments.
Promote safety, honesty, humility, compassion, teamwork, integrity, and direct communication.
Travel to Altorfer locations, customer sites, Caterpillar facilities, suppliers, packaging partners, factory tests, and team meetings as required.
Follow all safety and personal protective equipment requirements.