Project Director, Houston

Butcher Power Products•Houston, TX

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Panelmatic, a Panelmatic company, designs and manufactures high-performance electrical and control systems for industrial, utility, renewable energy, and data center markets. With over 60 years of experience, their solutions include precision-built control panels and integrated control houses, trusted for uptime, safety, and long-term performance. Backed by strategic investment, Panelmatic is scaling rapidly to meet evolving customer needs with a growing national footprint and advanced engineering capabilities. This role is for an accomplished Project Director based in Houston, Texas, to lead a portfolio of complex projects ranging from $100M to $500M annually across multiple strategic and key customers. It's a highly visible leadership role with broad responsibility for customer satisfaction, operational execution, financial performance, and portfolio delivery. Travel up to 20% is required. The Project Director will ensure projects are executed on time, on budget, on margin, and in accordance with all quality, safety, and contractual requirements. This role coordinates the efforts of Project Management, Engineering, Procurement, Production, Quality, Safety, Finance, Estimating, Testing, and Sales. The ideal candidate is a senior leader with executive presence, strong commercial judgment, and a hands-on operating style, capable of strategic leadership while being engaged in day-to-day execution, proactively identifying risks, removing barriers, and driving accountability. The role serves as the central integrator for the full customer portfolio, with direct leadership over the Project Management organization and strong matrix influence across other key departments. The candidate is expected to know projects in detail, anticipate issues, communicate effectively with leadership and customers, and maintain an active presence in the business, including shop floor time and design reviews.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Project Management, Business, or a related discipline.
PMP Certification required.
15+ years of progressive project management leadership experience, including experience as a senior Project Management leader responsible for large and complex project portfolios.
Demonstrated success leading project portfolios ranging from $100M to $500M across multiple customers and multiple concurrent projects.
Proven experience leading Project Management organizations and managing Project Managers within a matrixed environment.
Demonstrated experience managing projects involving protection and control systems, medium- and low-voltage switchgear, relay panels, motor control centers (MCCs), power distribution equipment, industrial control panels, integrated E-House/control house solutions, and other engineered electrical systems.
Strong understanding of project execution across engineering, design, procurement, supply chain, manufacturing, production planning, quality, testing, logistics, and customer delivery.
Advanced knowledge of project planning, scheduling, critical path methodology, resource planning, forecasting, project controls, and recovery planning.
Strong financial and commercial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, cost control, margin management, contract administration, claims management, and change management.
Demonstrated ability to influence executive leadership, customers, and cross-functional leaders to drive alignment and achieve project objectives.
Exceptional leadership, communication, presentation, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.
Experience leading executive-level project reviews, customer reviews, portfolio reviews, and operational performance reviews.
Ability to operate effectively at both the executive level and the detail level, shifting easily between strategic leadership and day-to-day execution oversight.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree preferred.

Responsibilities

Provide overall leadership and accountability for a $100M to $500M portfolio of projects across multiple customers, ensuring successful execution and customer satisfaction.
Lead projects and programs to achieve delivery commitments while meeting schedule, cost, margin, quality, and safety objectives.
Provide direct leadership to Project Managers and project teams while driving strong matrix leadership across Engineering, Procurement, Production, Quality, Safety, Finance, Estimating, Materials Management, Logistics, Testing, and Sales.
Establish and maintain integrated project plans, schedules, forecasts, resource plans, and execution strategies across the portfolio.
Lead internal project reviews, portfolio reviews, risk reviews, and executive project status meetings to ensure alignment, accountability, and timely decision-making.
Lead customer project reviews, executive business reviews, and portfolio performance discussions, serving as the primary escalation point and trusted advisor for customers.
Ensure all functions are aligned around common priorities, schedules, project milestones, and customer commitments.
Drive proactive risk identification, mitigation planning, issue resolution, and recovery actions across all projects.
Maintain deep operational visibility into engineering progress, procurement status, material availability, production readiness, manufacturing performance, testing activities, quality performance, and delivery schedules.
Monitor project financial performance, including revenue, cost, cash flow, profitability, margin performance, forecasting, and change management.
Identify opportunities to improve execution efficiency, reduce project risk, enhance customer satisfaction, and increase profitability across the portfolio.
Spend meaningful time on the shop floor reviewing materials, drawings, build progress, testing activities, and execution readiness to ensure projects remain on track.
Influence executive leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to drive alignment, remove barriers, and support business objectives.
Develop and promote a culture of accountability, execution excellence, responsiveness, collaboration, and continuous improvement.