Project Manager-Project Manager Senior

American Electric Power•Newark, OH

15h•$87,633 - $128,688

About The Position

AEP is hiring at the Project Manager and Project Manager Senior levels. The role manages, or assists in managing, projects ranging from base and intermediate work to complex projects or a program area of projects in a matrix team environment. It provides leadership, coordination, direction, training, and communication to initiate, plan, execute, monitor and control, and close projects safely, efficiently, economically, and with balanced risk, meeting short- and long-range goals and customer expectations. The position supports project transparency, stakeholder relationships, and continuous improvement to increase quality and optimize value delivery. The Project Manager level progressively develops capability to lead intermediate projects, while the Senior level requires greater education, experience, project-management knowledge, and responsibility. Work includes project planning and delivery, coordination of teams and contractors, procurement and contract management, stakeholder communication, and project closeout. The position supports AEP’s safety process and project-management standards. Work may be performed at home, in offices, power plants (including nuclear facilities), and construction sites for Distribution, Transmission, Generation, and Telecom infrastructure. Site work may involve hazardous areas and possible radiation exposure within NRC limits. Travel is typically 25% or less, though greater travel may be required for specific assignments. The role includes light physical duties, such as walking on unstable surfaces and climbing ladders.

Requirements

Project Manager: Bachelor’s degree in construction management, engineering, business, project management, computer science, or a related field, plus 3 years of qualified experience; or a two-year associate’s degree in the same disciplines plus 5 years of qualified experience; or high school diploma/GED plus 7 years of qualified experience.
Project Manager Senior: Bachelor’s degree in a listed or related field plus 5 years of qualified experience; or a two-year associate’s degree in the same disciplines plus 7 years of qualified experience; or high school diploma/GED plus 9 years of qualified experience.
Project Manager qualified experience may include outage management, business/financial administration, major construction field work, project estimating, project controls, project engineering, or comparable internal or external experience in a competitive production environment.
Project Manager Senior qualified experience includes project management, major construction field work, project estimating, project controls, project engineering, or comparable internal or external experience in a competitive production environment, with progressively increasing project-management and business responsibility across most certifying-body knowledge areas.
Project Manager Senior candidates must demonstrate preparedness for journey-level project-management capability in construction safety, negotiations, scope development and control, cost estimating, construction contracting, project controls and reporting, quality control, and risk management.
A valid state driver’s license is required.
Develop effective leadership, team-building, meeting-management, and communication skills, including clear, concise, professional communication and effective listening.
Develop business acumen and the ability to apply economic analysis, strategic thinking, planning, risk assessment, prioritization, scope management, and project-risk mitigation.
Develop understanding of engineering and design, procurement, contracting, estimating, construction, startup procedures, contract components, and project documents.
Safely perform light physical duties; duties may involve construction-site walkdowns on unstable surfaces, climbing ladders, and awareness of hazardous site conditions.
Travel is typically 25% or less, but greater travel may be required for specific assignments.

Nice To Haves

Project Manager: Three years of qualified experience as a Project Manager Associate (Grade 6), or demonstrated competencies, knowledge, and skills through results achieved in a shorter timeline.
Experience in utilities, commercial nuclear power, and/or IT systems.
PMP certification; preferred but not required.
Project Manager Senior: Two years of experience as a Project Manager (Grade 7), or demonstrated competencies, knowledge, and skills through results achieved in a shorter timeline.

Responsibilities

Conduct or assist with planning, organizing, directing, and coordinating assigned project activities; perform delegated coordination and administrative tasks and act for the lead project manager or supervisor when unavailable.
Apply project-management principles and methods, including Waterfall and Agile, and develop proficiency in AEP project-management standards.
Support and hold employees and contractors accountable for the AEP System Safety Process and a safe working environment focused on Zero Harm.
Develop, review, and coordinate project plans, schedules, budgets, tools, and staffing; take coordination or lead project-manager responsibilities as assigned.
Communicate project details and status, lead planning meetings and project/outage updates, support stakeholder presentations, and prepare clear written and oral reports.
Build working relationships with project teams, plant and operating-company staff, internal and external customers and partners, contractors, vendors, and suppliers; foster teamwork and customer satisfaction.
Provide guidance and feedback to improve project design, systems, procedures, schedules, and costs.
Assist the lead project manager or independently lead intermediate projects to ensure project work is performed efficiently and on time.
Coach and develop team members in project-management skills and techniques.
Develop and manage procurement plans; manage or assist in managing outside-service contracts, including requests for proposals, bid evaluation, vendor selection, negotiations, vendor performance and quality, and contract compliance.
Conduct or assist with project closeout, including evaluating whether objectives were achieved and benefits realized.
Develop leadership, team-building, meeting-management, communication, listening, strategic planning, risk assessment, prioritization, scope-management, conflict-management, and accountability skills; delegate tasks and hold team members accountable as appropriate.
Develop understanding of economic analysis, project costs, schedules, risks, technical options, engineering and design, procurement, contracting, estimating, construction, startup, and project-management tools and techniques.
Apply input and oversight to procurement documents, contract components, project documents, and critical drawing and document hand-offs between disciplines.
Evaluate team members’ skills and capabilities and make recommendations to support project success.
Promote continuous improvement, maintain a questioning attitude, challenge assumptions, and seek input from subject-matter experts.
Perform light physical duties safely and effectively and support AEP policies, values, principles, structure, and behaviors.