Risk Manager

Luster National•Los Angeles, CA

About The Position

Luster is seeking Risk Managers for future roles supporting large, complex heavy-civil infrastructure programs, including highways, roads, bridges, transit, aviation, and water/wastewater projects delivered through traditional and alternative methods. This posting is for upcoming hiring needs, not for a currently available specific opportunity. Candidates selected in advance are placed in Luster’s talent pool and notified first when a project need arises. The Risk Manager runs risk management for an assigned program, maintains a credible risk register, quantifies cost and schedule exposure, and develops contingency positions that can be supported before funding agencies, oversight bodies, and boards. The role requires substantial experience in scheduling, estimating, or construction management, alongside risk-management expertise. The position includes developing risk governance and processes, facilitating risk assessments, analyzing schedules and quantitative risk, tracking mitigation, evaluating changes and claims, reviewing contract risk allocation, reconciling risk with cost and schedule outcomes, coordinating third-party interfaces, and preparing and defending risk and contingency materials for funding and oversight reviews. The Risk Manager also calibrates models against actual outcomes, benchmarks contingency use, and improves program risk practices.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, construction management, construction engineering, engineering management, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
At least 10 years of risk management experience on large (over $500 million), complex heavy-civil infrastructure projects.
Experience facilitating risk workshops and building and maintaining a program risk register across the project lifecycle.
Experience performing quantitative cost and schedule risk analysis and translating results into contingency and mitigation recommendations.
Working knowledge of CPM scheduling and cost forecasting sufficient to assess whether program schedule and cost positions reflect risk-register exposure.
Experience with industry-standard risk analysis and scheduling software, such as Primavera Risk Analysis, Deltek Acumen Fuse, @Risk, or Primavera P6.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite or Office 365, including tools such as Outlook, Teams, Word, and PowerPoint.
Excellent written and verbal communication and interpersonal skills.
Strong multitasking and organizational skills.
Collaborative approach that fosters teamwork, trust, and positive relationships.
Curiosity, problem-solving ability, and commitment to continuous improvement.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in civil engineering, construction management, construction engineering, or engineering management.
Active professional certifications such as PMI-RMP or PMP (PMI), and/or DRMP or CCP (AACE).
Experience leading the owner’s risk management function on a program exceeding $1 billion in construction value.
Experience setting and defending contingency levels before executive boards, funding agencies, and independent oversight or audit bodies.
Experience evaluating contractor delay claims and time impact analyses, including concurrent delay, and supporting the owner’s negotiation position.
Experience managing risk on bridge and structures packages, water and wastewater facilities, or third-party interfaces involving railroads, utility owners, and airport or transit operations groups.
Experience establishing a risk management process on a program that did not have one and coaching project teams in its use.
Proficiency with Microsoft Power BI, Oracle Cloud Analytics, or other dashboard KPI reporting software.

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain the program risk management plan, process, and governance framework in alignment with contract requirements and funding agency standards.
Facilitate risk identification and assessment workshops with program staff, designers, and contractors, and maintain a ranked register of threats and opportunities.
Quantify cost and schedule exposure using Monte Carlo or comparable simulation and develop contingency recommendations tied to stated confidence levels.
Analyze baseline schedules and monthly updates for logic, calendar, and float integrity, and assess whether schedule exposure aligns with the risk register.
Track mitigation actions through completion, hold action owners to committed dates, and escalate stalled mitigation.
Evaluate change proposals, delay claims, and time impact analyses for program exposure, and support negotiation positions with quantified cost and schedule findings.
Review risk allocation in procurement and contract documents and recommend terms assigning each risk to the party best positioned to carry it.
Reconcile risk positions with cost forecasts, schedule updates, and change logs, and report exposure through dashboards and written briefs.
Coordinate risk across third-party interfaces, including utility owners, railroads, adjacent contracts, and operating facilities affected by construction.
Prepare risk and contingency sections of funding submissions, board packages, and independent oversight reviews, and defend the underlying assumptions.
Calibrate models against actual program outcomes, benchmark contingency draw against comparable programs, and improve risk processes using lessons learned.