Senior Project Manager

Compass • Philadelphia, PA

14d • Hybrid

About The Position

Compass is seeking an experienced Senior Project Manager to join its Design + Build team. This role will lead and develop a distributed team of Project Managers who collectively oversee construction, renovation, and capital programs across 1,000+ locations nationwide. The ideal candidate is highly organized, customer-focused, and capable of managing multiple projects simultaneously while collaborating with internal stakeholders, external consultants, and vendors.

Requirements

• 2+ years managing Project Managers
• 7+ years of experience managing commercial construction, workplace, or facilities projects.
• Bachelor's degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Architecture, Facilities Management, or a related field.
• Experience managing multiple concurrent projects in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong budget management and financial tracking experience.
• Proficiency with construction and project management software.
• Working knowledge of commercial building systems, including HVAC, plumbing, electrical distribution, and fire/life safety systems.
• Ability to review drawings, identify constructability concerns, and collaborate with design and construction teams to resolve issues.
• Strong communication, organizational, and stakeholder management skills.
• Willingness to travel as needed to support project execution (approx 20%).

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end Design-Build delivery — from capture strategy and preliminary design through construction completion.
• Guide integrated, multidisciplinary teams to deliver cohesive, high-quality solutions.
• Directly manage, mentor, and develop 4–6 Project Managers, setting clear goals, expectations, and career development paths.
• Establish performance metrics and scorecards for each PM, and conduct regular performance reviews and coaching.
• Own workload and capacity planning across the team. Balance project volume, complexity, geography, and travel to prevent bottlenecks and burnout.
• Serve as the first point of escalation for PMs on scope disputes, schedule risk, vendor performance issues, and stakeholder conflicts.
• Lead hiring, onboarding, and succession planning, and build a bench that can absorb portfolio growth.
• Run a consistent operating cadence: weekly pipeline reviews, monthly portfolio reviews, and quarterly planning sessions.
• Build a culture of accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement, including post-project retrospectives that feed back into SOPs.
• Own capital budget oversight for the national project portfolio, partnering with Finance on annual CapEx planning, allocation, and re-forecasting.
• Establish change order governance : approval thresholds, documentation standards, root-cause tracking, and escalation protocols.
• Deliver executive-level financial reporting on portfolio spend, committed cost, cost-to-complete, variance to budget, and forecast accuracy.
• Build cost benchmarking models (cost per square foot, by market, by project type, by vendor) to inform budgeting, bid evaluation, and value engineering.
• Identify and implement cost optimization strategies, including national pricing agreements, design standardization, and bulk purchasing, without compromising quality or schedule.
• Review and approve major bids, contracts, and pay applications above delegated PM authority thresholds.

Benefits

• Participation in our incentive programs (which may include eligible cash, equity, or commissions).
• Paid vacation, holidays, sick time, parental leave, and recharge leave
• Medical, tele-health, dental and vision benefits
• 401(k) plan
• Flexible spending accounts (FSAs)
• Commuter program
• Life and disability insurance
• Maven (a support system for new parents)
• Carrot (fertility benefits)
• UrbanSitter (caregiver referral network)
• Employee Assistance Program
• Pet insurance

What This Job Offers

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