Vice President, Projects & Dam Safety

Eagle Creek Renewable Energy•Bethesda, MD

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

This executive role reports directly to the CEO and is accountable for two critical organizations: the Projects/capital delivery organization and the Civil Engineering & Dam Safety organization. The position owns the safe, efficient, and rapid execution of the company’s capital program while being ultimately accountable for the integrity of its dams and civil infrastructure. The role involves setting strategy, deploying capital, driving execution, developing talent, and advising the CEO and executive leaders on infrastructure, risk, and growth. It requires the ability to balance speed with an uncompromising commitment to safety. This is a leadership position for someone who wants to build something hard, meaningful, and lasting in a fast-paced environment with high stakes.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related science discipline required.
8+ years in a relevant, capital-intensive industry (utility / power, infrastructure, high-tech manufacturing, aerospace, defense, automotive, or heavy industrial).
5+ years leading multidisciplinary technical and project teams.
Track record managing large capital portfolios and complex infrastructure projects.
Demonstrated ability to lead through organizational complexity at speed, balancing technical, financial, operational, and regulatory demands.
Tenacious mindset, driven by hard, meaningful problems.
Curious mindset, able to learn a domain fast and reason from fundamentals.
Agile mindset, comfortable with rapid change and priority shifts.
Optimistic mindset, with a bias towards action.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree and/or professional engineering licensure (PE) valued.
Infrastructure leadership experience is strongly preferred.
An exceptional leader from an adjacent, safety-critical, high-stakes field will also be seriously considered.

Responsibilities

Own the company’s large-scale capital deployment, accountable for outcomes.
Develop and execute long-term strategy for capital improvements, dam safety, civil asset management, and project delivery.
Build a culture of first-principles thinking, extreme ownership, technical excellence, and continuous improvement, challenging inherited assumptions about cost, schedule, and process.
Create and drive new tools, data, and technology across project management, civil engineering, and dam safety.
Serve as a principal advisor to the CEO and executive team on infrastructure investment, risk, and capital planning.
Provide executive leadership to the project organization delivering capital projects, major maintenance, and strategic initiatives.
Deliver projects safely, faster, and at lower installed cost than the industry norm by leveraging new technology, reducing process friction, and eliminating indecision without compromising quality or safety.
Own portfolio prioritization, capital forecasting, resource planning, and project governance, setting consistent, high standards for execution methodology, controls, contracting, and risk management.
Make sound decisions quickly with incomplete and uncertain information and foster an environment where the team can do the same with confidence.
Hold engineering consultants, contractors, and major vendors to clear, demanding performance expectations.
Ensure lessons learned are rapidly integrated into future project delivery.
Serve as the executive accountable for the company’s dam safety program and civil engineering activities.
Ensure full compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local dam safety regulations and industry standards, including FERC and state dam safety agencies.
Oversee dam safety surveillance, inspections, Potential Failure Mode Analyses, instrumentation programs, Emergency Action Planning, risk assessments, and remediation initiatives.
Uphold an uncompromising standard on safety margins and factors of safety.
Present to the Board of Directors, executive leaders, and the company on strategy, status, and trajectory of programs.
Partner closely with other executive leaders to prioritize investments that improve reliability, availability, productivity, and risk reduction.
Coordinate with Regulatory and Legal teams on permitting, compliance obligations, and regulatory commitments.
Partner with Finance on capital budgeting, forecasting, and financial performance management.
Recruit, develop, and retain a highly accountable, high-performing technical and project organization.
Set clear, demanding expectations and hold people accountable, while empowering them to move with velocity.
Build succession depth and organizational capability for future growth.
Lead geographically dispersed teams.