Senior Manager, Construction Operations

Job Summary:

Fortis Fire & Safety is seeking a Senior Manager, Construction Operations to own project financial performance across our contracting branches. This is a high-accountability, field-rooted leadership role built around one core discipline: ensuring that every project we sell is executed at or above its estimated margin — and that when a project begins to slip, we identify it early, understand why, and correct it fast.

The Senior Manager serves as the company’s subject matter expert in fire sprinkler, fire alarm and security contracting operations and is the primary driver of our slip/gain/fade management framework. This leader will partner with Branch Managers, Project Managers, and field teams to establish rigorous project controls, standardize how we track earned value and labor productivity, and hold the organization accountable to the financial commitments made at the time of estimate.

This is not a behind-the-desk role - this role is based in Schaumburg, IL but has a Multi-State Scope. The ideal candidate is deeply fluent in the field realities of sprinkler contracting — labor productivity, subcontract management, material procurement, and schedule execution — and brings that fluency to bear in driving measurable improvement in project outcomes across all branches.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Own the slip/gain/fade management framework across all branches — establish, implement, and continuously improve how Fortis tracks, reports, and responds to project margin variance.
• Drive weekly cost-at-completion forecasting disciplines; ensure Project Managers are actively comparing actual vs. estimated labor hours, material costs, and subcontract commitments on every active project.
• Define and enforce early warning indicators for project margin erosion: labor overruns, procurement delays, change order backlog, schedule slippage, and billing lag.
• Lead structured project reviews (kickoff, mid-project, and closeout) with a consistent focus on financial performance, root cause analysis of variance, and corrective action accountability.
• Analyze gain/fade patterns across the portfolio to identify systemic estimating, procurement, or execution issues — and translate findings into process corrections.
• Partner with Finance to ensure project financial reporting is timely, accurate, and decision-ready.
• Oversee construction project planning and execution across all branches to ensure projects are properly staffed, scheduled, resourced, and coordinated from award through closeout.
• Develop and enforce standardized project startup procedures: verify scope alignment, confirm labor and material budgets, establish project schedule milestones, and set performance baselines before work begins.
• Ensure field teams are executing in accordance with contract requirements, safety standards, and customer commitments — and that project managers are proactively managing risk, not reacting to it.
• Facilitate coordination across estimating, design, fabrication, procurement, and field operations to eliminate execution breakdowns that drive cost and schedule overruns.
• Conduct operational site visits and project audits to assess execution quality, labor productivity, and schedule adherence in the field.
• Develop and implement standardized operating procedures, project controls, and performance expectations across all Fortis branch locations.
• Drive operational consistency while accommodating branch-specific market conditions and business needs.
• Serve as the company’s primary subject matter expert for sprinkler contracting operations, construction best practices, and project execution.
• Collaborate with executive leadership to align operational strategy with Fortis’s growth objectives and M&A integration needs.
• Partner with branch leadership to assess staffing capacity, forecast labor demand, and align workforce deployment with backlog and project pipeline.
• Establish clear performance expectations and accountability structures for Project Managers and field operations teams.
• Mentor and develop Project Managers and Operations Managers, building a bench of leaders capable of executing projects at Fortis’s performance standards.
• Work with Human Resources to identify talent gaps and support targeted recruiting, onboarding, and development efforts.
• Support branch leaders in achieving revenue, margin, and productivity targets; identify and escalate underperformance early with specific corrective action plans.
• Partner with Finance and Operations leadership to improve forecasting accuracy, cost control, and backlog management discipline.
• Drive initiatives that improve labor efficiency, subcontract performance, and overall project profitability across the portfolio.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in the sprinkler contracting or fire protection industry, with direct accountability for project financial performance.
• Demonstrated expertise in slip/gain/fade management and cost-at-completion analysis in fire sprinkler contracting environment.
• Proven track record managing multi-branch or multi-region construction operations.
• Deep working knowledge of sprinkler system construction, labor productivity management, subcontract management, scheduling, and project controls.
• Strong financial acumen: able to read and act on project cost reports, earned value data, and branch P&L.
• Experience developing and deploying standardized operational processes and performance management systems across multiple locations.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills; credible with field teams and executive leadership alike.
• Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Business, or related field; equivalent industry experience considered.

Preferred Qualifications

• NICET certification or other relevant fire protection industry certifications.
• Experience with ERP, project management, and construction management software platforms.
• Lean Construction, Six Sigma, or other process improvement training and application in a field operations context.
• Experience supporting PE-backed or rapid-growth organizations through M&A integration and operational scaling.