Senior Project Manager

Senior Project Manager at Orbital Energy Senior Project Manager at Orbital Energy in Franklin Park, Illinois Posted in 1 day ago.

Type:

full-time

Job Description:

OVERVIEW

Orbital Energy is a renewable energy engineering, construction, and consulting company based out of the Midwest. Helping clients build energy generation and storage systems since 2015, our team has combined decades of experience as engineers and consultants within the energy industry, bringing engineering expertise to the commercial, industrial, and utility sectors across the globe, all with the goal of expanding the distribution of affordable and efficient energy systems worldwide. This position offers challenge and opportunity with a leading-edge company in a strong growth industry with operations throughout the US. Orbital Energy's growing portfolio and clients include commercial business owners, utility companies, universities, municipalities, and more. Many of our projects are pushing the envelope of technology and financing in the renewable energy industry. Projects typically range from $300,000 to $10M, with occasional projects as large as $20M. The projects are fast-paced, exciting, and rewarding, with responsibility of interacting with our wide range of clients and different project types. The Senior Project Manager (SPM) owns the full project life-cycle-from early-stage development through construction, commissioning, and handoff. This dual-focused role aligns front-end project origination (scoping, permitting, commercial structuring) with back-end execution (engineering, procurement, construction, and close-out) to deliver projects on time, on budget, while also to quality, track safety, and meet stakeholder expectations. The SPM will work closely with the Operations, Engineering, and Sales staff and be expected to participate in as many as 5-6 projects at the same time. During a typical day, The ability to adapt and change focus quickly and often is essential.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Front-End (Development) Back-End (Execution)

• Lead feasibility, site selection, and preliminary design reviews.
• Drive financial modeling, PPA/pricing inputs, and investment memos.
• Oversee entitlement, permitting, utility interconnection, and environmental studies.
• Coordinate early stakeholder engagement-landowners, utilities, AHJs, community groups.
• Develop baseline schedules, risk registers, and cap-ex/ op-ex budgets for hand-off to EPC.
• Convert development deliverables into detailed project execution plans.
• Manage EPC partners, subcontractors, and vendors-RFPs, contract negotiation, change orders.
• Control schedule, cost, scope, and quality using earned value and critical-path methods.
• Lead weekly progress meetings; publish KPI dashboards and executive reports.
• Own startup, commissioning, punch-list close-out, and turnover to O&M or asset management. Cross-Functional / Leadership
• Mentor project managers and coordinators; foster a culture of safety and continuous improvement.
• Serve as the single point of contact to senior leadership, investors, and clients.
• Champion proactive risk management, regulatory compliance, and ESG standards.