Contract Project Manager Jobs in Naperville, IL (NOW HIRING)

ROLE OVERVIEW

The Project Manager supports Pivot Energy’s owner-side project delivery function from formal handoff out of preconstruction and contract readiness through engineering, procurement, permitting, construction, commissioning, testing, turnover, and final closeout. This role is accountable for leading project execution with discipline across scope, budget, schedule, quality, safety, compliance, documentation, and stakeholder alignment

The Project Manager acts as the primary project-level operator on behalf of Pivot, translating negotiated commercial terms, preconstruction assumptions, budgets, schedules, and risk positions into executable plans and controlled outcomes. The role protects Pivot’s business interests while coordinating internal stakeholders and external partners including EPCs, suppliers, engineers, utilities, AHJs, owner’s engineers, independent engineers, asset management, revenue operations, legal, project finance, procurement, accounting, compliance, and operations.

This role materially supports Pivot’s eight focus areas throughout execution: Stakeholder Management, Contract Management, Quality Management, Financial Management, Schedule Management, Compliance Management, Risk Management, and Document Management.

This role sits primarily within the execution phase of the project lifecycle and is responsible for maintaining continuity, control, and accountability across the following stages:

• Preconstruction handoff and execution readiness
• EPC and subcontract execution alignment
• Engineering phase
• Procurement phase
• Permitting phase
• Construction through Mechanical Completion
• Mechanical Completion through Substantial Completion, including commissioning, performance testing, and capacity testing
• Substantial Completion through Final Completion
• Turnover to O&M, Asset Management, Revenue Operations, and Finance
• Internal project closeout and record completion

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Stakeholder Management

• Serve as the primary project-level coordination lead across internal teams and external delivery partners.
• Maintain alignment among Preconstruction, Engineering, Construction Management, Procurement, Accounting, Legal, Compliance, Project Finance, Asset Management, Revenue Operations, O&M, EPC contractors, utilities, AHJs, OE, and IE.
• Lead regular project working sessions, health reviews, lookaheads, milestone coordination meetings, and issue-resolution meetings.
• Ensure stakeholders understand current project status, forecast dates, financial exposure, required decisions, and open risks.
• Escalate aged decisions, unresolved cross-functional conflicts, and issues that threaten cost, schedule, quality, or commercial outcomes.
• Preserve continuity from preconstruction assumptions and negotiated contract positions into live project execution.
• Coordinate APMs, coordinators, consultants, and external partners to support clean execution and timely issue closure.

2. Contract Management

• Administer Prime EPC agreements, sub-EPC agreements, purchase orders, exhibits, notice provisions, milestone obligations, and change management requirements.
• Understand how contract terms, scope exhibits, specifications, schedule commitments, owner obligations, payment mechanics, and relief provisions interact in execution.
• Issue, track, and preserve formal notices in accordance with contractual requirements and Delegation of Authority.
• Manage change events, change orders, claims support, and commercial issue resolution with appropriate internal review and escalation.
• Coordinate with Legal and leadership on disputed scope, entitlement positions, contractor nonperformance, schedule relief requests, and material deviations from negotiated terms.
• Maintain disciplined contract logs, issue logs, deviation trackers, and records needed to support enforceable project administration.
• Ensure preconstruction handoff items, scope clarifications, negotiated assumptions, and unresolved commercial risks are actively managed in execution.

3. Quality Management

• Ensure project quality expectations are translated from contract and design documents into execution controls.
• Coordinate with Construction Management, Quality, Engineering, EPCs, and vendors to manage submittals, inspections, testing, punch, NCRs, and closeout requirements.
• Support constructability awareness throughout execution and identify quality risks before they turn into rework, delay, or warranty exposure.
• Ensure major material warranties, turnover packages, commissioning records, test reports, and required as-built and acceptance documentation are complete and traceable.
• Support disciplined preparation for Mechanical Completion, Substantial Completion, Final Completion, and performance and capacity testing milestones.
• Reinforce the expectation that quality is a control mechanism, not a cleanup activity at the end of the job.

4. Financial Management

• Own project-level financial control within approved authority, including budget management, commitment alignment, change-event forecasting, contingency usage, and cost-to-complete forecasting.
• Maintain clear visibility into project budget, cost exposure, projected final cost, and pending commercial decisions.
• Manage Estimate-to-Complete, Cost-to-Complete, Estimate at Completion, cash flow awareness, and forecast updates in accordance with company standards.
• Work across Procore, Sage Intacct, Salesforce, Power BI, and related reporting tools to maintain the single source of truth for project financial data.
• Review invoices, pay applications, lien-waiver alignment, milestone backup, and commercial support for payment processing.
• Ensure budget changes, change events, and contingency draws are documented with clear issue, cause, impact, options, resolution, and timing logic.
• Protect continuity from approved contract value to live execution budget to final project closeout.
• Understand job costing methodologies, cost codes, cost types, budget alignment, and the relationship between project controls and portfolio reporting.

5. Schedule Management

• Develop, maintain, review, and manage baselined CPM or logic-based schedules for assigned projects.
• Ensure schedule logic reflects execution reality, procurement durations, engineering dependencies, utility constraints, permitting timing, access constraints, commissioning sequencing, and contractual milestone obligations.
• Lead 3-week lookaheads and near-term coordination reviews to drive predictable field and stakeholder execution.
• Identify critical path risk, out-of-sequence work, milestone slippage, and secondary impacts early enough to influence outcomes.
• Coordinate schedule recovery planning where required and evaluate the schedule implications of design changes, delays, procurement constraints, and contractor performance issues.
• Preserve the distinction between contract dates, internal forecast dates, and risk-adjusted operational dates.
• Ensure schedule assumptions remain traceable from preconstruction handoff through project completion and closeout.

6. Compliance Management

• Ensure execution activities support documented compliance obligations, including safety, environmental requirements, PWA, Domestic Content, FEOC, QA/QC, and funding-related documentation.
• Coordinate with Compliance, Legal, Project Finance, Accounting, Construction Management, and contractors to surface and address compliance gaps early.
• Ensure compliance requirements are translated into execution behaviors, documentation requests, milestone readiness, and payment support.
• Track project documentation required for audits, lender or investor review, closeout, and long-term asset support.
• Adapt project controls and execution expectations when policy, funding, or compliance requirements change.
• Support clean turnover of compliance-related records to downstream stakeholders.

7. Risk Management

• Maintain a proactive, quantified project risk register with clear mitigations, owners, timing, and escalation thresholds.
• Distinguish facts, assumptions, interpretations, active issues, unresolved risks, and probable exposures.
• Identify and escalate scope, schedule, budget, procurement, utility, permitting, compliance, quality, and contractor-performance risks early.
• Use change events and issue logs as control mechanisms to forecast known cost and schedule movement before formal change orders are complete.
• Evaluate second-order impacts, including effects on financing, turnover timing, revenue start, counterparties, and stakeholder confidence.
• Support disciplined decision-making under incomplete information.
• Protect the business without losing sight of long-term partner relationships and execution practicality.

8. Document Management

• Maintain disciplined project records across contracts, schedules, budgets, commitments, submittals, notices, change events, change orders, turnover files, compliance documentation, and closeout packages.
• Ensure Procore and approved systems are accurate, current, and usable as the operative record.
• Protect version control, naming conventions, dashboard accuracy, and traceability of decisions and approvals.
• Ensure project records preserve continuity from contract execution through turnover and internal closeout.
• Support reliable portfolio reporting by maintaining clean, timely, and complete project data.
• Ensure project documentation supports financing, audit, warranty, asset management, and internal governance needs.

9. Behavioral / Judgment Standards

• Cultivate and Protect relationships while protecting Pivot’s business interests.
• Operate effectively when facts are incomplete and timing still matters.
• Distinguish facts from assumptions, interpretations, and noise.
• Use process, documentation, and system discipline as control mechanisms.
• Escalate risk early rather than late.
• Preserve continuity from preconstruction handoff to final closeout.
• Make commercially and operationally sound recommendations rather than only reporting activity.
• Maintain composure and clarity under deadline pressure and stakeholder friction.
• Influence outcomes without needing formal authority over every participant.
• Recognize when collaboration, escalation, or firmness is required.
• Hold a high bar for data hygiene, documentation quality, and follow-through.
• Support predictable, consistent, and reliable delivery outcomes

REQUIRED COMPETENCIES

• Strong understanding of owner-side IPP project delivery across PV, PV plus BESS, DG, C&I, or similar infrastructure execution environments.
• Ability to manage project execution from handoff through turnover using structured control mechanisms rather than informal follow-up.
• Ability to create, interpret, and manage CPM or logic-based schedules with sufficient rigor to identify critical path risk, sequence exposure, and recovery options.
• Ability to manage project financial controls including budget ownership, forecast discipline, contingency management, budget changes, cost forecasting, and EAC reporting.
• Strong contract administration capability, including notice provisions, commercial entitlements, milestone requirements, relief analysis, and change order processing.
• Working knowledge of how engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, testing, and turnover activities interrelate commercially and operationally.
• Ability to operate effectively in Procore, Sage Intacct, Salesforce, Power BI, and related project-controls systems.
• Ability to coordinate submittals, turnover documentation, QA/QC records, testing readiness, warranties, and closeout requirements.
• Ability to integrate safety, quality, and compliance obligations into live project execution rather than treating them as separate workstreams.
• Ability to understand cost code structure, job costing methodologies, and the relationship between project budget setup and downstream execution controls.
• Ability to influence outcomes without dictating contractor means and methods.
• Ability to support predictable, repeatable project outcomes through disciplined use of process, documentation, meetings, and escalation.
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Business, or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Demonstrated experience in project management, construction management, project controls, or equivalent execution roles within renewable energy, infrastructure, or comparable project-based environments.
• Ability to manage multiple internal and external stakeholders through active project execution.
• Working knowledge of contract administration, change management, job costing, forecasting, and risk control.
• Experience using project controls or ERP systems such as Procore, Sage Intacct, Salesforce, Power BI, or similar tools.
• Ability to read and work from drawings, specifications, commercial exhibits, schedules, and execution plans.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to maintain control of detail across multiple active issues and deadlines.
• Ability to operate independently while knowing when escalation is required.
• Understanding of construction financing, tax equity and typical project financing requirements.

PREFERRED COMPETENCIES

• Experience in solar, BESS, community solar, DG, or owner-side IPP execution.
• Experience with design-build, EPC, integrated delivery, or multi-party renewable contracting structures.
• Experience with utility coordination, AHJ permitting, commissioning, turnover, and closeout of renewable energy projects.
• Familiarity with PWA, Domestic Content, FEOC, environmental and safety documentation, and other project compliance obligations.
• Experience with own