Entry Level Environmental Project Manager Jobs in Chicago, IL

Description

Position Summary:

The Project Manager is a self-directed professional who exercises independent judgment in managing projects related to emergency and facility operations. The role serves as a partner to clients and internal stakeholders, providing consultative guidance that supports business operations and service delivery. This position oversees the full project lifecycle, including scope, budgets, timelines, and resources, while evaluating risks and resolving complex issues. Operating with minimal supervision, the Project Manager makes decisions that impact project outcomes, financial performance, and client satisfaction, and recommends improvements to enhance operational effectiveness.

Key Responsibilities:

• Leads full project lifecycle strategy and execution: successful project delivery will include full implementation from initiation to deployment for several major and minor initiatives simultaneously.
• Establishes and/or provides advice to management regarding practices, templates, policies, tools, standards, and partnerships to expand and mature these capabilities for the organization.
• Translates complex feedback into actionable tasks and developments to support executable work plans with detailed timelines.
• Evaluates project performance using data analysis and reporting, independently identifying trends, risks, and opportunities, and determining corrective actions to improve future outcomes.
• Provides consulting services to clients with respect to facility and property management.
• Serves as the primary liaison with clients, vendors, and stakeholders, independently managing relationships and negotiating resolutions to complex issues impacting service delivery.
• Monitor, track and control outcomes for numerous projects simultaneously to resolve issues, conflicts, dependencies and critical path deliverables.
• Consult with and advise management on all aspects of project management, client projects, and deliverables to clients.
• Negotiates and approves subcontractor agreements utilizing professional and industry knowledge, including selection, engagement, performance management, and termination decisions based on business needs and project outcomes.
• Creates and directs project schedules, budgets, costs, bids, and materials.
• Authorizes change orders, discounts, and changes in pricing consistent with client needs and market conditions.
• Investigates, resolves, and troubleshoots issues related to client projects, including but not limited to quality control, budgeting, and timeliness.

Skills/Traits/Competencies

• Effective Communicator: Works effectively with people outside formal authority to accomplish goals. Consistently communicates with clarity and thoroughness to optimize audience understanding. Communicates information in a clear, concise, and timely manner. Demonstrates effective speaking and presentation skills.
• Peer Relationships: Easily gains trust and support of peers and encourages collaboration. Represents his/her own interest while being fair to other groups; seen as a team player; quickly finds common ground and solves problems for the good of all; is candid with peers.
• Collaboration/Relationship Building: Develops and maintains effective working relationships with team members, internal partners, customers and other through the use of strong interpersonal skills. Obtains cooperation from others; seeks and encourages win-win alternatives. Works effectively with people outside formal authority to accomplish goals
• Problem Solving: Asks good questions and probes all sources for answers; sees underlying or hidden patterns; looks beyond the obvious and doesn't stop at the first answers. Uses rigorous logic and methods to analyze and understand why problems occur; generates and implements creative, cost effective and realistic solutions.
• Project Management: Effectively uses the company's systematic approach to planning, organizing, directing, supervising and accomplishing the goals of a project(s) requirements and activities to meet objectives. Includes balancing the task requirements within the constraints of schedules and budgets.
• Self-Sufficiency and Autonomy: Has the ability and expertise to operate independently and with minimal oversight with respect to all job requirements.

Benefits

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• EAP
• STD/LTD
• Basic Life and AD&D
• Voluntary Life
• Supplemental: Accident, Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity
• Cell Phone Stipend
• 401(k)
• Paid Time Off
• Paid Holidays

Watterson is an Equal Employment Opportunity and E-Verify employer.

Disclaimer: This job description is intended to outline the general nature and level of work performed by employees in this role. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, or competencies. Employees may be directed to perform job-related tasks other than those specifically presented in this description based on business need.

Requirements

Experience/Education/Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related field, preferred.
• At least 4 years of work experience, with a minimum of 2 years' experience in a comparable role, ideally managing people.
• PMP or CAPM certification, preferred.
• High school diploma or equivalent.
• Proficiency with project management software and methodologies, highly preferred.
• Strong customer relations experience and an ability to manage competing priorities across concurrent projects.

Physical Requirements

• Ability to perform the essential functions of the position in an office or job-site environment.
• Ability to remain in a stationary position and/or move throughout the workplace as needed.
• Ability to operate standard office and job-related equipment.
• Ability to occasionally reach, bend, kneel, climb, and lift or move items weighing up to 20 pounds.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.