Executive Design Engineer Jobs in Ontario (NOW HIRING)

Project Executive – Design-Build / ICI Construction

Location: Burlington, ON (Onsite | Head Office)

Compensation: $180,000 – $210,000 base salary + performance bonus + benefits + RRSP matching

Employment Type: Full-Time | Permanent

About the Opportunity

Our client is a well-established ICI design-builder specializing in environmentally controlled facilities — cold storage, food and pharma logistics, and food manufacturing environments. Headquartered in Burlington, Ontario, they've built their reputation on strong client and trade relationships, a relentless pursuit of quality, and a genuine commitment to their people.

We're looking for a Project Executive (PX) to lead opportunities from first pursuit through executed Prime Contract — and to set those projects up for predictable, profitable delivery. This is a senior, front-end leadership role at the heart of our design-build model: part business developer, part commercial strategist, part technical authority. If you know how to win the right work and structure it to succeed, this is a seat where your judgment genuinely shapes the business.

What You'll Be Doing

Win Profitable Work Lead opportunities from pursuit to signed Prime Contract, owning pricing strategy, risk allocation, and margin. You're accountable for project wins, revenue, and gross margin — not just activity.

Shape Projects at the Front End Translate limited early information into clear scope, credible budgets, executable schedules, and smart delivery strategies. Identify scope gaps, constructability risks, and unrealistic assumptions before the contract is signed — not after.

Lead the Deal Own pricing and Prime Contract negotiation. Address risk allocation, exclusions, schedule commitments, and payment terms transparently — pricing, mitigating, sharing, or consciously accepting risk.

Provide Executive Oversight After handover, act as project sponsor on assigned work (roughly 20% of the role) — controls reviews, client check-ins, and escalation support — while the SPM/PM team runs day-to-day execution. You stay accountable for the commercial outcome.

Be a Client Leader Set the tone for the client relationship from first engagement through project completion. Build the trust that drives repeat work, expanded scopes, and long-term partnerships.

Grow the Business Depending on where the company is headed, help establish new regional offices or markets, drive regional sales strategy, and align sales capability with delivery.

What We're Looking For

Experience & Background

• 12–15+ years of progressive experience in ICI / industrial / design-build construction, with senior accountability across sales, preconstruction, contract negotiation, and project outcomes
• Demonstrated success closing profitable design-build projects — with real responsibility for revenue, gross margin, and repeat client work
• Deep subject-matter expertise in the design-build delivery of environmentally controlled facilities (cold storage, food/pharma logistics, and food manufacturing a strong asset)
• Degree or diploma in Construction Management, Engineering, Architecture, or a related discipline — or equivalent senior-level experience in complex design-build delivery

Skills & Competencies

• Advanced commercial and contractual expertise: Prime Contract negotiation, pricing strategy, risk allocation, contingency planning, and margin protection
• Strong preconstruction leadership — driving scope clarity, mitigating assumptions and gaps, and ensuring clean handover to execution teams
• Exceptional client-facing, negotiation, and relationship-building skills, with the presence to build executive-level trust and lead complex negotiations
• A rare combination of business acumen, sales leadership, and technical depth — able to originate opportunities, guide clients through complex decisions, and align teams toward successful outcomes
• Portfolio-level oversight capability — reviewing and influencing project controls, forecasts, and delivery risk across concurrent projects without managing day-to-day execution

Logistics

• Onsite at the company's Burlington head office
• Reasonable commute to Burlington required — this is not a remote role

Compensation & Benefits

• Base salary: $180,000 – $210,000 (commensurate with experience)
• Performance / margin-based bonus
• Benefit program + RRSP matching
• Training and development opportunities
• Highly collaborative, high-trust work environment

Why This Role

• You're at the front end where it matters — you win the work and set it up to succeed, rather than inheriting someone else's assumptions
• Real ownership: project wins, margin, and client relationships sit with you
• A specialized, in-demand niche — environmentally controlled design-build — where deep expertise is genuinely valued
• Growth runway: as the company expands, PXs help lead new markets and regional office development