Freelance Structural Engineering Jobs in California

The Director of Project Management leads the company’s project delivery function for scenic fabrication, experiential fabrication, and event production, owning portfolio execution, client delivery excellence, and the internal operating rhythm from kickoff through closeout.

This role builds and leads a small but high-performing project management team, establishes a scalable and right-sized Project Management Methodology (PMM), and ensures projects are delivered safely, on schedule, on budget, and to the quality standards required in fabrication-driven and live-event environments.

The Director partners closely with Fabrication, Engineering/Drafting, Production, and Installation teams to ensure end-to-end alignment and predictable outcomes, while maintaining senior-level communication with clients, agencies, vendors, and contractors. This role also provides executive oversight of contract strategy, change control, risk management, and portfolio margin performance.

This position reflects best practices in scenic and experiential project management: tight coordination with internal technical design, carpentry, metal, scenic paint, CNC/sculptural, and field installation teams; and proactive relationship-building with production partners, external engineers, and vendors/subcontractors at both tactical and leadership levels.

The Director will bring modern project management principles focused on value delivery, tailoring, governance, stakeholder engagement, quality, risk, and adaptability, while thoughtfully adapting these disciplines to a lean, fast-moving organization in close collaboration with Executive Leadership, Finance Operations, and Fabrication/Production teams.

Portfolio Leadership & Delivery Governance (PMO / PMM)

• Own the active project portfolio, prioritizing work, balancing capacity, and aligning project intake with business goals and shop/field realities.

• Establish and maintain a company-wide Project Management Methodology (PMM) that is scalable, practical, and appropriate for a small, production-driven organization.

• Implement governance rhythms such as stage gates, checklists, decision logs, standard templates, and weekly portfolio reviews.

• Define and evolve standards for scope, schedule, budget, risk, quality, procurement, and stakeholder management, informed by PMI principles and industry best practices.

• Apply “tailored delivery” approaches (predictive, agile, or hybrid) based on project type (retail build-outs, tours, one-off experiential builds) and trade capacity (carpentry, metal, scenic/paint, sculptural).

Client Leadership & Relationship Ownership

• Serve as the executive escalation point for key accounts, ensuring a consistent, high-quality client experience and driving repeat business.

• Lead contract review strategy, including scope clarity, assumptions, exclusions, schedule constraints, milestone and payment terms, and risk exposure.

• Ensure disciplined change management with top-level clients, including pricing, approvals, documentation, schedule impact assessment, and stakeholder communication.

Project Execution Oversight (Scenic, Experiential, and Events)

• Provide portfolio-level oversight across the full project lifecycle, including pipeline forecasting and PM bandwidth planning.

• Advise and support the PM team through kickoff, engineering/drafting, procurement, fabrication, paint/finishing, pack/ship, installation/load-in, strike/load-out, and closeout.

• Ensure strong coordination between engineering/drafting, fabrication shop, field installation teams, and vendors/subcontractors.

• Oversee onsite readiness, including site surveys, access constraints, venue and rigging rules, union compliance (where applicable), truck pack plans, equipment readiness, and install sequencing.

• Drive quality control standards and sign-off gates for materials, fit and finish, structural integrity, safety, and client brand requirements.

Financial Performance & Resource Management

• Own portfolio-level financial performance, including gross margin targets, labor utilization, forecast accuracy, and closeout discipline.

• Partner with Finance Operations to establish standards for labor planning, budget tracking, vendor spend controls, cash flow milestones, billing cadence, and cost-to-complete forecasting.

• Implement systems and habits to detect and address margin erosion quickly, including scope creep, rework, expedited shipping, overtime, and delayed change orders.

People Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, mentor, and develop the Project Management team (Project Managers, Associate Project Managers, Freelance Project Managers).

• Own hiring, onboarding, training, coaching, and performance management for the PM function.

• Build a culture of accountability, proactive communication, and operational excellence while preserving creativity, flexibility, and production speed.

• Standardize role expectations, career ladders, and training paths to ensure consistent outcomes across projects.

Tools, Data, and Continuous Improvement

• Define and maintain a practical project technology stack and reporting approach, including project databases, dashboards, templates, cost tracking, schedules, and change logs.

• Lead post-project reviews and institutionalize lessons learned into the PMM to improve repeatability and predictability.

• Establish a performance evaluation cadence using metrics such as on-time delivery, margin variance, change-order cycle time, rework and rush rates, and client satisfaction.

Safety, Compliance, and Risk

• Ensure disciplined adherence to safety and compliance standards in both shop and field environments.

• Reinforce safe work practices across teams and job sites.

• Lead risk management as an ongoing practice, identifying both threats and opportunities with clear ownership and mitigation strategies.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of project leadership experience in scenic fabrication, experiential fabrication, exhibits, live events production, retail build-outs, or related custom fabrication environments. PMP Certification is a plus.

• 3+ years leading project management teams and/or operating a PMO-style function with portfolio oversight and standardized delivery.

• Demonstrated expertise managing fabrication and installation workflows with cross-functional teams (technical and fabrication designers, shop, field installation, vendors).

• Strong ability to adapt modern project management principles to a specialized, fast-paced, production-driven environment.

• Proven success delivering complex, schedule-critical projects in high-change environments.

• Excellent client-facing leadership skills, including executive communication, negotiation, and escalation management.

• Strong financial acumen, including forecasting, margin management, labor planning, and vendor cost control.

• Proficient in reading and interpreting drawings, shop drawings, and fabrication documentation.

• Software familiarity preferred in Google Workspace; Excel/Sheets; Smartsheet, Monday, Asana; familiarity with SketchUp, Illustrator, or CAD is a plus.

Benefits

• Competitive Salary

• Benefit Eligible

• Paid Vacation / PTO