Operations Trainer Jobs in Michigan (NOW HIRING)

Position Summary
We are seeking an experienced Lead Front-Line Leadership Training Facilitator to deliver practical, performance-based leadership development for foremen, front-line supervisors, and emerging field leaders across construction sites, project types, and operational roles.
The ideal candidate is an accomplished leadership facilitator, construction leader, workforce development professional, or field operations trainer with demonstrated experience developing front-line leaders in complex, safety-sensitive, and performance-driven environments. This individual will translate organizational expectations, leadership principles, and real-world field challenges into highly practical learning experiences focused on communication, planning, safety leadership, quality, productivity, customer focus, coaching, accountability, and decision making.
This is not a traditional presentation-based instructor role. The Lead Facilitator will guide participants through realistic jobsite scenarios, role plays, crew huddle simulations, planning challenges, coaching labs, peer feedback, and competency-based performance practice. The successful candidate must possess the facilitation skill, field credibility, and coaching ability necessary to engage experienced craft professionals and supervisors across diverse sites and roles.
Key Responsibilities
• Deliver practical, applied leadership training for foremen, front-line supervisors, and emerging field leaders across construction sites, project types, and self-perform operations.
• Facilitate leadership development focused on communication, safety leadership, Human Performance, planning, crew coordination, quality, productivity, cost awareness, customer focus, coaching, accountability, and decision making.
• Lead realistic jobsite scenarios, leadership role plays, crew huddle simulations, planning challenges, difficult-conversation labs, case analysis, and peer coaching activities.
• Translate organizational leadership expectations, field processes, and operational priorities into clear, practical learning experiences that participants can immediately apply on the job.
• Model effective facilitation and leadership behaviors before requiring participants to practice and demonstrate those behaviors.
• Evaluate participant performance using standardized observation rubrics and observable leadership competencies.
• Provide direct, specific, and constructive performance feedback that helps participants strengthen leadership judgment, communication, planning, and coaching skills.
• Create a psychologically safe but performance-focused learning environment in which experienced field leaders can practice, receive feedback, reflect, and improve.
• Coach participants through realistic situations involving schedule pressure, changing conditions, crew performance, safety risk, quality concerns, customer expectations, and competing operational priorities.
• Reinforce Human Performance principles, Stop Work leadership, questioning attitude, active listening, peer engagement, clear expectations, and appropriate escalation.
• Collaborate with construction, safety, quality, operations, workforce development, and organizational leaders to maintain alignment with current field expectations and business priorities.
• Support facilitator calibration, train-the-trainer activities, and continuous improvement of scenarios, activities, observation tools, and leadership development materials.
Minimum Qualifications
• Minimum of 7-10 years of progressive experience in leadership development, construction operations, field supervision, workforce training, organizational development, or a closely related environment.
• Demonstrated experience training, facilitating, coaching, or developing front-line leaders, supervisors, foremen, or experienced skilled-trades professionals.
• Strong understanding of the transition from individual craft or technical contributor to front-line leader and the challenges associated with leading former peers and experienced crews.
• Demonstrated expertise in adult learning and applied facilitation methods, including scenario-based learning, role play, simulation, case analysis, peer coaching, guided reflection, and performance feedback.
• Ability to facilitate practical leadership development related to communication, accountability, active listening, trust, leadership presence, difficult conversations, conflict, recognition, and employee resistance.
• Working knowledge of front-line planning and operational leadership, including crew coordination, workforce capability, material and equipment readiness, changing conditions, productivity expectations, and escalation.
• Ability to facilitate safety leadership and Human Performance discussions in a way that reinforces leadership behavior, risk recognition, Stop Work responsibility, and proactive field engagement.
• Demonstrated ability to connect front-line leadership decisions to quality, rework, productivity, cost, schedule, customer expectations, and business outcomes.
• Experience evaluating observable participant performance and providing structured, competency-based developmental feedback.
• Strong executive presence, communication, and group facilitation skills with the ability to establish credibility with experienced field and construction audiences.
• Ability to adapt facilitation across different construction environments, project types, craft disciplines, and participant experience levels while maintaining a consistent leadership competency standard.
• Ability and willingness to travel to project sites and training locations as required.
Preferred Credentials and Experience
• Prior experience as a construction superintendent, general foreman, foreman, field operations leader, workforce development leader, leadership development professional, or senior technical trainer.
• Direct experience in commercial construction, industrial construction, infrastructure, self-perform operations, advanced manufacturing, mission-critical construction, or similarly complex project environments.
• Formal education or professional development in adult learning, organizational leadership, construction management, workforce development, human resources, education, or a related discipline.
• Train-the-trainer certification or significant experience qualifying and coaching other facilitators.
• Experience with Human Performance, operational excellence, Lean construction, continuous improvement, or high-reliability leadership practices.
• Experience facilitating supervisor academies, emerging-leader programs, field leadership development, or frontline manager training.
• Familiarity with safety leadership, daily planning, crew huddles, field audits, incident and near-miss communication, quality awareness, and productivity practices.
• Experience using structured observation rubrics, competency frameworks, behavioral assessments, or performance-based evaluation tools.
• Coaching, conflict resolution, Crucial Conversations, DiSC, Situational Leadership, or comparable leadership facilitation credentials or experience.
• NCCER instructor certification, apprenticeship instructor experience, craft training experience, or equivalent technical workforce education background.
• Experience supporting enterprise-wide or multi-site leadership development programs.
Ideal Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate combines exceptional facilitation and coaching skill with a practical understanding of how front-line leadership affects field performance. This individual understands that effective supervisors must do more than communicate tasks - they must engage crews, verify understanding, anticipate constraints, recognize changing conditions, reinforce quality, coach performance, make balanced decisions, and consistently model organizational expectations.
The successful candidate will be comfortable facilitating experienced field professionals, challenging participant assumptions, managing strong personalities, and creating realistic leadership practice without allowing sessions to become lecture-heavy or overly theoretical. This individual can move fluidly between facilitator, coach, observer, and performance evaluator while maintaining a highly engaging and professionally rigorous learning environment.
Training Environment
Training is delivered through a highly applied instructional model emphasizing approximately 30% facilitated leadership instruction and 70% applied leadership practice. The Lead Facilitator will guide participants through jobsite scenarios, role play, crew huddle simulations, planning exercises, coaching practice, case analysis, peer feedback, and structured performance assessment.
Training content spans front-line leadership expectations, communication and leadership presence, safety leadership, Human Performance, planning and operational excellence, quality, productivity, cost and customer focus, coaching, accountability, difficult conversations, conflict, and leadership decision making. The program is designed for delivery across construction sites and roles and evaluates observable leadership performance rather than content recall alone.
Equal Opportunity Employer
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