Director, Real Estate Development & Major Projects, Americas
Vertiv · Westerville
Capital Project Delivery Operating Model
Vertiv's Capital organization serves as the owner-side project management function for real estate and facilities capital investments. Capital professionals are expected to be subject matter experts in project and program management and are accountable for ensuring projects achieve the business requirements, financial objectives, schedule commitments, quality expectations, and risk profile established by Vertiv.
Vertiv generally engages qualified third-party firms to perform detailed project execution, including project management/construction management, architecture, engineering, cost management, scheduling, construction, commissioning, and other technical services. Vertiv owns the project and business outcomes; qualified third parties execute the detailed project delivery activities.
- Business requirements development and validation
- Project objectives, scope, and success criteria
- Business case development and alignment with approved funding
- Owner-level budget, schedule, and milestone oversight
- Governance and stage-gate compliance
- Decision management and escalation
- Risk identification, mitigation, and escalation
- Scope and change control
- Executive and stakeholder reporting
- Cross-functional business coordination
- Commercial oversight and performance management of third-party delivery partners
- Commissioning, transition, and operational handover
Definition of Major Projects: Major Projects include greenfield construction involving a new, ground-up facility; brownfield projects that expand the footprint or capacity of an existing facility; and renovation projects with a total project value greater than $20 million.
Position Summary
The Director, Real Estate Development & Major Projects, Americas is the senior regional owner-side leader responsible for the health, strategy, governance, and successful delivery of Vertiv's Major Projects portfolio across the United States and Mexico.
The Director leads Vertiv's most significant greenfield developments, brownfield expansions, and major renovation investments while also providing regional functional leadership to Program Managers and Sr. Program Managers supporting the Americas Capital portfolio.
The role serves as the primary regional escalation point for significant project issues and is accountable for ensuring regional projects operate within Vertiv's global Capital governance framework.
In addition to managing selected strategic projects directly, the Director provides leadership across project prioritization, delivery strategy, resource requirements, third-party delivery capacity, portfolio risk, and executive reporting.
Total value of assigned CapEx projects will generally range from $200M-$500M, and at times it may exceed $1B.
Key Responsibilities Regional Major Projects Portfolio Leadership
- Provide leadership and oversight for the Major Projects portfolio across the United States and Mexico.
- Maintain visibility of major-project pipeline, portfolio health, risk exposure, key milestones, investment requirements, and resource needs.
- Recommend project prioritization and resource strategies to the Sr. Director – Capital Projects.
- Identify systemic risks and constraints affecting multiple projects within the region.
- Ensure consistency in owner-side project-management practices across the Americas.
- Serve as the senior regional Capital escalation point for Major Project issues.
Major Project Leadership
- Lead selected strategic Major Projects as Vertiv's senior owner representative.
- Establish project objectives, delivery strategy, governance, success criteria, and accountability.
- Maintain owner-level accountability for scope, investment, schedule, risk, quality, and business outcomes.
- Lead projects from initial definition through design, procurement, construction, commissioning, and operational handover.
Development & Delivery Strategy
- Lead front-end project definition, feasibility, development planning, and delivery-strategy evaluation.
- Support assessment of sites, buildings, infrastructure, utilities, permitting, development constraints, and execution risks.
- Evaluate and recommend appropriate delivery approaches, including developer-led, design-build, CM-at-Risk, EPC/EPCM, traditional delivery, or other models.
- Partner with Procurement and Legal to develop sourcing and contracting strategies.
- Balance speed, capital efficiency, operational needs, scalability, and risk.
Regional Delivery Partner Strategy
- Develop and maintain an effective regional ecosystem of project management firms, architects, engineers, cost consultants, developers, contractors, and construction managers.
- Set expectations for external project-delivery partners and hold suppliers accountable for performance.
- Support regional sourcing and preferred-provider strategies.
- Identify recurring supplier-performance concerns and drive corrective action.
- Intervene where supplier performance creates material risk to Vertiv.
Financial & Commercial Leadership
- Maintain executive oversight of Major Project budgets, forecasts, contingencies, commitments, cash flow, and financial exposure.
- Challenge cost plans, estimates, commercial assumptions, and significant change requests.
- Partner with Finance and Procurement to maintain disciplined project financial controls.
- Evaluate major commercial decisions and recommend actions that protect Vertiv's interests.
- Drive value creation without compromising critical safety, quality, operational, or schedule requirements.
Risk, Governance & Escalation
- Establish clear governance, decision rights, escalation paths, and stage gates for Major Projects.
- Identify significant project and portfolio risks and ensure appropriate mitigation strategies are established.
- Lead recovery planning for projects experiencing material performance challenges.
- Consolidate regional escalations and elevate unresolved material matters to the Sr. Director – Capital Projects.
- Ensure executive decisions are identified early and supported with clear alternatives and recommendations.
Regional Program Manager Leadership
- Provide matrix leadership, technical direction, and escalation support to Americas Program Managers and Sr. Program Managers.
- Coordinate priorities and resource requirements across the regional Capital portfolio.
- Review significant project risks, decisions, and performance concerns.
- Coach and develop project-management capability across the regional team.
- Promote consistent application of global Capital processes and owner-side behaviors.
- Executive & Stakeholder Leadership
- Serve as the senior Capital interface with regional and global business leadership for Major Projects.
- Provide concise executive reporting on project and portfolio status, financial performance, risks, decisions, and actions.
- Facilitate alignment among stakeholders with competing priorities.
- Represent the Capital organization in regional governance and executive project reviews.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in engineering, construction management, architecture, real estate, business, or related discipline.
- Typically 15+ years of progressive capital project, construction, development, or program management experience.
- Significant experience leading large and complex capital programs from early development through construction and operational handover.
- Demonstrated experience with greenfield and/or major brownfield industrial projects.
- Deep knowledge of project management, design, construction, cost management, scheduling, contracting, procurement, risk, and project controls.
- Demonstrated experience managing large third-party delivery organizations.
- Strong financial and commercial acumen.
- Experience presenting complex project matters and recommendations to senior executives.
- Ability to operate effectively in high-growth and schedule-driven environments.
- Ability to travel extensively throughout the United States and Mexico.
- Preferred Qualifications
- Experience delivering manufacturing, mission-critical, data center, power, thermal-management, industrial, or other technically complex facilities.
- Experience managing individual projects or portfolios with investments exceeding $100 million.
- Cross-border project experience in the United States and Mexico.
- Experience with multiple project-delivery models, including developer-led, design-build, EPC/EPCM, and construction management.
- PMP, CCM, PE, RA, RICS, or comparable professional certification.
- Spanish-language capability beneficial but not required.
Critical Competencies
Regional portfolio leadership • Major project leadership • Executive presence • Strategic decision-making • Commercial judgment • Risk leadership • Financial discipline • Supplier strategy • Organizational influence • Leadership through influence
The successful candidate will embrace Vertiv’s Core Principles & Behaviors to help execute our Strategic Priorities.
OUR CORE PRINCIPLES: Safety. Integrity. Respect. Teamwork. Inclusion.
OUR STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
• High-Performance Culture
• Customer Focus
• Operational Excellence
• Innovation
• Financial Strength
VERTIV BEHAVIORS
• Own it
• Act with urgency
• Foster a customer-first mindset
• Think big and execute
• Lead by example
• Drive continuous improvement
• Learn and seek out development
• Promote transparent & open communication
About Vertiv
Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) brings together hardware, software, analytics and ongoing services to enable its customers’ vital applications to run continuously, perform optimally and grow with their business needs. Vertiv solves the most important challenges facing today’s data centers, communication networks, and commercial and industrial facilities with a portfolio of power, cooling and IT infrastructure solutions and services that extend from the cloud to the edge of the network. Headquartered in Westerville, Ohio, USA, Vertiv employs around 34,000 people and does business in more than 130 countries. Visit Vertiv.com to learn more.
Work Authorization
No calls or agencies please. Vertiv will only employ those who are legally authorized to work in the United States. This is not a position for which sponsorship will be provided. Individuals with temporary visas such as E, F-1, H-1, H-2, L, B, J, or TN or who need sponsorship for work authorization now or in the future, are not eligible for hire.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Vertiv is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. We promote equal opportunities for all with respect to hiring, terms of employment, mobility, training, compensation, and occupational health, without discrimination as to age, race, color, religion, creed, sex, pregnancy status (including childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity / expression (including transgender status or sexual stereotypes), genetic information, citizenship status, national origin, protected veteran status, political affiliation, or disability. If you have a disability and are having difficulty accessing or using this website to apply for a position, you can request help by sending an email to help.join@vertiv.com
Vertiv's Capital organization serves as the owner-side project management function for real estate and facilities capital investments. Capital professionals are expected to be subject matter experts in project and program management and are accountable for ensuring projects achieve the business requirements, financial objectives, schedule commitments, quality expectations, and risk profile established by Vertiv.