Position Summary

Shermco Industries is seeking an experienced Senior Project Manager to lead and execute complex electrical testing, commissioning, engineering, and field services projects exceeding $500,000 in contract value.

This role is not a coordinator position. The Senior Project Manager serves as the business owner of the project, accountable for financial performance, schedule execution, contractual compliance, risk mitigation, and client relationship management.

The ideal candidate has successfully managed large-scale industrial, utility, or mission-critical electrical projects and possesses both strong technical understanding and executive-level business discipline.

Project Ownership

• Assume full P&L responsibility for assigned projects
• Manage projects ranging from $500k to multi-million-dollar contracts
• Protect and improve project margins through disciplined execution
• Maintain accurate forecasting through project completion

Financial Management

• Develop and manage detailed project budgets
• Monitor labor productivity and cost performance
• Maintain forecasting accuracy and revenue alignment
• Identify, price, and capture change order opportunities
• Manage billing cycles and cash flow exposure

Contract & Scope Control

• Interpret and manage contract requirements
• Technical scoping: lead technical reviews of Protection Design Packages to identify long-lead relay components or potential testing bottlenecks before mobilization.
• Ensure scope clarity and enforce structured change management
• Lead RFI development and tracking
• Prevent unauthorized scope execution

Risk Management

• Develop and maintain formal project risk registers
• Risk mitigation: proactively identify risks related to “as-built” drawing inaccuracies or relay logic errors that could impact project margins or system reliability.
• Proactively mitigate safety, financial, schedule, and resource risks
• Escalate high-impact risks appropriately
• Lead contingency and recovery planning

Schedule Management

• Develop and manage detailed project schedules
• Outage Coordination: expertly manage the high-pressure coordination of critical outage windows, ensuring all P&C testing (point-to-point, functional, and in-service) is completed to meet strict return-to-service deadlines.
• Document and manage delay impacts
• Align workforce and engineering resources to schedule demands

Field Leadership & Execution

• Lead cross-functional teams including technicians, engineers, and subcontractors
• Commissioning Oversight: oversee the development of formal Commissioning Plans and “Method of Procedure” documents for cut-overs and relay replacements in live substations.
• Conduct structured project kickoff meetings
• Drive execution quality and minimize rework
• Ensure disciplined documentation and turnover standards

Client Relationship Management

• Serve as primary client interface
• Lead project update meetings and executive briefings
• Navigate conflict professionally while protecting Shermco’s interests
• Develop opportunities for repeat business

Executive Reporting

• Provide clear project performance updates to senior leadership
• Present risk summaries, financial forecasts, and mitigation plans
• Participate in post-project reviews and lessons learned sessions

• 7+ years of experience managing Protection & Controls projects within utility transmission, distribution, or generation environments
• Technical Depth: deep understanding of P&C systems, including protective relaying (electromechanical, solid-state, and microprocessor), SCADA integration, and substation automation.
• Project Scale: demonstrated success managing P&C portfolios or individual projects exceeding $1M in contract value with complex multi-breaker schemes.
• Regulatory knowledge: working with knowledge of NERC/FERC compliance standards, including PRC and CIP, as they relate to commissioning and testing documentation.
• Operational Safety: advanced understanding of electrical safety standards (NFPA 70E, IEEE) and the specific risks associated with working in energized substation environments.
• Financial acumen: mastery of project-level P&L, including labor utilization forecasting for highly specialized P&C technicians and field engineers.
• Proven ability to lead large field teams and multi-disciplinary resources
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with executive presence

Preferred Qualifications

• Education: Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) with a focus on Power Systems.
• Licensure/Certification: Professional Engineer (P.E.) license or PMP certification.
• System Expertise: Familiarity with major relay manufacturer platforms (SEL, GE, ABB, Hitachi, Siemens) and testing software
• Utility Experience: previous experience working directly for or as a prime contractor for major North American IOUs (Investor-Owned Utilities)
• Network: strong existing relationships within the P&C engineering or utility community to assist in resource scaling and troubleshooting.

Competencies

• Strategic thinker with operational discipline
• Financially fluent and margin-focused
• Structured and process-oriented
• High ownership mentality
• Strong negotiation and conflict resolution skills
• Calm and decisive under pressure

What Success Looks Like

• Project Portfolio Growth: successfully lead a portfolio of P&C projects or a major substation capital program exceeding $2.5M in annual revenue within the first 12 months.
• Operational precision: achieve a zero-event safety an reliability record, specifically regarding unplanned outages or inadvertent relay trips during commissioning and cut-over activities.
• Compliance & Quality Excellence: maintain a 100% first-pass acceptance rate on all NERC/FERC-mandated testing documentation and final commissioning reports.
• Forecasting Mastery: demonstrate high-level labor forecasting accuracy for specialized P&C technician teams, maintaining a +/- 5% variance between projected and actual labor costs.
• Scope and Change Management: increase project profitability by identifying and capturing 10-15% in high-margin change orders related to “as-built” discrepancies or logic-based design gaps discovered during field execution.
• Client retention: secure at least one sole-source or MSA-level project from a major utility client based on the successful execution of a complex protection scheme.
• Resource Optimization: reduce “non-billable” field time through optimized outage scheduling.

Why Shermco

Shermco Industries is North America’s largest independent electrical testing and engineering company. As project size and complexity continue to increase, we are investing in professionalizing our project management capability. This role offers the opportunity to lead meaningful, high-impact projects while contributing to the operational excellence of a growing organization.