Start a Watco Career and Discover the Difference

Keep the world’s supply chain moving. That’s what the Watco team does every day at our short line railroads, switching sites, terminals, ports, and logistics hubs. Whether you’re at one of these locations or in a support-services role, there’s one thread that ties everyone together. We’re all on the same team. One Watco. 

Here’s what you can expect from Watco: 

• Award-winning culture recognized by Forbes and Newsweek
• Competitive compensation and benefits
• Leadership and development programs offered through Watco University 
• Career advancement opportunities

Description

Project manager providing leadership and support of construction projects with primary focus on rail and vertical industrial facilities for various transloading needs across Watco rail and marine served ports and terminals.  Project management will assume different levels of responsibility commensurate with project scope and project team resources.  Typical projects originate through the Watco commercial team and progress internally through engineering to construction.  Project Management responsibilities will cover the full lifecycle of a project from conceptual design, through construction, concluding with system commissioning and/or handoff to Operations.  Project Manager is expected to be a hands-on position, providing project support as needed to ensure all aspects are covered through the project team.  Construction experience is preferred to ensure project management can effectively lead the project team through various phases of construction.  Although Watco is based in Eastern Kansas, the Watco operational network has a national footprint with most of our projects originating on Watco owned and operated sites.  Travel to sites is expected, but only to the extent where project management is well positioned to lead the project.  Onsite construction management is normally provided through internal construction resources.    

Responsibilities

Communication

• Leads project team with clear, concise communications ensuring the project team is well informed and has clear vision to the path forward.
• Work with internal and external stakeholders to define concepts, document requirements and identify solutions to support the successful and safe completion of the project.
• Assumes focal point to keep stakeholders informed of project timelines, milestones, deadlines, and changes.

Project Management

• Represents the needs of the Customer, internal and/or external, by ensuring requirements are understood and solutions encompass the full range of performance and financial requirements of the Customer.
• Analyze project plans, drawings, contracts, and requirements to gain a thorough understanding of the project.
• Ensure  scope is clearly established with stakeholders and is managed effectively throughout the project including assessing and capturing project changes.
• Coordination with cross functional teams to eliminate/minimize impacts to safety, production, and quality of service.
• Ability to develop relationships with all parties and provide good communication through all phases, across all parties to ensure project success.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives, identifying areas for optimization and implementing best practices to enhance project efficiency and effectiveness.
• Communicate directly with customer and/or supplier organizations to coordinate work in a dynamic environment.
• Responsible for schedule by working directly with engineering and construction management teams to help plan, coordinate and resolve issues to maintain schedule.
• As needed, managing 3rd party providers to ensure deliverables are on time to support construction schedules. 
• Development, management, and oversight of project budgets and forecasting to ensure projects are completed within budget.
• Understands all aspects of project funding and manages project budget through reconciliation of actual costs, change orders and forecasted spend.
• Ability to provide options through creative problem solving to maintain budget and schedule.
• Manage project risks by identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks to ensure projects are delivered on time, on budget and at a level of quality that enables operational success.

Requirements

• 10 – 20 years of project management/construction management experience.
• Ability to multi-task, work in a fast-paced and dynamic work environment and meet deadlines.
• Current knowledge of industry trends and best practices in project management and/or construction management.
• Established proficiency in development of design and construction deliverables, document management and project monitoring.
• Strong organizational and leadership skills for a multifaceted work environment.
• Ability to integrate with a diverse mix of internal teams and lead to success.
• Proficiency in project scheduling software, Primavera P6 and/or Microsoft Project.
• Customer focused while maintaining a priority on safety.
• Self-starter capable of working independently and making decisions with limited supervision.
• Able to communicate and coordinate cross departmentally through variable levels of responsibility to satisfy data gathering and reporting requirements.
• Proficient in negotiation and conflict resolution.

Preferred Experience

• Extensive knowledge of civil, rail, marine and vertical construction practices.
• Familiarity with concepts and phases of the design life cycle.
• Ability review engineering drawings and assist the engineering phase by providing inputs to ensure constructability.
• Responsibility for construction management of site/civil and vertical industrial facilities.
• Business management software packages.

Travel

• Roughly 15% - 20% travel to establish relationships with customers, secure good visibility to project scope, and keep apprised of conditions and progress.