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Director of Capital Projects

Smith College
Smith College, United States, United Statesfull_timeVerifiedPosted 22 Jul 2025

About the role

If you have any questions about the position or our application process, reach out to us at recruiting-u@smith.edu.

Job Description

Job Summary

Reporting directly to the Senior Director of Capital Projects, the Director of Capital Projects manages multiple capital projects, leads Special Projects within the department, assists in the management of the capital budget, as well as acts as a team lead overseeing the day-to-day coordination of the team of Project Managers’ and OPMs’ work. This position is also responsible for managing and coordinating all necessary project resources and documentation throughout the entire project lifecycle of the capital projects under their management. This includes meeting with the Campus stakeholders to finalize planning, programming, budget, ensuring the enforcement of Smith's strategies and Building Standards, and managing all pre-construction activities with the Town, architects, designers and stakeholders including the maintenance of budget schedule and the management and administration of all contractual requirements for all consultants associated with the projects. This position manages construction as well as project closeout. This individual has knowledge of construction financials, understands and manages risk as well as review of contractor’s general work for performance and quality. This individual is responsible for the overall team progress against the project plan through consistent communication and collaboration with all team members. 

Special Projects will include large multi-year capital efforts, as well as strategic initiatives to build the tools, processes, and policies to guide the work of the department, improve project delivery, and inform long-range planning for repair, renewal, management and transformation of space. To this end, the position will manage one or more direct reports and work closely with Campus Planning on the development and delivery of strategic initiatives. Work may be wide-ranging and may include any variety of campus space use, such as academic, residence, science laboratory, athletic, performing arts, site/grounds, utilities, infrastructure, or other. 

Essential Functions:

Project Management 40%

  • Oversees the execution of complex capital projects, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within scope, and within budget.
  • For larger projects, all of the following duties may be assigned; however, at any given time, incumbent will be assigned a number of smaller projects that will include only a subset of these duties.
  • Planning: Manage project-specific planning efforts as assigned.  Manage feasibility studies and other pre-planning efforts.  Conduct the programming phase of capital projects as needed.  Assist in the development of project budget and duration information.
  • Procurement: Manage the selection and procurement of consultants, contractors, and vendors, ensuring maximum competition as appropriate.  Perform administrative tasks related to the management of these contracts, such as writing scopes of work, evaluating proposals, negotiating fees, establishing clarifications, paying invoices, implementing corrective action, or any other contract management activities that may be necessary for the successful fulfillment of services.
  • Design: Manage the design phase of capital projects, including organizing and supervising the selection of architects and other consultants as assigned.  Assist in the establishment of project budget and schedule.  Obtain stakeholder input.  Coordinate design meetings and activities as necessary.  Manage value engineering and/or scope reduction activities to ensure budget compliance.  Ensure design activities are completed within schedule.  Ensure all regulatory requirements are met.
  • Construction: Perform construction phase management duties as necessary for the completion of construction on time and within budget.  Duties include conducting meetings, construction observation, and performing a wide variety of problem resolution activities.  Manage all contractors, consultants, and vendors associated with construction.  Ensure quality control/assurance.  Manage all construction change order activities, including negotiations and dispute resolution.  Coordinate all construction activities with surrounding constraints imposed by campus, neighborhood, or city operations.  Maintain updates to project budget and schedule.
  • Acceptance: Perform activities as necessary to ensure appropriate final project acceptance.  Manage punchlist and contract compliance.  Ensure receipt, acceptance, and turnover o

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Company

Smith College

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