Project Manager

Pittsburgh, PA

Pole Inspection Project Manager

Job Responsibilities

  • Take a leadership role in managing and growing the utility pole maintenance program

  • Serve as the Subject Matter Expert in wooden utility pole inspections and remediations

    • Establish policies and procedures required to repeatably produce quality work

    • Ensure all regulatory requirements are always met (DOT, pesticide licensing, etc.)

    • Identify foreman and crew member candidates to increase crew capacity

    • Interpret engineering specifications, contract documents and requirements, safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals

  • Secure and maintain customer accounts through bidding or relationship-based methods

    • Take a leadership role in finding, developing and maintaining customers

    • Visit prospects and customers to promote services, build relationships and gain intel

    • Develop and execute a marketing strategy promoting the Koppers advantage

    • Communicate openly and professionally with potential customers, marketing the Koppers advantage to pole maintenance through effective communication

    • Assess the contents of a utility’s invitation to bid, including the scope of the work, project landscape, and bid analysis structure, and develop an appropriate bidding strategy to both secure the bid and maximize profit

    • Communicate frequently with customers during the course of a project to ensure all issues are addressed efficiently and to the client’s satisfaction

    • Deliver customer reports in a timely manner and structure suitable to the utility

    • Attend industry meetings to learn about new products and share best practices

  • Manage the work of the field crews, with direct supervisory responsibility for the foreman

    • Ensure the safety of every worker and champion the Koppers Zero Harm mission

    • Manage the assignments of foreman to projects to ensure crews work a full week with a full crew using the most logistically efficient means possible

    • Train, equip, and supervise field crews to consistently perform high quality work, regularly mentoring and developing team members

    • Provide foreman and field crews with the work environment, tools and knowledge necessary to meet and exceed production goals

    • Maintain and manage necessary pesticide applicator licensing for self and crews

    • Monitor and maintain acceptable levels of spending on expense items

  • Manage the business

    • Develop a strategy to grow the business, ensuring a full project pipeline

    • Ensure contracted work is completed according to budgetary and timeline constraints while maintaining a high level of excellence

    • Compute costs and prepare estimates for planning, organizing, and scheduling work

    • Maintain budget for the business, including ensuring prompt payment by customers

    • Manage crew schedules and minimize employee turnover

    • Determine cost effectiveness and identify cost trends to identify improvement opportunities including operational improvements, cost reductions, work pace, etc.

    • Identify and implement opportunities to differentiate Koppers from the competition

  • Collaborate with internal stakeholders (Innovation, Process Excellence, IT, Strategy, Operations, etc.) to grow the business in support of Koppers strategy

Qualifications

  • High school diploma or GED required.  BS in Business, Wood Science, or similar preferred

  • 2-5 years of experience in utility pole maintenance; 1 year of field experience preferred

  • Supervisory experience in utility pole maintenance, construction, or similar strongly preferred

  • Experience setting policies and procedures ensuring a safe environment allowing workers to produce consistent high quality while adhering to regulatory requirements strongly preferred

  • Experience with preparing winning bids for work that maximizes profits strongly preferred

  • Experience leading remote teams to successfully complete quality contract work while meeting timeline, budgetary, and other resource constraints strongly preferred

  • Experience with customer relations, both prior to securing an account and once a contract is secured, ensuring all terms are met to the customer’s satisfaction strongly preferred

  • Strong communication experience – written and oral, to internal and external stakeholders and customers, and throughout all levels of the organization

  • Must possess extensive knowledge of utility pole maintenance, from the field work and relevant regulations to the customer relationships and bidding process

  • Knowledge of inspection techniques/methodologies and types of remediation chemicals

  • Must be a strategic thinker capable of assessing a job’s landscape and invitation to bid structure and modifying the strategy appropriately to secure the contract and maximize profit

  • Working knowledge of Microsoft office products including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint

  • Ability to work non-standard hours, be on call evening and weekends, and travel overnight as necessary to achieve desired results.  Domestic travel, at least 50%.

Koppers Inc. and its subsidiaries are equal opportunity employers and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of age, color, disability, genetic information, ethnicity, national origin, race, religion, sex, veteran status, or any other category or characteristic protected by federal law or by any applicable state or local law.

Koppers, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is an integrated global provider of treated wood products, wood treatment chemicals and carbon compounds. Its products and services are used in a variety of niche applications in a diverse range of end-markets, including the railroad, specialty chemical, utility, residential lumber, agriculture, aluminum, steel, rubber, and construction industries.  With more than 1,800 employees, it serves its customers through a comprehensive global manufacturing and distribution network, with facilities located in North America, South America, Australasia, China and Europe. 


About: Koppers is also firmly committed to advancing a Zero Harm culture that places the care and protection of its people, environment and communities above all else. This focused approach empowers employees to ensure safe operations through a heightened awareness of process safety, product safety, environmental stewardship and security.


Koppers was established in December 1988 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and became a publicly-traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2006.

Kevin Ragon