Senior Vice President, Director of Standards & Excellence Greater Hartford, CT Area

The Opportunity

WSP is seeking a senior leader to serve as Senior Vice President, Director of Standards & Excellence, responsible for establishing the processes, procedures, standards, methodologies, and tools that underpin a consistent Project Management and Controls operating model across the organization. This role can be based out of any WSP USA office.

Reporting to the senior leadership of the Program Management Business Line organization, this role will work closely with Project Controls leaders, Project and Program Managers, Operations, Finance, Commercial Management, Risk, Quality, and Technology teams to translate the WSP Project Management and Controls vision into practical, scalable, and consistently applied ways of working.

Key Responsibilities

Develop Standards, Processes & Procedures

• Lead the development and implementation of the Project Controls framework, standards, policies, procedures, methodologies, work instructions, and supporting tools.
• Establish consistent approaches across the project lifecycle, from pursuit and project initiation through execution, monitoring, forecasting, reporting, and closeout.
• Standardize core Project Controls practices including project setup, WBS/CBS development, baseline management, cost and schedule management, forecasting, EAC/ETC, earned value, change management, risk management, progress measurement, reporting, invoicing support, and project closeout.
• Develop standard templates, checklists, workflows, RACI matrices, guidance documents, and minimum Project Controls requirements.
• Establish appropriate levels of controls based on project size, complexity, risk profile, client requirements, and delivery model.
• Define clear interfaces and handoffs among Project Controls, Project Management, Finance, Commercial Management, Operations, Risk, Quality, and other project delivery functions.

Drive Consistency Across the Organization

• Partner with PMs and Project Controls leads to implement the framework consistently across market sectors and geographies.
• Establish the minimum standards that should be common across WSP, while creating a structured method to address legitimate business-line, client, and market-specific requirements.
• Identify inconsistencies, duplication, and gaps in existing Project Controls practices and lead efforts to harmonize approaches.
• Facilitate cross-business collaboration to identify best practices and incorporate them into the national framework.
• Establish governance for approving changes, exceptions, and future enhancements to Project Controls standards.
• Serve as the national authority for interpretation and application of Project Controls processes and methodologies.

Establish Project Controls Governance, Innovation & Assurance

• Define minimum control requirements, checkpoints, performance measures, and escalation criteria.
• Work with Business Line leaders to identify recurring performance gaps and develop corrective actions.
• Create mechanisms to capture lessons learned and systematically incorporate them into standards, processes, and training.
• Develop metrics that measure adoption, consistency, process effectiveness, and continuous improvement.
• Establish standardized requirements for dashboards, portfolio reporting, forecasting, schedule and cost reporting, risk reporting, and management-level performance visibility.
• Support the development and adoption of Power BI, InEight, Primavera P6, financial systems, document-management platforms, and other Project Controls technologies used across the organization.
• Advance the responsible use of analytics and AI to improve efficiency, data quality, forecasting, and management insight.
• Evaluate lessons learned from projects and business lines to continually improve standards and procedures.
• Lead working groups and communities of practice focused on Project Controls disciplines such as cost, schedule, risk, change, reporting, and performance analytics.
• Evaluate emerging methods and technologies and recommend improvements to the national Project Controls leadership team.
• Balance standardization with practical implementation so that processes strengthen project delivery rather than create unnecessary administrative burden.

Who You Are

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Business, Finance, Project Management, or a related discipline.
• 15+ years of progressive experience in Project Controls, program management, project delivery, PMO leadership, operational excellence, or a related discipline.
• Significant experience developing and implementing Project Controls processes, procedures, standards, methodologies, and governance frameworks.
• Strong knowledge of cost management, scheduling, forecasting, earned value, risk management, change management, performance measurement, reporting, and project closeout.
• Experience working across multiple projects, programs, business units, or market sectors within a large matrixed organization.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex business and project-delivery requirements into practical, scalable processes.
• Demonstrated experience driving process adoption and organizational change across diverse stakeholder groups.
• Strong facilitation, communication, stakeholder-management, and executive-influencing skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• PMP, AACE CCP, PSP, PMI-SP, PgMP, or other relevant professional certification.
• Experience establishing or leading a Project Controls Center of Excellence, PMO, Project Management Excellence, or similar enterprise capability.
• Experience developing Project Controls maturity models, assurance frameworks, or project health-check programs.
• Working knowledge of Power BI, InEight, Primavera P6, Deltek, SAP, and related project-management and reporting platforms.
• Experience with process automation, advanced analytics, and AI-enabled Project Controls solutions.
• Experience across multiple infrastructure, engineering, construction, or professional-services market sectors.

Why Join WSP

This role offers the opportunity to build a national function with a direct impact on project delivery, financial performance, governance, risk management, and leadership decision-making. The organization is intended to create a scalable and sustainable delivery model, institutionalize consistent project performance practices, and enable Project and Program Managers to place greater focus on clients, teams, and technical excellence. #LI-MP1

WSP Benefits:

WSP provides a comprehensive suite of benefits focused on a providing health and financial stability throughout the employee’s career. These benefits include coverage related to medical, dental, vision, disability, and life; retirement savings; paid sick leave; paid vacation (or other personal time); paid parental leave; and paid time off for purposes of bereavement, voting, and/or attendance at naturalization proceedings.

Compensation:

Expected Salary (all locations): $260,000-$290,000/year

WSP USA is providing the compensation range that the company in good faith believes it might pay and offer for this position, based on the successful applicant’s education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities in addition to internal equity and specific geographic location. WSP USA reserves the right to ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant’s sex or other status protected by local, state, and/or federal law.

Expected Salary (Colorado only): $260,000-$290,000/year

WSP USA is providing the compensation range that the company in good faith believes it might pay and/or offer for this position within the state of Colorado, based on the successful applicant’s education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities in addition to internal equity and specific geographic location. WSP USA reserves the right to ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant’s sex or other status protected by local, state, and/or federal law.

About WSP

WSP USA is the U.S. operating company of WSP, one of the world's leading engineering and professional services firms. Dedicated to serving local communities, we are engineers, planners, technical experts, strategic advisors and construction management professionals. WSP USA designs lasting solutions in the buildings, transportation, energy, water and environment markets. With more than 15,000 employees in over 300 offices across the U.S., we partner with our clients to help communities prosper.

WSP provides a flexible and agile workplace model while meeting client needs. Employees are also afforded a comprehensive suite of benefits including medical, dental, vision, disability, life, and retirement savings focused on providing health and financial stability throughout the employee’s career.

At WSP, we want to give our employees the challenges they seek to grow their careers and knowledge base. Your daily contributions to your team will be essential in meeting client objectives, goals and challenges. Are you ready to get started?

WSP USA (and all of its U.S. companies) is an Equal Opportunity Employer Race/Age/Color/Religion/Sex/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/National Origin/Disability or Protected Veteran Status.

The selected candidate must be authorized to work in the United States.

NOTICE TO THIRD PARTY AGENCIES:

WSP does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters, employment agencies, or other staffing services. Unsolicited resumes include any resume or hiring document sent to WSP in the absence of a signed Service Agreement where WSP has expressly requested recruitment/staffing services specific to the position at hand. Any unsolicited resumes, including those submitted to hiring managers or other business leaders, will become the property of WSP and WSP will have the right to hire that candidate without reservation – no fee or other compensation will be owed or paid to the recruiter, employment agency, or other staffing service.