Senior Director Project Management, I&C

Cooper Electrical is seeking a Senior Director of Project Management for its Instrumentation & Controls division to succeed the longtime leader who founded and built the division over the

past 20 years. The division is successful, profitable, and supported by longstanding relationships with highly respected clients. The incoming leader will inherit a strong foundation, active work, and an incumbent leader who is committed to providing an intentional transition over the next 18 months. During the initial year, the Senior Director will work closely alongside the incumbent leader to understand Cooper’s clients, estimating approach, project delivery model, profitability expectations, internal operations, and unique place in the industrial instrumentation market. This person will be introduced intentionally to clients and included in meetings, proposals, project visits, and ongoing work so that trust can be transferred rather than assumed. The Senior Director will help expand Cooper’s capacity by developing project management talent, strengthening estimating infrastructure, pursuing new opportunities, and building repeatable systems that allow the division to take on larger and more complex work without compromising its quality, culture, or profitability. This is the highest leadership role within the I&C division and offers the opportunity to become the trusted steward of one of Cooper’s most valuable and specialized business units.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and strengthen trusted client relationships while ensuring a seamless transition of key customer accounts and long-standing partnerships.
• Identify, pursue, estimate, and win profitable industrial instrumentation and controls projects.
• Provide strategic oversight of projects from pursuit through completion, ensuring work is delivered safely, on schedule, within budget, and to Cooper's quality standards.
• Lead financial performance through forecasting, job-cost management, labor planning, change-order management, and overall project profitability.
• Partner with project managers, superintendents, estimators, vendors, and company leadership to proactively solve problems and drive successful project execution.
• Mentor and develop project management talent while building the systems, processes, and infrastructure needed to support future growth.
• Serve as the technical and operational leader for the Instrumentation & Controls division, upholding Cooper's culture of servant leadership, accountability, and exceptional client service.

Experience Needed

• 15 years of experience delivering industrial electrical instrumentation and controls work.
• Relevant field, construction, project management, estimating, and client leadership experience is required.
• Demonstrated experience developing and maintaining direct client relationships.
• Experience estimating and installing complex industrial instrumentation projects, including labor, materials, equipment, controls, instrumentation, panels, I/O points, direct and indirect costs, and multi-vendor scopes.
• Experience within pharmaceutical, bioscience, manufacturing, utilities, wastewater, data centers, or other highly regulated industrial process environments is strongly preferred.
• Relationship-Driven Leader: Builds trust with clients, field teams, vendors, and internal stakeholders while leading through influence and collaboration.
• Technical & Commercial Acumen: Brings deep instrumentation and controls expertise with the ability to estimate work, evaluate risk, protect margins, and deliver profitable projects.
• Humble & Servant-Oriented: Values learning, empowers others, and leads with humility while honoring Cooper's culture and established successes.
• Strategic Communicator: Communicates clearly and confidently with clients, leadership, and project teams in both written and verbal settings.
• Organized & Decisive: Thrives in complex environments by interpreting technical information, making sound decisions, and keeping projects moving forward.
• Technology Proficient: Comfortable using Microsoft Office and modern construction and project management platforms such as Procore, Primavera P6, BuildingConnected, Autodesk Construction Cloud, and similar systems.
• High Integrity: Demonstrates accountability, dependability, and an unwavering commitment to follow through on commitments.

Who is Cooper?

Founded in 1954, Cooper Electrical Construction Company is a family-owned electrical contractor delivering complex projects across the pharmaceutical, bioscience, data center, utility, and wastewater markets. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, Cooper is licensed throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia. Cooper has experienced significant recent growth in increased revenue, and now has roughly 300 employees. Cooper operates through three primary divisions: Electrical, Utility, and Instrumentation & Controls.

The Instrumentation & Controls division specializes in the installation of industrial process instrumentation. Cooper installs control panels, instruments, field devices, conduit, wiring, and related hardware that allow complex industrial systems to measure and control variables such as pressure, temperature, flow, level, pH, and conductivity. Unlike a systems integrator that primarily designs and programs software, Cooper provides the critical physical installation that connects instruments to the systems controlling a facility’s operations.

Cooper’s I&C work is highly specialized and plays a critical role in completing complex industrial projects. The division has earned a reputation for solving problems, adapting when plans are

incomplete, and delivering excellent work every time. This expertise, along with decades of trusted client relationships, has allowed the division to consistently generate strong profitability and results.

Cooper’s culture is grounded in four core values: Servant - Put the needs and success of others first; Get in the Ditch - No one is above stepping in and helping the team; Do What You Say - Follow through and remain accountable; Deliver Quality Work, or Don’t Do It at All - Excellence is never optional.