Preconstruction Project Manager

Job Summary
Ghost Factory is seeking a Preconstruction Project Manager to own preconstruction, design and engineering coordination, and client management from initial project kickoff through fabrication release. This role is critical to ensuring projects are clearly scoped, properly engineered, and aligned with factory and field constraints. while maintaining strong, disciplined client relationships.

The Preconstruction Project Manager serves as the primary owner of the project during the preconstruction and design phase, managing client communication, expectations, and decision-making while coordinating internal estimating, design, and engineering efforts. This role ensures that commitments made to clients are executable, defensible, and aligned with Ghost Factory’s operating model before work enters production.

This position reports to the VP of Operations and works closely with Growth, Engineering, Factory Operations, and Field Operations. The role is primarily based in Austin, TX, with periodic travel to project sites as required.

Duties

• Own projects from award through fabrication release, serving as the primary client-facing point of contact during preconstruction and design.
• Lead project kickoff, establishing scope, schedule, communication cadence, and decision milestones with clients and internal teams.
• Manage client relationships, expectations, and communications throughout preconstruction and design development.
• Translate client goals into clear scopes, budgets, and engineering requirements aligned with operational constraints.
• Lead estimating, pricing, and proposal refinement aligned with factory throughput, field capacity, and financial targets.
• Define and maintain explicit scope boundaries, inclusions, exclusions, and assumptions.
• Coordinate and manage the design and engineering process from kickoff through fabrication readiness.
• Manage external architects, engineers, and consultants to ensure timely, coordinated, and fabrication-ready deliverables.
• Lead constructability reviews and ensure designs align with Ghost Factory’s manufacturing standards.
• Coordinate sequencing, schedule assumptions, and production readiness with Factory and Field Operations.
• Manage preconstruction RFIs, clarifications, and change discussions with clients.
• Lead early value engineering discussions and scope tradeoffs with clients to maintain budget and schedule alignment.
• Maintain preconstruction schedules, budgets, and preconstruction pipelines.
• Deliver standardized handoff packages to execution teams, including:
• Finalized scope and assumptions
• Issued-for-fabrication design and engineering packages
• Cost breakdowns aligned to operations
• Schedule assumptions and milestones
• Ensure execution teams are not inheriting unresolved client decisions or scope ambiguity.
• Capture feedback from fabrication and field execution to improve estimates, design standards, and client communication practices.
• Develop and document repeatable preconstruction, design coordination, and client communication workflows.
• Build and maintain historical cost, schedule, and production benchmarks.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Architecture, or a related field.
• 6 years of experience in preconstruction, design coordination, or design-build project delivery.
• Demonstrated experience managing client relationships during preconstruction and design.
• Proven ability to manage design and engineering processes through construction or fabrication.
• Strong understanding of construction means, methods, sequencing, and design dependencies.
• Experience coordinating architects, engineers, consultants, and internal operations teams.
• Ability to manage multiple active projects in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• High level of judgment, organization, and attention to detail.
• Comfort operating in a startup environment with evolving systems.

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Experience in manufacturing-enabled or industrialized construction environments.
• Familiarity with cold-formed steel or structural steel systems.
• Exposure to residential, commercial, or federal projects.
• Experience managing design-for-fabrication or offsite production workflows.
• Familiarity with BIM, design coordination, and fabrication planning tools.
• Strong process documentation and continuous improvement mindset.

About Ghost Factory

• Ghost Factory is building a new manufacturing platform for construction. We design, engineer, and fabricate building systems using factory-driven processes, then deploy them into the field with speed and precision. By integrating design, engineering, and fabrication into a single operating model, we reduce risk, increase predictability, and deliver outcomes that traditional construction struggles to achieve. Our work spans residential, commercial, and federal projects. What connects it all is a focus on repeatability, fabrication readiness, and disciplined execution. We care about standards, constraints, and throughput because those are the things that make scale possible. Ghost Factory is a place for people who want to build real systems, not just individual projects. The pace is fast, expectations are high, and the problems are interesting. If you enjoy complex work, clear ownership, and seeing your decisions turn into something physical, you will fit in well here.

Pay: $90,000.00 - $120,000.00 per year

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Austin, TX

Salary : $90,000 - $120,000