Vice President of Preconstruction & Business Development

About

ABOUT TEEL CONSTRUCTION, INC.

TEEL Construction has built commercial projects across the Mid-Atlantic and throughout the United States since 1987. We are a second-generation general contractor with a purpose we take literally - Built to Serve - and a client base that keeps coming back: more than 90% of our work is repeat business.

We are hiring a Vice President of Preconstruction & Business Development to lead the front end of our business. This is a seat on a tight-knit leadership team, reporting directly to the CEO, with responsibility for 5 connected functions: Estimating, Business Development, Marketing, Advisory Services, and Procurement.

OVERALL RESPONSIBILITY

The Vice President [VP] of Preconstruction is an enterprise leader responsible for integrating TEEL’s Estimating, Business Development, Marketing, Advisory Services, and Procurement functions into one cohesive strategy that drives profitable growth, disciplined pursuit selection, client confidence, and operational readiness. The VP leads through the functional leaders of these areas, establishes clear standards and accountability, and ensures the Company pursues the right work through sound Go/No-Go decision-making, accurate estimating, effective procurement planning, and strong transitions to Operations. The VP serves as an executive-level contact for Clients, Architects, Trade Partners, Suppliers, and Company personnel and works closely with the President & CEO, Vice President of Construction, Controller, and other members of the Leadership Team. This role is accountable not only for departmental results, but also for developing leaders, building organizational capacity, strengthening long-term relationships, and continuously improving the systems that support TEEL’s growth. The responsibilities below are representative and are not intended to be all-encompassing.

OBJECTIVE & METRICS FOR SUCCESS

• Lead TEEL’s 5 Preconstruction functions as a unified strategic effort that produces the right backlog, protects profitability, strengthens the Company’s market position, and exemplifies TEEL’s Core Principles.
• Quality and sufficiency of backlog and weighted pipeline relative to Company revenue, capacity, and strategic goals.
• Go/No-Go discipline, pursuit conversion, and the percentage of resources devoted to strategically aligned opportunities.
• Estimate quality, accuracy, timeliness, fee and margin outcomes, and estimate-to-actual performance.
• Quality of Preconstruction-to-Operations handoffs, early procurement planning, and identification of project risk before award.
• Performance, development, retention, accountability, and succession readiness of leaders and team members within Preconstruction.
• Strength of strategic client, design partner, Trade Partner, and market relationships, including repeat business and cross-functional collaboration.
• Specific annual targets for each measure above - backlog and weighted pipeline dollars, hit rate, estimate-to-actual variance, gross margin at buyout, new clients added, and Advisory Services contribution to GC backlog - are set with the President & CEO before the start of each fiscal year and reviewed quarterly against the Company scorecard.
  
  
  

DEPARTMENTAL LEADERSHIP

• Direct and integrate the 5 functional areas of Preconstruction: Estimating, Business Development, Marketing, Advisory Services, and Procurement, ensuring clear ownership, alignment, and collaboration across each.
• Build and continuously strengthen the Preconstruction organization, including leadership structure, staffing, workload capacity, performance standards, professional development, and succession planning.
• Establish, measure, and continuously improve department-wide processes, policies, KPIs, and procedures consistent with Company standards and best practices.
• Serve as a strategic partner to the President & CEO and fellow Leadership Team members on Company-wide strategy, annual planning, growth, risk, organizational development, and operational decisions.
• Maintain a documented division of accountability with the Vice President of Construction covering procurement and buyout, Preconstruction-to-Operations handoff, change-order pricing, and executive review thresholds, and reconfirm it at least quarterly.
  
  
  

STRATEGIC PLANNING

• Develop and maintain a Preconstruction growth strategy aligned with TEEL’s target clients, market sectors, geographic priorities, Core Principles, and long-term financial objectives.
• Own, maintain, and execute the Company’s Go-to-Market Strategy Plan and defined sales process, formally updating both at least annually.
• Develop short- and long-term revenue, backlog, margin, pipeline, and capacity goals with the Leadership Team and translate those goals into clear Preconstruction priorities.
• Coordinate interdepartmental processes so pursuit strategy, estimating, procurement, staffing, and project delivery are aligned before commitments are made.
• Collaborate candidly and constructively with other department heads, resolving competing priorities and escalating material risk when necessary.
• Translate Company objectives into measurable department-level priorities and hold functional leaders accountable for execution.
• Sponsor and continuously improve standard operating procedures that increase speed, consistency, accountability, and decision quality across Preconstruction.
• Lead data-driven reviews using historical project costs, estimate-to-actual results, square-foot benchmarks, market intelligence, hit-rate data, and pipeline analytics to improve decision-making.
• Identify and evaluate growth, diversification, and market-entry opportunities consistent with TEEL’s strategy, capabilities, and risk tolerance.
  
  
  

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

• Provide executive support for strategic client pursuits, interviews, negotiations, and relationship-development efforts where senior involvement adds value.
• Provide strategic direction to the Business Development leader and ensure pursuit activity is aligned with TEEL’s target clients, sectors, and Go-to-Market strategy.
• Ensure early Client conversations are informed by realistic budgets, schedules, procurement conditions, and delivery risks.
• Participate in material preconstruction, fee, and contract negotiations and establish clear executive-review thresholds.
• Guide development of pricing, fee, and pursuit strategies by market sector, client type, delivery method, and competitive environment.
• Maintain current market intelligence regarding clients, competitors, delivery methods, technologies, materials, labor, and procurement conditions.
• Represent TEEL in selected industry and community organizations where involvement strengthens relationships, market intelligence, and Company visibility.
• Develop and maintain executive-level relationships with Clients, Architects, consultants, and other strategic partners.
• Ensure Business Development and Marketing operate from a shared strategy, target-account plan, and consistent market positioning.
• Own the executive Go/No-Go framework in collaboration with Business Development and Operations, with particular focus on strategic fit, capacity, competition, risk, and margin opportunity.
• Use pipeline, win/loss, market, and client data to identify trends and adjust pursuit strategy proactively.
• Partner with Operations and Business Development to achieve revenue and backlog goals while protecting selectivity, profitability, and delivery capacity.
  
  
  

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

• Provide executive oversight, priorities, resources, and accountability to the Marketing leader and team.
• Align Marketing initiatives with TEEL’s Go-to-Market strategy, strategic clients, recruiting needs, brand standards, and business-development priorities.
• Establish measurable Marketing objectives, review performance, remove obstacles, and coach the functional leader toward greater independence and effectiveness.
• Ensure consistent CRM adoption, data quality, pipeline discipline, and reporting across Business Development and Marketing.
• Oversee marketing and communications strategies that strengthen TEEL’s reputation, market visibility, client confidence, and recruiting brand.
• Establish an effective cadence for sales, pipeline, and marketing planning without creating unnecessary executive dependency.
• Build and develop Marketing leadership and bench strength appropriate to the Company’s growth and strategic needs.
  
  
  

ESTIMATING

• Provide executive oversight of Estimating through its functional leader, ensuring the team has the people, systems, standards, market intelligence, and resources required to perform at a high level.
• Set expectations for estimating quality, timeliness, capacity, review discipline, and accountability; intervene directly on select strategic or high-risk pursuits where executive involvement adds value.
• Coach the Estimating leader, evaluate department performance, clarify priorities, and ensure development and accountability throughout the team.
• Strengthen relationships with Trade Partners and Suppliers, and own the Company’s approved bidder list, including documented criteria for adding a partner to the preferred pool, addressing performance concerns, and removing a partner from consideration.
• Ensure bids and budgets are planned, reviewed, and executed efficiently while meeting Client expectations and TEEL’s standards for risk, quality, and profitability.
• Ensure disciplined win/loss reviews and estimate-to-actual feedback loops are used to improve future pursuits, historical cost data, and estimating standards.
• Ensure estimating decisions balance profitability, quality, Client service, capacity, and long-term strategic value.
• Oversee estimating, fee, general-conditions, contingency, and negotiation strategies that support profitable growth and appropriate risk allocation.
• Work collaboratively with the Vice President of Construction and Operations leadership to:
• incorporate manpower, workload, backlog, schedule, logistics, and constructability considerations into pursuit and pricing decisions;
• support major bid, fee, and contract negotiations; and
• ensure complete Estimating-to-Operations handoffs and early procurement strategies for awarded work.
• Develop Estimating leadership and succession depth so the VP can remain focused on enterprise-level integration rather than becoming the department’s chief estimator.
  
  

PROCUREMENT

• Provide executive oversight of Procurement in close partnership with Operations, working from a written definition of which procurement decisions and personnel sit with Preconstruction and which sit with Operations, so accountability is unambiguous at the project level.
• Establish expectations for early procurement planning, long-lead identification, Trade Partner coverage, buyout strategy, and escalation of material cost or availability risk.
• Ensure estimating assumptions and procurement commitments are aligned and that awarded projects transition to Operations with clear scope, risk, and purchasing strategies.
• Use procurement outcomes, Trade Partner performance, and market intelligence to strengthen future estimates, preferred-partner strategy, and Company profitability.
• Capture and institutionalize TEEL’s buyout and procurement expertise in documented standards, tools, and training so that the Company’s approach to buying its projects does not reside with a small number of individuals.
  
  
  

ADVISORY SERVICES

• Provide executive oversight of Advisory Services, ensuring its leadership and Project Executives deliver high-quality owner-side preconstruction and construction-management advisory support to clients.
• Ensure the Advisory Services team has the leadership, resources, and strategic direction required to deliver strong constructability reviews, value engineering, scheduling input, and risk assessment for owners and design teams.
• Ensure Advisory Services remains aligned with TEEL’s broader strategic goals while preserving a client-first advisory mindset, technical credibility, and long-term relationship focus.
• Oversee the Advisory-to-GC conversion funnel and the feeder referral program, and maintain clear written standards governing when and how TEEL may pursue the construction contract on an engagement where it also advises the owner.
  
  
  

FINANCIAL & PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

• Develop and manage the annual budget for Estimating, Business Development, Marketing, Advisory Services, and Procurement, including staffing, technology, outside resources, and strategic investments.
• Monitor department overhead and performance against agreed KPIs, using data to improve productivity, resource allocation, pipeline quality, profitability, and return on Preconstruction investment.
• Partner with the Leadership Team on annual planning, forecasting, Company analytics, and initiatives affecting estimating, Business Development, Marketing, Advisory Services, Procurement, and project delivery.
  
  
  

Demonstrated Capabilities

• Operates as an enterprise executive with a high degree of independence, ownership, judgment, and accountability.
• Anticipates strategic, workload, people, client, and risk issues before they materially affect results and initiates appropriate action.
• Demonstrates strong commercial judgment and negotiation skills with Clients, design partners, Trade Partners, and internal stakeholders.
• Prioritizes effectively across multiple functions and delegates appropriately rather than becoming a bottleneck.
• Creates a culture of continuous improvement, constructive challenge, accountability, and learning.
• Communicates with executive presence and builds trust-based relationships with external stakeholders and Company personnel at all levels of the organization.
• Makes timely, fact-based decisions in ambiguous situations and clearly communicates the rationale, ownership, and next steps.
• Balances urgency with judgment, recognizing when speed, additional analysis, or executive escalation is appropriate.
• Addresses conflict directly, professionally, and diplomatically while preserving accountability and productive working relationships.
• Develops functional leaders, sets clear expectations, provides candid feedback, delegates meaningful authority, and holds people accountable for results.
• Models TEEL’s Core Principles and represents the Company with integrity, humility, professionalism, and consistency.
• Understands how to motivate, coach, retain, and develop high-performing teams with different personalities and leadership needs.
• Leads change with a constructive, adaptable mindset and helps others navigate uncertainty productively.
• Applies the TEEL Core Principles consistently in decisions, relationships, leadership, and performance management.
• Collaborates effectively with other Leadership Team members while constructively challenging decisions when required in the best interest of TEEL.
  
  
  

Knowledge/Education/Skills/Abilities Required

The ideal candidate will combine strong commercial-construction and preconstruction credibility with demonstrated executive leadership. Equivalent combinations of education and experience will be considered. Typical qualifications include:

• A minimum of 10 years of progressive commercial construction and/or preconstruction experience, including at least 5 years leading people, teams, or functional departments.
• Demonstrated success leading estimating and pursuit strategy, with sufficient technical depth to challenge budgets, pricing, risk, procurement, schedule, and constructability without needing to be the primary estimator.
• Experience leading across multiple Preconstruction functions—or working closely with Business Development, Marketing, Advisory/Owner Services, Procurement, and Operations—is strongly preferred. A bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Business, or a related field is preferred; equivalent experience will be considered.
• Demonstrated ability to build leaders, create accountability, operate effectively at the executive level, and integrate departmental strategy with Company growth, profitability, and delivery capacity.
  
  
  

WORKING CONDITIONS

This position requires semi-frequent field visits: 10-20% field and 80-90% office or as necessary. Travel is required across TEEL’s Mid-Atlantic and Northeast footprint and to satellite and target growth markets, including Tampa, Florida. Field visits occur on active construction sites and require the use of personal protective equipment. A valid driver’s license and the ability to travel independently are required.

This description is a summary and not an exhaustive attempt at covering every activity and task of the job. The incumbent should be able to react to change productively and to handle other tasks and responsibilities as assigned.