Senior Director of Construction and Operations, IPP

Senior Director of Construction and Operations, IPP

Lowell, Massachusetts, United States

New Leaf Energy is an experienced clean energy developer that partners with landowners, policymakers, and other stakeholders to accelerate the transition to a world powered by renewable energy. We identify high-value sites, work with landowners and local communities to develop them, and partner with long-term asset owners to bring the most impactful clean energy projects to life.

New Leaf Energy’s Power Plants division is our internal Independent Power Producer (IPP) arm, owning and operating a rapidly growing portfolio of solar PV, battery energy storage systems (BESS), and community wind projects developed by our core Development Company.

The Senior Director of Construction and Operations provides end-to-end operational leadership and executive oversight for the project portfolio. This critical role bridges active field execution with long-term asset optimization, taking total accountability for assets from the start of construction execution through commercial operation (COD) and throughout their multi-year operational lifecycle.

On the construction side, this individual takes over full ownership of managing EPC construction within scope, schedule, and budget, mitigating execution risk through commissioning. On the operations side, the role focuses on a lean management approach in overseeing, auditing, and holding accountable third-party vendors who handle physical plant operations, technical maintenance, and financial services.

Key Responsibilities

• Construction Execution & EPC Management
• Construction Execution Oversight:
  Provide leadership-level oversight of active construction execution across all active projects within the portfolio.
• Portfolio Delivery Governance:
  Own portfolio-level cost, schedule, and contingency management from construction kickoff through commercial operation date (COD) to ensure projects are delivered predictably and in alignment with capital plans.
• Contracting:
  Partner with Sr. Director of Pre-Construction to ensure EPC construction contracts are structured, negotiated, and administered to preserve project value and baseline constructability assumptions.
• Project Delivery Management:
  From EPC agreement execution, lead project delivery teams and direct project managers responsible for executing day-to-day site construction activities, scheduling, and commissioning milestones.
• Safety Leadership:
  Set clear expectations for safety leadership across all active EPCs and subcontractors, empowering project managers and field teams to strictly enforce safety protocols.
• Turnkey Operator Oversight:
  Act as the primary commercial and operational point of contact for external turnkey operators and asset management providers, establishing and monitoring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
• Technical Plant Operations:
  Oversee external partners executing routine preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance
• Warranty & Spare Parts Strategy:
  Direct third-party technical teams navigating complex equipment warranty claims with equipment manufacturers and battery integrators to minimize plant downtime and long-term maintenance costs.
• Asset Management
• Operational Strategy:
  Analyze long-term asset performance data, localized degradation, and plant availability trends to formulate the annual operational master plan.
• Budget Ownership:
  Co-lead the development of annual project-level operating budgets (OpEx) alongside senior leadership; analyze and defend monthly and year-end actual-vs-budget variance reporting for both construction and operational phases.
• Investor, Tax & Regulatory Compliance Governance
• Reporting & Compliance Oversight:
  Manage external financial asset managers to deliver accurate reporting for capital partners and maintain programmatic oversight over all FERC, NERC, and regional ISO/RTO regulatory compliance deadlines.
• Tax, Risk & Security Management:
  Coordinate project-level tax preparation and ITC recordkeeping while managing portfolio insurance renewals, bonding requirements, and auditing asset cloud security and disaster recovery protocols.

Candidate Profile & Qualifications

• Professional
  
  Experience:
  
  10+ years of progressive renewable energy experience, combining hands-on construction project delivery or EPC management with clean energy asset operations leadership at an owner/developer level.
• Portfolio Leadership:
  Demonstrated success managing multi-project portfolios, EPC procurement strategies, RFP evaluations, contractor selections, and cross-functional project teams.
• Financial & Technical Literacy:
  Deep understanding of project finance structures, lender requirements, tax equity frameworks, independent engineer (IE) processes, operational debt covenants, and financial statements.
• Education:
  
  Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Finance, Business Administration, or an equivalent technical field. Advanced business degrees (MBA) or specialized asset management…