Executive Director, Project Management

Role: Executive Director, Project Management

ZRG has been engaged to recruit an Executive Director, Project Management for Princeton University.

Princeton University, located in Princeton, New Jersey, is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the United States, founded in 1746. Renowned for its commitment to excellence in education, cutting-edge research, and fostering a vibrant intellectual community, Princeton offers a unique and enriching environment for students, faculty, and staff.

Princeton is consistently ranked among the top universities globally. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs across various disciplines, including the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering. With a student-faculty ratio of approximately 5:1, Princeton ensures personalized attention and mentorship for students. The university's faculty includes Nobel laureates, Mac Arthur Fellows, and members of prestigious academies, all contributing to significant advancements and thought leadership.

Research at Princeton is robustly supported by substantial funding from federal agencies, foundations, and industry partners, facilitating a wide array of groundbreaking projects.

Reporting to the Associate Vice President for Capital Projects within the Facilities Organization, the Executive Director of Project Management will play a critical role within the Office for Capital Projects (OCP) in executing on the Capital Plan projects at Princeton University. As Princeton implements the Capital Plan, the Executive Director of Project Management will set a strategic and integrated approach to implementing facilities projects within a defined program or collection of projects and programs.

Working with the AVP, the Program Executives, and the Executive Director of Strategy and Governance, the incumbent actively participates and provides input in strategic planning and aids the Department in its execution of all design and construction projects and major renovations.

The Executive Director collaborates closely with other officers and senior administrators in Facilities and University wide to facilitate the implementation of critical projects and initiatives in support of the goals for OCP. This individual must embody core values essential to the Facilities Organization including collaboration with academic and administrative leadership to support the Capital Plan, while cultivating and sustaining cooperative working relationships with local, county, and state agencies.

The position will support the VP of Facilities, the AVP of Capital Projects and the University Architect in preparing for the Board of Trustees, Facilities Planning Group, and other committees involving developing projects.

• Provide Program Managers, Project Managers and construction personnel guidance that is complementary to the organization’s strategic objectives and track the alignment of strategic objectives to project objectives.
• Allocate resources to projects within a program in accordance with the organization’s priorities and commitments and coordinate with leadership on OCP workload and staff resources.
• Work with Office of University Architect (OUA) and leadership to establish benchmarks.
• Participate in the creation of Value Proposition and PPO’s; discuss early relationships with user and executive sponsors.
• Lead Program Mangers and project teams, particularly at initiation through project milestones to completion.
• Provide input to project teams on governance, resources, priorities, risks and communications.
• Serve as liaison with executive sponsor, users and University administration.
• Monitor a plan for project governance, authorization and approval.
• Support PGMs & PMs to position them for success.
• “Clear the path” to secure approvals, establish funding strategies, and set priorities.
• Monitor “hot” issues to ensure resolution.
• Responsible for preparation and presentation of FPG capital approval process.
• Develop project requests into executable projects.
• Assign projects and manage PM workload, including “standing in for PM” when unavailable.
• Ensure client and…