Working Hours/Days This is a full-time, exempt position. The employee will be expected to work the hours necessary to fulfill the position's duties. Typical work schedule is Mon-Fri, weekend work as needed. Remote Eligible within the United States.
Overview
The Lead Project Manager – Data Center is a player-coach leader within Altorfer’s Data Center Program, which delivers Caterpillar electric power generation projects and related solutions to key data center accounts. The role leads and mentors the New Equipment Project Management team and owns front-end execution from customer order through technical submittals, approved equipment and material release, procurement, production coordination, final enclosure packaging, and formal handoff. The leader stays actively involved in the entire program and helps support the success at all levels.
The New Equipment project management team owns the project from customer order acceptance through technical submittals, customer and consultant approvals, release of equipment and materials for production, supplier integration, and completion of the packaged generator enclosure solution. At the formal handoff, the Data Center Product Support Project Management team assumes primary responsibility for delivery coordination, site startup, commissioning, testing, and final turnover. The Lead Project Manager ensures this transition is complete, documented, and coordinated, while the New Equipment team remains available for technical and commercial support.
The ideal candidate combines urgency, technical depth, commercial judgment, customer focus, and servant leadership. This highly customer-facing leader builds trusted relationships with customer project managers across sites, leads effective program and project meetings, anticipates issues, develops strong project managers, and creates clear, repeatable execution standards.
Basic Duties
Leadership Expectations
- Lead as a player-coach: remove barriers, make decisions, and step into the work when the team or customer needs experienced support.
- Create clarity, not bureaucracy. Define who owns each decision, what “done” means, and when an issue must be escalated.
- Develop people through candid, respectful feedback and practical coaching; recognize strong performance and address missed commitments promptly.
- Build high-trust relationships with Sales and customers while representing Altorfer with technical credibility, commercial judgment, and disciplined control of scope, schedule, margin, and risk.
- Model urgency without chaos: anticipate constraints, prioritize the critical path, and align stakeholders around facts and next actions.
Basic Duties
- Lead, coach, and develop the New Equipment Project Management team by setting priorities, balancing workloads, establishing accountability, and providing practical coaching and feedback.
- Own front-end project execution from customer order acceptance through submittals, approvals, equipment and material release, packaged-enclosure completion, and formal handoff to Data Center Product Support.
- Lead customer program and project meetings, communicate status and risks, drive timely decisions, document commitments, and ensure action items are closed.
- Serve as the senior escalation point for customers, Sales, consulting engineers, Caterpillar, packaging partners, suppliers, and internal teams on scope, technical, schedule, and quality issues.
- Lead the Sales-to-project-management turnover by confirming customer purchase orders, specifications, quoted scope, exclusions, approved deviations, payment milestones, and schedule commitments.
- Direct technical submittal process in accordance with customer requirements, including technical data, electrical/mechanical drawings, generator options, controls, circuit breakers, emissions/aftertreatment, fuel systems, cooling systems, generator-set ventilation, sound attenuation, enclosures, switchgear interfaces, and other balance-of-plant requirements.
- Review and interpret customer and consultant electrical and mechanical drawings, one-line diagrams, schematics, and specifications; identify conflicts, gaps, and deviations from quoted scope; and work with Engineering to resolve them before release.
- Ensure required approvals and customer decisions are obtained in time to protect production slots, supplier lead times, packaging schedules, and required-on-site dates, maintaining portfolio visibility and escalating risks early.
- Review supplier proposals and technical quotations against customer requirements and specifications, confirming that equipment, options, exclusions, and assumptions are accurately reflected in the order, and escalate technical or commercial discrepancies to Sales and Engineering.
- Coordinate with Caterpillar, Engineering, suppliers, and packaging partners to produce accurate bills of material, purchase orders, production releases, integrated designs, inspections, and testing.
- Apply Caterpillar application and installation guidelines when reviewing generator-set room and enclosure designs, including combustion and ventilation airflow, heat rejection, exhaust, fuel supply and return, cooling-system configuration, electrical protection, controls, service clearances, and equipment integration.
- Use and coach others in Caterpillar electric power applications and information systems, including CSQ, GenSizer, TMI, PowerNet, and related ordering, configuration, application, and technical-reference tools.
- Build trusted working relationships with customer project managers at each site through concise, proactive communication, and provide Sales with credible execution input during negotiations, changes, and customer recovery situations.
- Manage project financial performance, including budgets, forecast costs, margin exposure, billing milestones, supplier impacts, and disciplined change-order control.
- Define and enforce a continuously improving formal process with disciplined handoffs, including checklists, dashboards, lessons learned, approved drawings, equipment and serial-number information, O&M documentation, factory test records, shipment readiness, open issues, commercial status, delivery assumptions, test requirements, and customer commitments.
- Promote a culture of safety, honesty, humility, compassion, teamwork, integrity, and direct communication.
Qualifications
Education & Certifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering strongly preferred. A related technical degree with substantial electric power generation experience may be considered.
- PMP certification is preferred. Equivalent demonstrated leadership of complex, multi-stakeholder technical projects is acceptable.
- Formal leadership, Lean, or continuous-improvement training is helpful but not required.
- Must possess a valid driver’s license with clean driving record. This includes no more than 2 minor violations within the past 3 years and no major violations within the past 5 years (Motor Vehicle Report will be performed on final candidate).
Experience
- 7+ years of progressive project management, project engineering, application engineering, sales engineering, or technical program experience in electric power generation, critical power, or mission-critical infrastructure.
- Demonstrated leadership or mentoring of program managers or technical professionals, with a record of improving accountability and team performance.
- Direct Caterpillar Electric Power Generation experience preferred, including packaged diesel generator sets and proficiency with Caterpillar EPG systems and technical tools: CSQ, GenSizer, TMI, and PowerNet.
- Experience with hyperscale, colocation, or enterprise data center projects and owner-furnished / contractor-installed equipment delivery models strongly preferred.
- Experience coordinating long-lead equipment, engineering submittals, production slots, factory milestones, packaging integration, and required-on-site schedule dependencies.
- Working knowledge of Caterpillar generator-set application and installation requirements, including ventilation, exhaust, fuel, cooling, electrical protection, controls, enclosures, and related balance-of-plant systems.
- Familiarity with applicable codes and standards for standby and emergency power systems, including NFPA 70, NFPA 110, NFPA 37, and UL 2200.
- Proven ability to manage multiple complex projects while protecting customer commitments, schedule, quality, margin, and stakeholder relationships.
Skills & Competencies
- High drive and initiative; takes ownership without waiting for direction and follows issues through to verified closure.
- Exceptional people leadership, coaching, conflict resolution, and team-building skills.
- Customer- and sales-focused mindset with strong commercial judgment and the confidence to deliver difficult messages constructively.
- Ability to critically interpret customer electrical and mechanical drawings, one-line diagrams, technical specifications, submittals, supplier literature, schematics, and O&M documentation, and translate findings into clear technical decisions and action items.
- Strong planning and portfolio-management discipline, including schedule logic, milestone tracking, risk registers, change control, cost forecasting, and executive reporting.
- Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and meeting-facilitation skills; able to lead customer-facing discussions and translate technical and commercial complexity into clear decisions, owners, and action plans.
- Comfort making timely decisions with incomplete information, escalating early, and bringing options with a recommendation.
- Proficiency with Microsoft 365, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and project scheduling or portfolio tools. Experience with Power BI or dashboard reporting is beneficial.
- Working knowledge of AutoCAD or Autodesk tools for drawing review and markups is beneficial.
- Commitment to safety, quality, ethical conduct, and continuous improvement.
Altorfer Inc. offers an industry leading compensation and benefit package:
- Health, Dental, Vision, Disability, and Life Insurance
- 401(k)
- Paid Holidays
- Paid Parental Leave and Funeral Leave
- Paid Time Off: Prorated 80 hours of PTO + 1 Floating Holiday
- Education Assistance
- Personal Tool Insurance, and Safety Equipment Reimbursement
- Voluntary Benefits: Supplemental Insurance, Accident, Critical and Hospital Indemnity Insurance, Legal Assistance and Identity & Fraud Protection
Payrate: $80,000 - $200,000 annually.
**The actual base salary offered within the posted range will depend on the candidate’s qualifications and relevant experience, including the depth of their data center industry and Caterpillar Electric Power Generation experience.
Posted Min USD $80,000.00/Yr. Posted Max USD $200,000.00/Yr. Physical Requirements/Working Conditions
Work is performed in office, remote, manufacturing, vendor, and jobsite environments. The role involves extended computer work and occasional walking or standing on manufacturing floors or active jobsites. Must be able to occasionally lift and carry up to 25 pounds, such as project documents, test equipment, small components, or personal protective equipment, with or without reasonable accommodation. Travel to Bartonville, other Altorfer locations, customer sites, Caterpillar facilities, suppliers, packaging partners, factory tests, and team meetings is expected. Remote employees must maintain effective team availability and participate in required in-person meetings and visits. Schedule flexibility may be needed for customer milestones and time-sensitive issues. The employee must follow all safety and PPE requirements. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Equal Opportunity Statement
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.
Why Work for Altorfer?
At Altorfer, our iron is just the beginning. Our people make our company successful, and we would not be who we are without them. As a third-generation, family-owned company founded in 1957, we bring our values into how we do business. Everyone, from technicians and sales representatives to project managers and support professionals, is part of the “A-Team” and critical to our success. With more than 35 locations and 1,300 employees, Altorfer offers a collaborative, family-valued culture, deep industry experience, competitive pay, excellent benefits, and a remarkable team of people to work with.
