CEL Critical Power is an Irish-based manufacturer, distributor, and exporter of electrical switchgear, controls, and related products and services, with a 40-year track record, focused on supplying the global data center industry. Operating from Ireland and in support of our 400,000 sq ft of manufacturing capacity in Williamsburg, Virginia, we aim to double in size each year for the next three years. As part of this ambitious growth journey, we are seeking an experienced Senior Project Manager to lead the delivery of complex, high-value customer projects across our international operations while managing and developing a team of Project Managers responsible for multiple concurrent projects.
About the Role This is a senior, customer-facing delivery role with responsibility for a portfolio of projects, senior stakeholder relationships, financial performance, and the leadership of Project Managers. You will provide oversight across multiple projects while retaining direct accountability for major or strategically important customer engagements. Working across Engineering, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Commercial, Finance, and Project Management teams, you will ensure projects are delivered safely, on time, within scope and budget, and to the required quality standards. You will provide clear financial and performance reporting, proactively manage risk and change, and ensure strong governance across the project portfolio. Working closely with teams in Ireland and the United States, you will support consistent project delivery across the organization, strengthen customer relationships, and develop the capability and performance of the Project Management team.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the end-to-end delivery of complex, high-value customer projects, ensuring commitments are achieved across scope, schedule, cost, quality, safety, and customer expectations.
- Provide oversight across multiple concurrent projects, monitoring dependencies, priorities, risks, resources, and overall delivery performance.
- Manage, coach, and develop a team of Project Managers, setting clear expectations and supporting consistent, high-quality project execution.
- Act as a senior point of contact for customers, building trusted relationships and leading project reviews, escalations, negotiations, and key delivery discussions.
- Engage with senior leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to provide clear project updates, recommendations, and escalation of issues requiring business decisions.
- Establish and maintain project plans, schedules, milestones, governance routines, and success criteria aligned with customer commitments and CEL objectives.
- Own and report on project and portfolio financial performance, including budgets, forecasts, cash flow, cost-to-complete, change impacts, margin, and profitability.
- Identify financial variances and delivery risks early, implementing recovery actions to protect customer commitments and commercial outcomes.
- Lead contract, scope, and change management, ensuring variations are assessed, approved, documented, and reflected in project cost and schedule forecasts.
- Partner with Engineering, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Commercial, and Finance to align design readiness, material availability, production capacity, commercial requirements, and delivery plans.
- Ensure project risks, issues, actions, and decisions are actively managed, with robust contingency planning and timely escalation where required.
- Oversee subcontractor, supplier, and external delivery performance where relevant, ensuring quality, cost, schedule, and compliance requirements are met.
- Lead executive and customer project performance reviews, providing accurate reporting, clear insights, and practical recommendations.
- Drive consistent project management standards, reporting discipline, lessons learned, and continuous improvement across the team.
- Ensure projects comply with applicable technical, quality, safety, regulatory, contractual, and customer requirements.
Skills, Experience & Qualifications
- 10+ years of experience in project management within industrial, engineering, manufacturing, construction, infrastructure, or engineered product environments.
- Proven experience leading complex, high-value customer projects from initial handover through planning, execution, delivery, and close-out.
- Experience managing or leading Project Managers responsible for multiple concurrent projects.
- Strong customer-facing experience, including senior stakeholder engagement, project reviews, issue resolution, negotiation, and escalation management.
- Demonstrated ownership of project financial reporting, including budgeting, forecasting, cost control, cost-to-complete, cash flow, margin, profitability, and change impacts.
- Strong understanding of project governance, scheduling, risk management, change control, contract management, and performance reporting.
- Commercially astute, with the ability to balance customer requirements, technical considerations, delivery constraints, and financial objectives.
- Excellent leadership and people-development skills, with the ability to build accountability and consistent performance across a project team.
- Excellent communication, problem-solving, negotiation, and decision-making skills.
- Ability to operate effectively with senior management, customers, and cross-functional teams across multiple sites or regions.
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering, Project Management, Construction Management, Business, or a related discipline.
- Fluent English, with strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Willingness to travel between CEL sites and customer locations as required.
Desirable
- Experience in power systems, electrical infrastructure, switchgear, data centers, pharmaceuticals, industrial operations, modular solutions, or a comparable engineered sector.
- Experience delivering projects across multiple sites or international operations.
- Knowledge of project delivery in an engineer-to-order or manufacturing environment.
- Experience with customer contracts, claims, variations, and commercial negotiations.
- Knowledge of US electrical industry practices, including UL standards and NEC codes.
- Recognised project management certification, such as PMP, PRINCE2, or equivalent.
- Experience using project controls, ERP, reporting, or data-analysis tools to improve visibility and forecasting.
Why Join CEL Critical Power?
- Join a Trusted Industry Leader – 42 Years of Excellence CEL has been delivering high-quality, bespoke power distribution solutions for over four decades, with products that stand the test of time.
- Be Part of a Global Expansion With CEL launching its first US manufacturing plant, you will have the opportunity to work on international projects and documentation standards while collaborating with colleagues across North America.
- Collaborate with World-Class Engineers, Vendors & Industry Experts You’ll work alongside leading engineers, project managers, document controllers, product managers, and global vendors, ensuring excellence and operational success across CEL’s international teams.
- Shape the Future of CEL – Critical Power This is more than just an operator role - it’s an opportunity to help forge the future of CEL and our expansion across the US.
Competitive Salary, Benefits & Career Growth
- Health, dental, and vision insurance
- 401(k) retirement plan
- Paid time off and holidays
- Professional development and career advancement opportunities
- Dynamic and innovative work environment
Equal Opportunity Employer
CEL Critical Power is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive and high- performing workplace. We strongly believe that seeking out and hiring the most diverse talent and creating an inclusive workplace is the way to create an exceptional and innovative environment for our employees, which will deliver excellence in service to our customers. We encourage applications from people with diverse backgrounds and experience to join this multicultural, hard-working team. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.
