QUALITY CONTROL PROGRAM MANAGER
LS Black Constructors | St. Paul, MN | Travel: 25%–50%
About the Opportunity
LS Black Constructors is a federal general contractor and design-build firm headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, specializing in USACE vertical construction, MILCON, and complex renovation for the Department of Defense and federal agencies. Roughly 95 percent of our portfolio is built for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Our team runs lean, moves fast, and solves problems that stall other contractors.
We are hiring a Quality Control Program Manager to own quality at LS Black - the company's quality control subject matter expert, with the authority to act in all construction quality control matters. This is not a "build a program from scratch" role. Our quality control program has a strong foundation; this role is about making it sharper: analyzing what the data tells us, standardizing what works, fixing what doesn't, and pushing lessons learned from one project into the next.
Why This Role Is Different
- Real authority. Company-wide SME on construction quality control with the authority to act in all QC matters - including stop-work authority when performance is inconsistent with the contract documents.
- A team to build, not just a process to run. Full ownership of 4 to 6 project-assigned QC managers and specialists: staffing, hiring, promoting, coaching, and, when necessary, termination decisions.
- Integrated, not siloed. Quality is planned and staffed as part of project delivery - working shoulder to shoulder with safety, field execution, and project management leadership, not inspected in after the fact.
- Federal depth. USACE three-phase control process across a portfolio that's roughly 95 percent USACE work - focused, high-repetition experience rather than generalist QC spread across scattered contract types.
What You'll Own
- Program leadership. Own and continuously improve LS Black's corporate QC program, quality management plan, and SOPs. Serve as company-wide SME on the USACE three-phase control process. Analyze non-conformance, deficiency, and rework trends across projects to drive corrective and preventive action, and standardize quality planning from notice to proceed through final Government acceptance.
- Team leadership. Lead, supervise, and develop 4 to 6 project-assigned QC managers and specialists. Own QC staffing decisions end to end - recruiting, hiring, promotions, and, when necessary, terminations. Assign staff to projects based on contract requirements, complexity, and individual development goals. Coach and train QC and project teams, and manage performance reviews, career development plans, and certification progression.
- Project execution and oversight. Oversee implementation of the three-phase process and project-specific CQC Plans on every project. Review and approve CQC plans; monitor daily QC reports, submittal registers, testing logs, deficiency tracking, and as-built documentation, including in RMS 3.0. Oversee non-conformance notices, the related RFI process, and punch list closeout. Exercise stop-work authority and support Government interface with USACE QA representatives.
- Integration with project delivery. Operate as one team with safety, field execution, and project management. Participate in preconstruction planning, design reviews on design-build pursuits, and constructability reviews. Coordinate QC staffing plans with the project pipeline, and support proposal efforts with QC narratives, staffing plans, and draft quality control plans.
What We're Looking For
Required
- Bachelor's degree in construction management, construction engineering, civil or architectural engineering, or equivalent field experience.
- Minimum 10 years of construction industry experience.
- Experience supervising, developing, and holding accountable staff across concurrent projects.
- Solid working knowledge of USACE quality requirements: three-phase control, CQC plan development and implementation, and submittal management.
- Proficiency with the Microsoft Office suite.
- Valid driver's license, required for regular travel to project sites.
Highly Preferred
- 5 years managing quality control on federal construction projects.
- USACE experience strongly preferred.
- Current USACE Construction Quality Management for Contractors (CQM-C) certification, or ability to obtain within 90 days of hire.
- Design-build project experience, including design-phase quality management.
- Working knowledge of one or more quality and continuous improvement systems - Lean, Kaizen, value stream analysis, or similar.
- MILCON or DoD renovation experience in active, occupied facilities.
How You Operate
- Communication: directs, organizes, and aligns team members at all levels - project managers, superintendents, design professionals, and Government representatives.
- Judgment: critical thinking, sound decision-making, and the leadership presence to deliver hard news early and stand behind it.
- Coaching: a coach and mentor at heart - "see one, do one, teach one" - invested in growing the QC team's capability, not just enforcing standards.
- Backbone: comfortable exercising stop-work authority and standing behind quality calls, even under schedule pressure.
How You'll Be Measured
- Program health: reduction in recurring non-conformance and rework trends across the portfolio, project over project.
- QC execution: on-schedule completion of preparatory, initial, and follow-up inspections; complete, accurate RMS 3.0 and daily QC documentation.
- Team development: QC staffing coverage across active projects; certification progression and career development plans in place for the team.
- Government relationship: quality of QA/QC coordination with USACE representatives and partnering sessions.
- Closeout performance: timely non-conformance and punch list closeout through final Government acceptance.
Physical Requirements
- Must maintain regular and reliable attendance at a level acceptable to the company, including the ability to work holidays, evenings, or weekends as necessary.
- Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
- Sitting, standing, bending, walking on uneven surfaces, climbing, and lifting up to 25 lbs.
- This position requires the ability to maneuver around construction sites where temperatures and noise levels can fluctuate, and the ability to see, hear, and verbally communicate with co-workers and clients.
- To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Equal Opportunity Employer
L.S. Black Constructors, LLC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status. LS Black Constructors is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities and protected veterans in the job application process. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability or veteran status, please contact HR.