Senior Manager, Construction

Waymo
Mountain View; San Francisco, US
Hybrid

Who this role is best for

Aimed at senior construction executives comfortable with global portfolio oversight and high-stakes contract negotiations in a fast-paced tech environment.

Best fit for

  • Seasoned leader with 15+ years in commercial real estate development and global team management.
    — “15+ years of progressive experience in commercial real estate development or construction
  • Expert in navigating zoning, permitting, and construction site challenges across multiple regions.
    — “Deep, hands-on expertise navigating every phase of the construction lifecycle
  • Strategic thinker able to align construction projects with broader business objectives.
    — “Ensure the construction pipeline aligns with the company's broader business and growth objectives

Things to consider

  • 25% travel requirement across global regions for project oversight.
    — “25% Travel time
  • Hybrid work arrangement with in-office presence expected.
    — “This role follows a hybrid work schedule

How to stand out

  • Quantify experience managing projects exceeding $20M in value.
    — “orchestrating teams of project managers, architects, contractors, consultants and attorneys through concurrent deal flows at values of $20M each and greater
  • Highlight international project execution and familiarity with EMEA/APAC building codes.
    — “Direct experience executing projects internationally, with a strong understanding of navigating varied building codes, labor laws, and permitting processes across EMEA and APAC regions
  • Demonstrate process innovation through Lean/Six Sigma or AI tool implementation.
    — “Experience overseeing or developing and implementing process improvements to streamline the full project delivery cycle inclusive of a strong understanding of and experience using AI tools
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · CompanyLevel · Senior

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • successful delivery of large-scale capital projects
  • cost optimization
  • team mentorship and leadership
Typical background
15+ years of construction or real estate development experiencesenior leadership roles

Skills & requirements

Required

Construction ManagementProject ManagementBudget ManagementTeam LeadershipCross-functional Collaboration

Preferred

Real Estate DevelopmentLegal ComplianceProcurement

About the role

Original posting from Waymo

Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with the mission to be the world's most trusted driver. Since its start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has focused on building the Waymo Driver—The World's Most Experienced Driver™—to improve access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes. The Waymo Driver powers Waymo’s fully autonomous ride-hail service and can also be applied to a range of vehicle platforms and product use cases. The Waymo Driver has provided over ten million rider-only trips, enabled by its experience autonomously driving over 100 million miles on public roads and tens of billions in simulation across 15+ U.S. states.

Waymo's cars may be self-driving, but its construction projects are steered by experts like you. Safety is our foundation and is at the heart of everything we do. As Waymo's Global Head of Construction you will be responsible for the build out of a variety of facilities including Service Centers, EV Charging Facilities, Office, and Lab/ R&D typologies across the globe for Waymo in an extremely fast paced environment with a high degree of ambiguity. At every turn, process excellence, collaboration, and detailed cross-org communications are critical.

This role follows a hybrid work schedule and reports to the Head of Project Delivery.

 

You will

Contribute to the development of and manage a multi-year global CapEx budget. Forecast costs across regions, and drive value engineering to optimize the total cost to build

Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing global team of regional construction executives and project managers while collaborating with subject matter experts.  Align regional teams under a unified global strategy

Build trusted relationships across the business and act as liaison to ensure alignment between investments and the portfolio strategies. Effectively communicate expectations, requirements and status of deals to key business stakeholders, building a culture of speed, flexibility and frugality for solutioning

Enforce global design and construction playbooks and standards, risk management protocols, and quality standards. Ensure that projects are delivered consistently across all markets

Collaborate directly with stakeholders and cross functional partners (Finance, Legal, Procurement, Network and Security) to ensure the construction pipeline aligns with the company's broader business and growth objectives

Innovate and execute processes and tools that contribute to ensuring the complete cycle from site search due diligence through deal execution to the first day of business is completed consistently and predictably, managing an ever-changing variety of internal initiatives and projects

 

You have

15+ years of progressive experience in commercial real estate development or construction, including at least 5+ years in a senior leadership role overseeing a global, multi-regional, or highly complex portfolio

A proven track record of successfully delivering large-scale capital projects, orchestrating teams of project managers, architects, contractors, consultants and attorneys through concurrent deal flows at values of $20M each and greater

Deep, hands-on expertise navigating every phase of the construction lifecycle, including site selection challenges, zoning/entitlements, permitting bottlenecks, and active construction site management

Extensive experience structuring, reviewing, and negotiating high-stakes commercial construction contracts (e.g., Guaranteed Maximum Price, Design-Build, or lump sum) in partnership with legal counsel

Demonstrated mastery of complex real estate financial metrics, cost estimation, risk forecasting, and budget variance reporting. Translate construction data into executive-level financial insights

Managed team of at least (5) FTEs and have demonstrated leadership to inspire diverse project teams to meet goals with vision, mission, and strategy

 

We prefer

Advanced degree in construction management, architecture, engineering, real estate, business administration or finance

Industry-recognized credentials such as a PMP, CCM, PE, or AIA

Direct experience executing projects internationally, with a strong understanding of navigating varied building codes, labor laws, and permitting processes across EMEA and APAC regions, in addition to the Americas

A background in Lean/Six Sigma methodologies or a proven history of institutionalizing operational efficiencies that drastically reduce project timelines and speed-to-market

Experience overseeing or developing and implementing process improvements to streamline the full project delivery cycle inclusive of a strong understanding of and experience using AI tools to enhance construction management workflows

Experience in strategic program implementation and objective analysis within matrixed organizations in an atmosphere where speed, nimbleness, and frugality are the norm

 

Travel Requirements: 

25% Travel time

 

 

The expected base salary range for this full-time position across US locations is listed below. Actual starting pay will be based on job-related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the role location or, if the role can be performed remote, the specific salary range for your preferred location, during the hiring process. 

Waymo employees are also eligible to participate in Waymo’s discretionary annual bonus program, equity incentive plan, and generous Company benefits program, subject to eligibility requirements. 

Salary Range$226,000—$278,000 USD

Source: Waymo careers

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