Vice President of Field Operations - Water/Wastewater

The Vice President of Field Operations provides executive leadership and strategic oversight for all field operations across the company’s water/wastewater business units. This role supports General Superintendents in executing their responsibilities, including partnering with VPs and Directors on field staffing and balancing manpower needs.

In addition, the Vice President of Field Operations ensures the safe, efficient, and high-quality delivery of self-performed and subcontracted work from preconstruction through project completion, while maintaining visibility into project accounting, cost projections, PCA, and labor performance metrics. As part of the executive leadership team, the Vice President of Field Operations drives field excellence, operational consistency, and workforce development while safeguarding profitability, schedule performance, and client satisfaction, and reinforcing a strong safety culture and standardized processes across the business.
Primary Responsibilities:
• Oversee all field operations across all Water/Wastewater Business Units to ensure safe, efficient, and high-quality execution.
• Support General and Area Superintendents in resolving field issues and meeting project requirements.
• Conduct site visits, audits, and milestone reviews to assess performance and provide guidance.
• Partner with executives to forecast labor, equipment, and project scheduling needs.
• Maximize allocation of manpower, tools, and equipment across active projects.
• Maintain awareness of project accounting, cost projections, PCA, and labor performance metrics.
• Review field cost and productivity data to identify risks, issues, and improvement opportunities.
• Support preconstruction efforts through jobsite visits, constructability input, and estimate reviews.
• Assist with determining best means and methods of construction across projects.
• Enforce company safety policies and regulatory compliance across all job sites.
• Promote a culture of safety, quality, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Oversee field quality expectations to ensure work meets or exceeds client and industry standards.
• Mentor, coach, and develop field leadership teams to support advancement and retention.
• Partner with Area Superintendents and General Superintendents to maintain a trained and qualified craft workforce.
• Support succession planning and workforce development initiatives for future field leadership.
• Maintain strong relationships with clients, engineers, vendors, and subcontractors.
• Participate in critical meetings with clients and project stakeholders as needed.
• Collaborate with Finance and Business Unit leaders to monitor financial performance and margin protection.
• Support post-project reviews to capture lessons learned and drive continuous improvement.
• Contribute annual business planning, P&L discussions, and future staffing needs.
• Integrate technology and innovative construction practices to improve performance and communication.
• Support equipment placement, repairs, and maintenance strategies with internal equipment departments.
• Partner with Business Development to support pursuit efforts for collaborative delivery projects.
• Coordinate and facilitate annual superintendent and field leadership meetings across Business Units.
Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s degree in construction management, Civil Engineering. Or related field. Experience will be considered in lieu of a college degree.
• Twenty (20) years construction-related or construction/management engineering with proven success in the completion of multimillion-dollar projects.
• Ten (10) years of experience as a Project Superintendent or higher.
• Ten (10) years of experience in Water/Wastewater including self-performance in concrete and mechanical scopes.
• Good communication and interpersonal skills.
• Current in training in trenching, scaffolds, rigging, confined space, and fall protection,
• Current in OSHA 30-hour, First Aid & CPR, LEED Accreditation or other sustainability credentials (a plus)
• Adequate knowledge of use of a computer and Microsoft Office Products are essential for success in this role.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disability

Wharton-Smith provides equal opportunity to qualified disabled veterans, Pre-JVA special disabled veterans and individuals with disabilities to online application systems by making reasonable accommodation to ensure equal access for submitting to job openings. (i.e., wheelchair accessibility, website accessibility, etc).

Our recruiting process is centralized and managed exclusively by the HR Department. We do not pay agency fees for unsolicited resumes. An unsolicited resume is defined as any resume submitted by a recruiter who has not been pre-approved by HR, has not signed our recruiting agreement, and has not been engaged by HR to fill a specific position.