Associate Director - Higher Education

Job description

ABOUT THE JOB Brookwood Group has been protecting owner interests in construction since 1989. Our lineage traces back to George T. Heery: one of the original developers of the Construction Project Management profession and creator of the Bridging delivery method. We've managed over $10 billion in construction programs across healthcare, education, government, and commercial sectors. Now we're looking for leaders who want to help us grow. We are seeking an Associate Director with expertise in colleges, universities, and research institutions to oversee a portfolio of projects and lead a team of project managers. You'll be the connective tissue between project delivery and firm leadership—ensuring your teams are performing, your clients are satisfied, and your projects are running smoothly. This is a player-coach role: you'll still be hands-on with key clients while developing the next generation of OR professionals. We welcome candidates from any U.S. location who are willing to travel to project sites as needed. If you've spent 12-18 years building your reputation as someone who delivers for university administrators, college facilities departments, and higher education boards, and you're ready to step into a leadership role where you can shape how a team operates, we want to talk. KEY RESPONSIBILITIES - Oversee delivery of multiple concurrent academic buildings, research facilities, student housing, campus infrastructure, and multi-building capital programs, ensuring quality, schedule, and budget performance across your portfolio. - Lead, mentor, and develop a team of project managers and assistant PMs—setting expectations, providing feedback, and helping them grow. - Serve as the primary relationship owner for key university administrators, college facilities departments, and higher education boards. - Support business development efforts—contribute to proposals, participate in interviews, and help identify new opportunities. - Ensure projects comply with state higher education construction requirements, campus master plans, and institutional standards. - Collaborate with firm leadership on resource allocation, hiring, and operational improvements. - Step in as senior project leadership on complex or high-visibility engagements as needed. - Travel to project sites and client locations as needed to ensure successful project delivery. REQUIREMENTS - 12-18 years in construction project management, program management, or owner's representation. - Demonstrated track record managing $50M+ higher education capital projects or portfolios of multiple concurrent projects. - Experience supervising and developing project managers or junior staff. - Strong working relationships with university administrators, college facilities departments, and higher education boards. - Excellent communication skills—written, verbal, and presentation. - Willingness to travel to project sites and client locations as needed. - Bachelor's degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Architecture, or related field. PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS - Owner's representative or program management consulting background. - Extensive experience in colleges, universities, and research institutions. - Experience with research facility construction, campus infrastructure programs, and institutional governance processes - CCM, PMP, PE, RA, or LEED AP certification. WHAT YOU'LL GAIN - A leadership role with real influence over how your team and portfolio operate. - Competitive compensation plus performance-based incentives. - Equity participation opportunity as you grow with the firm. - A technology-forward platform—we're building AI tools that make owner's representation better, and you'll help shape that. - A path to Director as the firm expands. - Flexibility to work remotely while traveling to project sites as needed. WHY BROOKWOOD? We were co-founded by George Heery: the person who literally invented much of what we now call Construction Management and Program Management, including the Bridging method. That's our foundation and it's a rich legacy of serving clients and delivering construction projects. But we're not living in the past. We're building AI-powered tools that automate the tedious work and give our people on the ground actual superpowers. The goal isn't efficiency for its own sake, it's serving our clients better and bringing some joy back to managing construction projects. If that sounds like the kind of place you want to be, let's talk.