Project Manager, EV/BESS Portfolio

Job description

**About Us** Highland Electric Fleets’ mission is to make electric fleets accessible and affordable for all, enabling communities to realize the benefits of cleaner, quieter and healthier fleets. Highland is North America’s leading provider of Electrification-as-a-Service (EaaS). Founded in 2019, Highland partners with school districts, municipalities, and fleet operators to make the transition to electric fleets simple and affordable. Highland proudly serves as the Official Electric School Bus Provider of the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Team USA. From pioneering vehicle-to-grid technology to managing some of the nation’s largest electric school bus fleets, Highland delivers reliable, cost-effective solutions that support local communities and drive the future of transportation. Job Summary: The Project Manager will be responsible for building out a large (100+ site) portfolio of battery energy storage (BESS), edge compute, and EV charging projects, taking each site from construction-ready to energized and operational on an aggressive timeline. Receiving build-ready sites from the Development team — designs issued for permit, permits secured, and new utility service underway — this role mobilizes and manages the general contractors and specialty subcontractors who build each site, owns construction budget, schedule, quality, and safety, and drives every project through inspection, commissioning, and energization to a clean handoff to operations. This is a fast-paced, ownership-driven role. While external contractors execute the physical build, the Project Manager stays in the driver's seat — setting the pace, coordinating partners, clearing field roadblocks, and pushing each project through to completion. This position reports to the Director, Project Execution, with an expectation of approximately 25% travel, including regular site visits. ### Responsibilities: - Drive construction delivery of a portfolio of EV charging, BESS, and edge compute projects from construction-ready to energized and operational. - Take handoff of build-ready sites from the Development team and mobilize construction quickly. - Select, contract, and manage general contractors, EPCs, and specialty subcontractors. - Own construction budgets, schedules, quality, and safety across the portfolio. - Coordinate utility construction, inspections, commissioning, and energization (permission to operate). - Manage change orders, resolve field issues, and clear roadblocks to keep projects on schedule. - Prepare each project for a clean handoff to the operations and Customer Success teams. - Contribute installed-cost actuals to support a repeatable unit-cost installation model. ### Qualifications: Required - Bachelor's degree, or 4+ years of directly related professional experience. - Experience managing the construction of infrastructure, energy, or electrical projects, including managing general contractors and subcontractors. - Experience owning construction budgets and schedules across multiple concurrent projects. - Project management experience in construction and/or engineering environments. Preferred - Experience delivering EV charging, BESS, solar, or edge compute / data center construction. - Experience with utility construction coordination, inspections, commissioning, and energization / permission to operate (PTO). - Experience working with permitting authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs). - Familiarity with project management and field software (Procore, Bluebeam). - Construction safety knowledge (OSHA) and/or PMP or equivalent certification.