Assistant Director, Construction

Job Description

Overview

General Motors Construction is responsible for planning, designing, and executing more than $2B in facility capital projects annually across manufacturing and non-manufacturing facilities. The Assistant Director, Construction is accountable for safe, predictable, and high-quality execution across this complex North American portfolio. The role leads through Construction Group Managers and Project Managers across concurrent projects, with accountability for portfolio priorities and execution performance.

The role owns delivery from design/build contract award through mobilization, field execution, commissioning, turnover, closeout, and warranty. Partnering closely with the Director of Planning, Design, and Engineering and other functional leaders, the Assistant Director converts approved scope and technical direction into successful construction outcomes while balancing Safety, Cost, Schedule, Quality, business continuity, and long-term value.

Note: We are hiring for two Assistant Director, Construction positions that together oversee the North American construction portfolio. One position will have responsibility for Manufacturing and CCA/Distribution construction projects; the other will have responsibility for Non-Manufacturing, Canada, and Mexico construction projects.

Key Responsibilities

Set execution strategy and operating direction

• Set the construction strategy, priorities, governance, and operating model for the assigned portfolio in alignment with General Motors’ facility investment priorities.

• Lead Construction Group Managers and Project Managers across concurrent projects, with clear operating rhythms, decision rights, and resource plans.

• Balance portfolio priorities and intervene when project performance, organizational capacity, or business needs require leadership action.

• Hold portfolio leaders accountable for approved commitments, performance, and timely escalation.

• Advise senior leaders on capital priorities, delivery strategies, organizational capacity, enterprise trade-offs, and operational risk.

Lead construction delivery and project controls

• Oversee design/build contractor delivery from procurement and contract award through construction, commissioning, turnover, closeout, and warranty.

• Ensure contractors maintain compliant plans for execution, schedule, cost, safety, quality, risk, and commissioning.

• Direct contractor performance, changes, claims, contingency, supplier coordination, operational interfaces, and recovery actions.

• Ensure consistent application of project controls for scope, funding, procurement, contracting, change, risk, document control, invoicing, reporting, and closeout.

• Maintain accurate project records, performance dashboards, governance reviews, audit readiness, corrective actions, and transparent reporting.

Drive Safety, Cost, Schedule, and Quality outcomes

• Enforce General Motors safety requirements, site plans, regulatory compliance, leading and lagging indicators, incident response, and corrective actions.

• Control budgets, commitments, forecasts, contingency, payments, changes, claims, and variances; provide clear explanations and recovery recommendations.

• Maintain baseline schedules, critical-path visibility, milestones, look-ahead plans, long-lead tracking, and recovery plans.

• Enforce quality plans, inspections, testing, nonconformance resolution, punch-list closure, commissioning readiness, and turnover quality.

• Identify and mitigate risks related to safety, cost, schedule, quality, permitting, constructability, operations, compliance, and business continuity.

Manage commercial risk and stakeholder partnerships

• Serve as a senior construction partner to business leaders, facility operations, Finance, Purchasing, Legal, Audit, Environmental, and other corporate functions.

• Partner with Purchasing on sourcing, contracts, supplier performance, and commercial issues; partner with Operations on continuity, shutdowns, commissioning, and readiness.

• Coordinate with Legal, Audit, Finance, and Environmental on contracts, claims, controls, funding, compliance, permits, remediation, and sustainability requirements.

• Lead relationships with contractors, consultants, equipment providers, suppliers, and other external partners; align stakeholders, secure decisions, and resolve roadblocks.

• Provide senior leaders with clear portfolio status, material risks, decisions, forecasts, and recovery recommendations.

Build organizational capability and talent

• Lead, coach, and develop Construction Group Managers, Project Managers, and construction professionals through clear expectations, feedback, performance management, and career development.

• Build succession depth, strengthen capability, balance workload, and deploy talent to priority needs across the portfolio.

• Champion organizational change and use data, lessons learned, technology, and industry practices to improve delivery predictability and reduce rework, claims, and punch-list items.

• Foster an inclusive, accountable, collaborative, and safety-focused culture grounded in integrity, continuous learning, and ownership.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in construction management, engineering, architecture, business, or a related field; equivalent experience may be considered.

• Fifteen or more years of progressive experience leading complex industrial, manufacturing, commercial, infrastructure, or facilities construction programs.

• Demonstrated experience setting strategy, operating direction, performance expectations, and resource plans through project managers, construction managers, and other technical or delivery professionals across multiple complex projects.

• Demonstrated experience with design/build delivery, contractor performance, project controls, change management, commissioning, turnover, closeout, and warranty.

• Strong knowledge of owner requirements, safety, cost control, scheduling, quality assurance, contracts, claims, delivery models, constructability, risk management, supplier performance, and operational readiness.

• Proven financial and commercial judgment, including budgeting, forecasting, contingency, contract strategy, change management, and capital stewardship.

• Strong executive communication, negotiation, problem-solving, conflict resolution, and stakeholder-influence skills.

• Experience operating in a complex, matrixed organization across multiple sites, regions, functions, and cultures, including cross-border or North American environments.

• Demonstrated judgment balancing safety, quality, cost, schedule, compliance, operational continuity, and long-term value when priorities and risks compete.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree or professional credentials such as Professional Engineer, Project Management Professional, or Certified Construction Manager.

• Experience leading multi-site or multi-region construction portfolios in complex manufacturing, technology, or facilities environments.

• Experience with multiple delivery models, integrated project delivery, digital project controls, or comparable construction technologies.

• Experience leading organizational transformation, operating-model change, or capability-building initiatives.

About GM

Our vision is a world with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion and we embrace the responsibility to lead the change that will make our world better, safer and more equitable for all.

Why Join Us 

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Benefits Overview

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We encourage interested candidates to review the key responsibilities and qualifications for each role and apply for any positions that match their skills and capabilities. Applicants in the recruitment process may be required, where applicable, to successfully complete a role-related assessment(s) and/or a pre-employment screening prior to beginning employment. To learn more, visitHow we Hire.

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