Director of Construction & Engineering

Job Description

Job Description

THE ROLE

CS Companies is the telecom field services partner of choice for Tier – 1 Telco Carriers, performing service, maintenance, construction, engineering, MDU and drop bury work under Bell system standards across a 24-state operational footprint. We are growing fast, and we are growing deliberately.

The Director of C&E is the operational engine of the enterprise. This leader owns the performance, profitability, and scalability of a multi-state, multi-client book of business. They do not manage technicians; they build the managers who do. They do not react to chaos; they install the systems that prevent it. They do not chase client relationships; they own them at the executive level.

This role is for an operator who thinks like an owner, speaks in metrics, builds leaders, and protects margin without blinking. If you are a high-performing manager looking for a stretch title, this is not your seat. If you have already run an eight-figure book, turned around broken markets, and carried a P&L across state lines, keep reading.

NON-NEGOTIABLES

Candidates must demonstrate every one of the following. These are threshold requirements, not preferences.

• Eight-figure book management. Documented ownership of a $10M+ operational book of business, including revenue accountability, margin performance, and client retention.

• Financial strategy development. Proven ability to design and execute financial strategy, not simply manage a budget handed down from finance.

• Labor target ownership. Track record of creating, managing, and exceeding labor targets as a percentage of revenue across variable-volume environments.

• Multi-state, multi-client managerial excellence. Direct experience leading field operations across multiple states and multiple client contracts simultaneously, without quality or margin degradation.

• Executive stakeholder partnership. History of working directly with C-level and principal-level stakeholders to shape and execute enterprise strategy.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Operational Scaling and Turnaround

This role exists in a business where conditions change weekly. Volume surges, client priorities shift, and markets are stood up or restructured on tight timelines. The Director is expected to stabilize, scale, and turn around field operations without dropping quality.

• Diagnose underperforming markets quickly and lead structured turnarounds, including backlog burn-down, PIP deployment, and workforce rebalancing.

• Scale operations from 20 to 60 to 200+ technicians in a market without quality collapse, leveraging systems and leadership depth rather than heroics.

• Execute aggressive completion targets on work orders across simultaneous client contracts.

• Stand up new markets on compressed timelines, including recruiting, tooling, compliance, and client onboarding.

2. Client Ownership at the Carrier Level

The Director is a peer at the table with client leadership. They own the client relationship and the client numbers in the same breath.

• Own client-facing KPIs including completion percentage, budget, and quality.

• Lead Quarterly Business Reviews, performance escalations, and contract performance discussions with carrier leadership.

• Defend margin while maintaining and expanding client satisfaction; refuse the false trade-off between the two.

• Partner with ownership on contract amendments, rate card negotiations, and footprint expansion.

3. Systems Over Hustle

Effort is table stakes. The Director is hired to build the systems that remove dependency on hero performers and make excellence repeatable at scale.

• Implement and refine dispatch flow, routing logic, quality control frameworks, and reporting cadence across all states and clients.

• Deploy and optimize field operations platforms (VMS, ATS, CRM-type environments) to drive visibility and accountability.

• Reduce reliance on tribal knowledge and individual heroics through documented standard operating procedures.

• Partner with ownership on the build-out of internal automation, voice AI, and reporting infrastructure.

4. Data-Driven Decision Making

At an eight-figure book, gut calls are a liability. The Director owns the metrics, owns the dashboards, and speaks in numbers.

• Own the daily and weekly operational dashboards: completion percentage, past-due percentage, cost per job, technician productivity, and margin by client and territory.

• Diagnose operational problems from data, not anecdotes. Distinguish signal from noise.

• Build and enforce reporting rhythms: daily stand-ups, weekly ops calls, monthly client reviews, quarterly strategic reviews.

• Partner with finance on labor percentage of revenue, cost leakage analysis, and margin-recovery initiatives.

5. Subcontractor and Vendor Mastery

Mixed-workforce management is where the battle is won or lost at CS. This is a core competency, not a side skill.

• Manage a blended workforce of W2 employees and subcontractor crews across multiple states.

• Enforce compliance standards including insurance, licensing, certifications, and quality thresholds.

• Negotiate rate cards and enforce performance-based accountability with subcontractor partners.

• Build a vendor bench deep enough to absorb volume surges and client expansions without margin erosion.

6. Leadership Depth and Succession

The Director builds leaders. Period. If the organization is dependent on them for daily firefighting, they are not yet operating at Director level.

• Develop Supervisors into Managers, Managers into Regional Directors, and build succession below every key seat.

• Install a consistent coaching cadence: one-on-ones, performance plans, accountability systems.

• Demonstrate low personal dependency on daily fire-fighting; the measure is how the operation runs when the Director is not in the room.

• Partner with ownership and HR on talent strategy, including recruiting, retention, and bench development.

7. Crisis Management and Composure

Our environment is high-pressure by design. The Director stabilizes chaos; they do not amplify it.

• Manage missed SLAs, client escalations, labor shortages, access issues, and weather events with structured, calm response.

• Lead root-cause analysis and corrective action without blame-shifting or emotional reaction.

• Communicate proactively with ownership and clients when conditions change; surface problems early, not late.

8. Financial Ownership and Margin Leadership

The Director thinks like an operator and an owner. Budget management is the floor; margin expansion is the ceiling.

• Own regional and national P&L performance, including revenue, cost of delivery, and contribution margin.

• Drive structured margin improvement initiatives: labor optimization, routing efficiency, rework reduction, vendor rate discipline.

• Understand and manage labor as a percentage of revenue, cost leakage vectors, and operational efficiency levers.

• Partner with finance and ownership on forecasting, capital planning, and investment cases for new markets or capabilities.

9. Change Management and Multi-Market Rollouts

Rolling out new initiatives across states, clients, and workforce types is one of the hardest jobs in operations. The Director owns the rollout, not just the idea.

• Lead multi-market rollouts of new standard operating procedures, systems, rate structures, and client programs.

• Drive adoption across resistant teams through communication, coaching, and accountability.

• Measure adoption and outcome, not just activity. Declare victory only when the change holds.

10. Cultural Alignment with CS Values

At Director level, cultural fit is a performance multiplier. The Director must embody and enforce the CS core values.

• Honesty and Integrity. Owns misses without spin. Tells ownership and clients what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.

• Attitude Over Skills. Hires and develops for mindset first; builds teams with grit, ownership, and coachability.

• Courage Through Communication. Addresses problems early and directly; does not let issues fester.

• The 3 E's (Energy, Effort, Execution). Bias toward results. Shows up, brings intensity, and closes.

• Sharpen Your Axe. Continuous improvement mindset; invests in self, team, and systems.
  

THE DIRECTOR FILTER

A true hire checks every box. A candidate who misses two or more is a high-level manager, not a Director. This filter is used at every stage of the interview process.

CRITERION

MINIMUM STANDARD FOR CS

Has run an $10M+ book of business

Documented P&L ownership with measurable outcomes

Has fixed broken markets

Turnaround case study with before/after metrics

Faces clients at the executive level

QBR and escalation experience with carrier or enterprise clients

Builds systems, not just effort

Evidence of SOPs, platforms, and reporting cadences deployed

Owns P&L and improves margin

Margin expansion initiatives with quantified results

Develops leaders underneath them

Succession examples; people promoted into and beyond their org

Operates at owner speed

Track record of compressed timelines delivered without drift

REQUIRED EXPERIENCE

• Ten or more years of progressive operational leadership, with at least five years at Director level or equivalent.

• Documented eight-figure P&L ownership in field services, telecommunications, utilities, construction services, or comparable multi-site operations.

• Direct experience managing OSP (Outside Plant) fiber and copper operations under Bell system standards, or equivalent regulated infrastructure environments.

• Experience managing relationships with Tier 1 or Tier 2 ISP, MSO, or telecom clients at the executive level.

• Demonstrated success leading operations across five or more states simultaneously.

• Proven financial acumen, including P&L management, margin improvement, and labor cost optimization.

• Experience deploying and optimizing field operations technology platforms.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE

• Prior experience with Frontier, Brightspeed, Fidium, Lumen, Consolidated, ALLO, or comparable ISP contract environments.

• Experience scaling a field services business from $25M toward $150M in annual revenue.

• Background in integrating acquisitions or standing up new regional operations from scratch.

• Exposure to voice AI, advanced analytics, or operational automation initiatives.

PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS (FIRST 12 MONTHS)

Structured under the CS SMART framework: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-Oriented, Time-Bound.

First 30 Days

• Complete operational immersion across all states, including ride-alongs with technicians, supervisor shadows, and full client contract review.

• Deliver a written assessment of the top five operational risks and the top five margin-expansion opportunities by Day 30.

First 90 Days

• Stand up a daily operational dashboard covering completion percentage, repeat rate, NPS, labor percentage of revenue, and cost per job, by client and by state.

• Establish the reporting cadence: daily stand-up, weekly operations review, monthly client scorecard, quarterly strategic review.

• Present a 12-month operational strategy to ownership, aligned to client roadmap and growth targets.

First 6 Months

• Measurably improve completion percentage and reduce repeat rate in the two weakest-performing markets by a minimum threshold agreed with ownership at hire.

• Complete a full review and rebuild of the subcontractor bench, including rate card audit and compliance verification.

• Promote or hire into at least two key leadership seats to build succession depth.

First 12 Months

• Deliver against full-year P&L and labor targets, with margin expansion of a level agreed with ownership at hire.

• Lead one full market turnaround or one full new-market stand-up to documented success.

• Demonstrate reduced organizational dependency on personal firefighting; the operation runs when the Director is on the road.

WHO THIS ROLE IS FOR

This is a seat for an operator who has already been tested. You have run the book, carried the P&L, sat across from the carrier, and built the team. You know the difference between managing a crisis and building an operation that does not produce one. You move fast because you think clearly, not because you panic.

You will report directly to CS ownership. You will have full operational authority within the vision, strategy, and cultural guardrails of your piece of the company. You will be expected to operate at ownership speed, which is fast, direct, and accountable.

If that is the seat you have been looking for, we want to meet you.

CS Companies is an equal opportunity employer. We hire on attitude, capability, and results.