Senior Project Manager

Construction Full TimeToronto, ONHybrid$55 - $86.50 CAD per hour

Solvest – Who we are:

Solvest began operations in the Yukon in 2015, and we have since established ourselves as the standard for renewable energy services in northern and remote regions. We specialize in designing and executing large-scale renewable energy projects including microgrids, independent power projects (IPPs), battery energy storage systems (BESS), and solar PV installations built for the North's unique challenges. Our work is grounded in strong, long-term partnerships with First Nations, where we prioritize collaboration, training, and shared economic opportunities. Our core values are Innovation, Trust, Empowerment, and Tenacity.

The Opportunity:

Solvest is hiring a Senior Project Manager to own the decisions that make or break our largest and most complex renewable energy projects.

Since 2015, Solvest has taken on larger and more complex projects as we push renewable energy into northern and remote regions. Our goal is to be the leading engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) company for microgrids in northern Canada and Alaska: a company based in the North, for the North.

As a Senior Project Manager, you own the decisions above the project on our largest, highest-risk work: project strategy and the business case, final calls on scope, trade-offs and go/no-go, cash decisions, and contract negotiation with clients and project owners. How you lead depends on the project. On larger, more complex projects, a Project Manager runs the day to day and you make sure they have the direction, standards, and backing to deliver. On smaller projects, you run the entire show yourself, from schedule and budget to documentation and client progress meetings. Either way, you are the senior voice our clients, owners, and partners deal with when it matters most.

This is not a role where someone tells you what to do next. We are looking for someone who has already done this work, makes the call without waiting for direction, and brings leadership decisions and the reasoning behind them, not questions.

The Reality of Our Projects

Tenacity is one of our core values for a reason. We want to be upfront about what this work demands, because the right person will read this and lean in.

  • Our sites are often northern and remote. Short construction seasons, long travel, and weather that ignores your schedule are part of the job. Miss a window and it can cost the project a season.
  • Equipment arrives late, supply chains break, and site conditions don’t always match the drawings. You replan, re-sequence, and keep the project moving.
  • You will balance utilities, regulators, owners’ engineers, Indigenous partners, and internal teams, each with legitimate priorities that won’t always line up.
  • You will make high-stakes calls with incomplete information, put your name on them, and own the outcome.
  • When a project goes sideways, you don’t escalate and wait. You bring options, make the decision, and push through to the finish.

If you need predictable conditions, a project that runs to its original plan, or someone above you making the hard calls, this role isn’t for you. If that list sounds like the job you’ve been looking for, keep reading.

Who You Are

You’ve delivered large, complex construction projects as the senior decision-maker, and you don’t need direction to do it. You make the final calls on scope, trade-offs, cash, and go/no-go, and you bring leadership your decisions and rationale, not requests for direction. Your calls hold up later.

You build trust with executives, owners, utilities, contractors, and Indigenous partners through clear communication and follow-through, and you settle disputes at your level. Your reporting is accurate and forward-looking, so leadership plans from it without having to chase you for it.

You make the people around you better. The PMs and coordinators on your projects run tighter projects because of the direction, standards, and feedback you give them. You set the tone for safety, quality, and how Solvest shows up, and you stay steady when the pressure is on. You’re driven by delivering renewable energy infrastructure that lasts for the communities it serves.

Your first assignment is a project in Ontario. This position can be based anywhere in Canada and performed remotely by candidates with proven high-quality leadership and tactical capabilities as a remote team member, with travel to project sites as required.

Employment Status: Permanent Full Time – 40 hours per week + overtime as necessary

Wage Range: $55.00 - $86.50 / hour ($115,000 - $180,000 per year, based on experience)

Leave Entitlement: Four weeks of paid vacation to start (20 days) + 5 paid sick days per year.

As part of our commitment to employee wellness, we provide the following benefits:

Employer paid comprehensive health benefits package after 3 months (unlimited access to virtual health care, mental health care and wellbeing, and virtual pharmacy via Dialogue); employer paid Headspace membership; access to onsite gym, flexible work arrangements.

 

Job Description (high level summary - not inclusive of all duties):

 

  • Own the strategy for one to two large renewable energy projects or a portfolio of concurrent projects, leading through a Project Manager on larger work and running smaller projects end to end yourself: confirm the scope, business case, and commercial basis at handover, set the execution strategy and phasing, and reset it when conditions change.
  • Make the final calls on scope changes, trade-offs between cost, schedule, and quality, and go/no-go decisions without waiting for direction, and document the reasoning behind them.
  • Plan across your projects so shared crews, equipment, long-lead items, and seasonal windows are locked in before they’re needed, and no project is surprised by a conflict with another.
  • Own financial performance: approve budgets, hold PMs to accurate cost-to-complete forecasts, keep projects cash-positive, and make sure recoverable changes never go unbilled.
  • Negotiate prime contracts, payment terms, and change orders with clients, project owners, and owners’ engineers, and settle disputes at your level.
  • Own executive and sponsor relationships with clients, utilities, Indigenous partners, and communities, and represent Solvest in the high-stakes meetings.
  • Oversee, coach, and mentor the PMs and coordinators on your projects with clear direction and honest, specific feedback, so they make sound decisions without escalating.
  • Secure engineering, procurement, crew, equipment, and Health & Safety resources across departments ahead of need, and resolve cross-functional friction before it becomes a project problem.
  • Hold the safety planning standard: nothing mobilizes on your projects without a coordinated, project-specific safety plan and confirmed training.
  • Deliver forward-looking reporting on project health, financial performance, and risk that leadership trusts as the complete picture.
  • Lead post-mortems and turn lessons learned into changes to our SOPs and templates, and give BD and Estimating construction input on pursuits so the work we win is buildable at the planned margin.

 

Required Skills/Qualification:

  • Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Construction Management, or related field.
  • 8+ years of construction project management, including several years as the senior decision-maker on large, complex projects (civil, utility, or renewable energy sector preferred).
  • Phenomenal understanding of construction contracts, processes, budgets, and regulations, with a track record of negotiating prime contracts and change orders and holding margin when projects don’t go to plan.
  • Excellent communication skills, with the ability to hold a hard conversation with an owner, a utility, or a crew and keep the relationship intact.
  • Strong command of cost control, cash flow forecasting, scheduling, and critical path logic, using project management and ERP tools (e.g., Acumatica, SmartSheet).
  • Project Management Professional (PMP) certification preferred
  • Experience delivering projects in remote, northern, or logistically constrained environments is a strong asset.

 

Additional Requirements:

●         Valid driver’s license with at least 3 years of driving experience

●         Criminal Record Check

●         Ability to travel to remote project sites when required, including extended time on site during critical project phases.

 

How to Apply:

Quoting the position title, please submit your resume and cover letter to the People Department at https://www.solvest.ca/careers .

In your cover letter, tell us about a project that went sideways and what you did to push it through.

We wish to express our appreciation to all applicants for their interest in this position. Only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

Solvest is an inclusive equal employment opportunity employer that considers applicants without regard to race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, record of offences, age, marital status, family status or disability.