Mission Critical Project Manager

Company Overview

Upchurch is a rapidly growing

, full-service building engineering company providing mechanical, plumbing, HVAC, and electrical services across the southeastern United States.

Founded in 1970 and headquartered in Horn Lake, MS, Upchurch has grown through both organic expansion and strategic acquisitions

, establishing a strong reputation for quality, reliability, and service excellence. We offer end-to-end solutions—from design and installation to ongoing maintenance and emergency support— helping clients maximize building performance, energy efficiency, and equipment lifespan.

Position Summary

The Critical Environments Service Project Manager is responsible for the planning, coordination, execution, financial management, and successful delivery of service projects supporting mission-critical data center infrastructure. This position serves as the primary point of contact for customers, internal service teams, vendors, subcontractors, and stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle.

The Service Project Manager owns project financial performance, customer communication, schedules, procurement activities, forecasting, change order management, and overall project execution while ensuring all work is performed safely and in accordance with customer requirements, company standards, and mission-critical operational procedures.

The ideal candidate possesses strong project management skills, customer-facing experience, and the ability to successfully manage projects in live operational environments where uptime, reliability, and risk mitigation are essential.

Key Responsibilities

• Project Planning & Execution
• Plan, initiate, and manage service projects from kickoff through final closeout.
• Define project scope, objectives, milestones, deliverables, resource requirements, and execution strategies.
• Develop and maintain project schedules that align with customer requirements, maintenance windows, and operational constraints.
• Lead project execution while ensuring work progresses within approved schedules, budgets, and quality expectations.
• Identify project risks, obstacles, and resource constraints and implement corrective actions to mitigate impact.
• Coordinate project startup meetings, internal planning sessions, and customer progress reviews.
• Ensure project documentation remains current and accurately reflects project status and commitments.
• Mission-Critical Service and Construction Delivery
• Coordinate service and/or construction projects within live operational or under construction data center environments where uptime and reliability are critical.
• Support customer change-management processes, maintenance activities, equipment upgrades, retrofits, corrective maintenance, commissioning, and emergency service projects.
• Ensure all work is planned and executed in accordance with approved MOPs, SOPs, Commissioning scripts, permits, customer requirements, and site-specific operational procedures.
• Facilitate outage planning and coordination with customers, service managers, technicians, and operational stakeholders.
• Maintain awareness of electrical and mechanical system redundancy configurations, equipment dependencies, and operational risk during project execution.
• Coordinate project activities to minimize customer impact and maintain safe operational conditions.
• Customer Relationship Management
• Serve as the primary customer-facing representative for assigned projects.
• Establish and maintain strong relationships with customer stakeholders and site operations teams.
• Lead customer progress meetings, project reviews, outage planning discussions, and execution updates.
• Provide timely communication regarding project status, risks, schedule impacts, material lead times, and change requests.
• Address customer concerns professionally and work collaboratively toward successful resolutions.
• Support long-term customer satisfaction and account growth through proactive project management and communication.
• Financial & Commercial Management
• Own project financial performance from project award through final invoicing.
• Develop and maintain project budgets, forecasts, cost-to-complete projections, and profitability analyses.
• Monitor labor productivity, material expenditures, subcontractor costs, and overall project performance.
• Review project financial metrics and identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency and profitability.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years of project management experience supporting service operations, mechanical construction, HVAC, electrical systems, industrial facilities, mission-critical environments, or related technical industries.
• Proven experience managing multiple projects simultaneously.
• Demonstrated understanding of project planning, budget management, forecasting, procurement, scheduling, and risk management.
• Strong customer relationship management and communication skills.
• Ability to operate effectively in fast-paced environments with competing priorities.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite, ERP systems, project management software, and scheduling tools.
• Bachelor's degree in construction management, Engineering, Business Administration, Project Management, or related field preferred.
• PMP certification or equivalent project management training preferred.
• Experience supporting data center operations, mission-critical facilities, commissioning projects, maintenance programs, or high-availability environments preferred.
• Experience managing outage planning, maintenance windows, change-management activities, or mission-critical service projects preferred.
• Familiarity with MOPs, SOPs, LOTO procedures, OSHA requirements, and mission-critical operational practices preferred.
• Understanding of data center mechanical and electrical infrastructure including cooling systems, power distribution systems, controls systems, and related support equipment preferred.
• Preferred Background & Skillset
• Experience supporting data center service operations, upgrades, retrofits, commissioning activities, reliability initiatives, corrective maintenance projects, and customer-driven capital improvements.
• Strong understanding of customer service delivery and service organization processes.
• Ability to translate project requirements into actionable schedules, resource plans, procurement activities, and execution strategies.
• Strong analytical and financial management capabilities.
• Comfortable interacting with executive leadership, customers, technicians, subcontractors, and vendors.
• High attention to detail with exceptional organizational skills and follow-through.
• Customer-focused mindset emphasizing responsiveness, accountability, and operational excellence.
• Physical & Work Environment
• Work is performed in office settings, customer sites, live operational, and/or under construction data centers.
• Ability to travel as required to support customer projects and business needs.
• Must be capable of participating in field observations, customer meetings, project walks, and operational reviews.
• May occasionally be required to support after-hours project activities, maintenance windows, and outage coordination efforts.
• Role Impact