Quality Leader (62991)

Quality Leader

Mission Critical & Industrials (MC&I) is a growing consulting and engineering arm of NEI focused on the design and delivery of complex electrical infrastructure for demanding environments, including data centers, oil & gas operations and large-scale commercial and industrial facilities. MC&I supports high-impact infrastructure projects for clients, some of whom rank in the top ten of their respective industry segments across North America. The group combines the momentum of a team that is actively building with the stability of an established firm with more than 40 years of industry presence and over 300 engineers. Engineers remain engaged across the full project lifecycle, from early concept and planning through detailed design and execution support. The work emphasizes sound judgment, strong client relationships, and practical business thinking. MC&I offers an environment where engineers can contribute ideas, build lasting professional relationships, and help shape a long-term legacy of engineering excellence.

The Quality Leader is a leadership position within MCI responsible for "understanding how work gets done" and improving the systems, processes, and operating practices that support efficient, profitable growth. This role will partner closely with commercial, operational, technical, project, finance, people, and systems leaders to identify where unclear ownership, inconsistent processes, ineffective handoffs, rework, unnecessary manual effort, or limited visibility are costing the customer or business time, money, and capacity.

Primary metrics: first pass quality, VCP – variable cost productivity, BCP – base cost productivity

The Quality Leader will evaluate critical workflows across the full lifecycle of MCI’s work, from opportunity handoff and project setup through staffing, execution, financial management, invoicing, and closeout. Using operational data, direct observation, and input from the people doing the work, this leader will determine where MCI needs greater organization, consistency, accountability, or simplification. They will then lead the implementation of practical improvements that strengthen execution without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.

This is a hands-on role, not a theoretical process-improvement position. The successful candidate will take the time to understand how work actually happens, why current practices exist, and where change will create meaningful value. The ideal candidate brings strong business and financial acumen, sound judgment, curiosity, and the ability to move comfortably between executive-level priorities and detailed operational analysis.

Salary Range: $140,000–$165,000 per year
 The salary range above is based upon the Denver, Colorado labor market.

This opportunity is available to both local/hybrid candidates in Lakewood, Colorado, and full-time remote candidates.

• Conduct operational assessments across MCI to understand how work flows and decisions are made, responsibilities are assigned, and teams work across organizational boundaries.
• Map critical end-to-end processes, including opportunity handoff, work intake, project setup, staffing, scheduling, execution, financial management, invoicing, reporting, and project closeout.
• Use data, interviews, observation, and root-cause analysis to identify bottlenecks, duplicated effort, rework, unnecessary manual tasks, cost leakage, underused capacity, and inconsistent practices.
• Separate isolated symptoms from systemic issues and prioritize improvements based on their impact to project delivery, profitability, cash flow, employee capacity, client experience, and growth.

• Design practical future-state processes that clarify ownership, decision rights, standards, handoffs, and escalation paths.
• Lead cross-functional improvement initiatives from assessment and solution design through piloting, implementation, adoption, and long-term sustainment.
• Identify work that can be simplified, standardized, automated, consolidated, or eliminated, partnering with Operations, Finance, Technology, People, and other functions as needed.
• Develop business cases, implementation plans, and success measures to confirm that improvements deliver meaningful time savings, cost reductions, increased capacity, or stronger performance.

• Partner with Operations and Finance to strengthen resource planning, utilization, project setup, forecasting, margin management, billing, cash flow, risk management, and delivery performance.
• Establish a focused set of operational metrics, dashboards, and review cadences that help leaders identify issues early, understand root causes, and take timely action.
• Improve data quality, reporting consistency, and adoption of core systems so operational decisions are based on reliable and accessible information.
• Develop scalable playbooks, tools, templates, and minimum operating standards while preserving appropriate flexibility across teams, disciplines, and work types.

• Establish a structured process for identifying, evaluating, prioritizing, and governing operational improvement opportunities across MCI.
• Facilitate cross-functional problem-solving and help leaders resolve competing priorities, unclear ownership, and barriers to execution.
• Coach leaders and team members in practical continuous-improvement methods and strengthen accountability for sustaining new ways of working.
• Capture lessons learned, communicate progress and outcomes, and embed successful improvements into standard operations rather than treating them as one-time initiatives.

• Serve as a trusted advisor to MCI leadership on operational effectiveness, organizational scalability, and execution risk.
• Support annual and long-term operating planning by identifying the processes, systems, capabilities, and organizational structure needed to support growth.
• Evaluate whether systems and technology are enabling effective operations and recommend improvements where current tools are fragmented, underused, or creating unnecessary work.
• Perform other duties and lead additional operational initiatives as assigned.

• Education: Undergraduate degree in business, engineering, operations, finance, project management, construction management, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
• Experience: At least 10 years of progressively responsible experience in operations, project delivery, operational excellence, business transformation, or process improvement within an engineering, consulting, construction, energy, infrastructure, or other project-based professional-services environment.
• Strong understanding of the operational and financial mechanics of a project-based business, including backlog, staffing, utilization, project financial performance, revenue forecasting, margin, billing, cash flow, and resource capacity.
• Demonstrated ability to assess complex and ambiguous operational problems, analyze data, map processes, identify root causes, and implement improvements that produce measurable business results.
• Strong communication, facilitation, and executive presentation skills, with the ability to influence decisions and lead change across teams without relying solely on direct authority.
• Proficiency with Excel and experience using enterprise, project-management, financial, resource-planning, business-intelligence, or workflow-management systems.
• Must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis.

• Experience supporting operations within the power, energy, renewable energy, infrastructure, or engineering-consulting industries.
• Lean, Six Sigma or PMP or another relevant operational excellence, project management, or change management certification.
• Experience leading operational integration, organizational scaling, post-acquisition alignment, or process standardization across multiple teams or locations.
• Experience evaluating and implementing ERP, project-accounting, resource-planning, business-intelligence, workflow-automation, or project-delivery technology.
• Hybrid or fully remote work model depending on location and project needs 
• Travel typically ranges from 15–25% and varies by project 
• Combination of office-based work and periodic field engagement