Construction Project Engineer

Job Description Job Description: POSITION SUMMARY This is a Chicago-based opening. The Project Engineer is a developmental role designed to build the next generation of ONeill Project Managers. The Project Engineer supports the Project Manager in the day-to-day administration of federal construction projects and supports the Estimating team in the preparation of competitive proposals-gaining direct, hands-on exposure to the complete project lifecycle from pursuit through closeout. The role is intentionally structured around a two-phase rotation. In the Estimating and Preconstruction phase, the Project Engineer learns how ONeill pursues, prices, and wins work. In the Operations phase, the Project Engineer supports a Project Manager in delivering awarded projects in the field. This deliberate progression ensures that by the time a Project Engineer is ready to manage projects independently, they understand both how a project is won and how it is built-and how decisions made in one phase shape outcomes in the other. The Project Engineer is not the point of accountability for project outcomes; that responsibility rests with the Project Manager and the Preconstruction leadership the Project Engineer supports. Instead, the Project Engineer is measured by the quality, accuracy, timeliness, and reliability of the support they provide, and by their steady growth toward the competencies required of a Project Manager. The mission of this role is twofold: to relieve the Project Manager and the Estimating team of administrative burden so they can focus on leadership and decision-making, and to develop the Project Engineer into a capable, confident Project Manager who carries forward ONeill's 'BUILT TO SERVE' commitment on every project. THE TWO-PHASE DEVELOPMENT MODEL ONeill develops Project Engineers through a purposeful, two-phase rotation across the Estimating and Operations departments. The intent is to produce Project Managers who understand the entire project lifecycle. Phase One - Estimating & Preconstruction The Project Engineer works within the Estimating/Preconstruction department, learning how opportunities are pursued, scoped, and priced. Here the Project Engineer builds the estimating discipline, subcontractor relationships, and cost fluency that make a strong Project Manager-and comes to understand exactly what a project team inherits at award. Phase Two - Operations & Project Delivery The Project Engineer transitions to Operations to support a Project Manager in executing awarded work. Here the Project Engineer takes ownership of many of the recurring administrative and documentation functions that keep a federal project compliant, organized, and on schedule, learning project delivery from the inside. The TRANSFER Bridge Because the Project Engineer experiences both the Preconstruction side that hands a project off at TRANSFER and the Operations side that receives it, the role builds a rare, end-to-end perspective: how bid assumptions become field realities, and how field lessons should sharpen future bids. This connective understanding is the core value of the two-phase model.