Vice President of Construction

Compensation Type: Yearly Highgate Hotels:

Highgate is a premier real estate investment and hospitality management company widely recognized as an innovator in the industry. Highgate is the dominant player in U.S. gateway markets including New York, Boston, Miami, San Francisco and Honolulu, with a rapidly expanding presence in Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Highgate's portfolio of global properties represents an aggregate asset value exceeding $20B and generates over $5B in cumulative revenues. The company provides expert guidance through all stages of the hospitality property cycle, from planning and development through recapitalization or disposition. Highgate also has the creativity and bandwidth to develop bespoke hotel brands and utilizes industry-leading proprietary revenue management tools that identify and predict evolving market dynamics to drive out performance and maximize asset value. With an executive team consisting of some of the industry's most experienced hotel management leaders, the company is a trusted partner for top ownership groups and major hotel brands. Highgate maintains corporate offices in London, New York, Dallas, and Seattle.

Location:Overview:

The Vice President of Construction – West Coast is a senior strategic leader responsible for directing all construction, renovation, and redevelopment initiatives across Highgate's West Coast portfolio. This role oversees a diverse range of full-service, lifestyle, luxury, hotel assets, ensuring that every project is executed to the highest standards of quality, operational excellence, and financial discipline. Serving as the primary steward of construction strategy for the region, the VP leads all phases of project planning and execution—from concept and design development through construction, close-out, and turnover to operations. This leader partners closely with ownership groups, asset management, design, operations, and third-party partners to safeguard capital investments and deliver projects that elevate brand, guest experience, and long-term asset value.

The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in hotel construction and renovation, strong financial and project-management rigor, and a proven ability to lead multidisciplinary teams across multiple states and jurisdictions. This role requires a high level of business acumen, the ability to navigate complex stakeholder environments, and the strategic foresight to anticipate risks, optimize value engineering, and consistently deliver on time and on budget.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the company's hotel renovation and redevelopment projects in a professional manner to ensure that the projects are of the highest quality, completed on time and within budget.
• Oversee and manage all aspects (scheduling, budgeting and communication) of multiple hotel projects, ensuring completion within required time frames.
• Work very closely with all members of the project team, including the design team, the general contractor and its subcontractors, and all other third-party contractors and consultants.
• Achieve the company's objectives (cost, schedule and quality) and investment/ profitability targets.
• Create a disciplined, orderly approach to the project, including precise scheduling and Lead the team to set and attain higher standards and predictable results.
• Provide direction, supervision, motivation and performance management of all project personnel.
• Oversee preparation of financial projections and construction forecasts
• Monitor and report monthly forecasts, progress, risks and overall financial performance.
• Standardize and refine construction contract documents, bid forms, closeout standards, and all other pertinent documentation.
• Provide continuous assessment of vendor and contractor performance and value.
• Ensure that the team obtains all required Certificates of Occupancies (as required) on a timely basis to ensure no delays to the project's critical path.
• Develop and administer proper job site safety programs.
• Oversee and manage the entire project team.
• Identify areas to increase operational efficiencies.
• Obtain and/or verify proper project permits.
• Establish and maintain reporting standards for project staff.
• Conduct periodic site visits to evaluate project team performance and to ensure high quality work and materials.
• Track all project costs, approve contractor requests for payment and mitigate liabilities such as construction liens and insurance claims.
• Perform all necessary project "closing-out" duties.
• Ensure smooth transition of all projects related materials to hotel operations team upon completion of the project.

Qualifications:

• 10+ years relevant construction experience, with an emphasis in managing mid-size to large projects.
• Proven track record of successfully delivering several projects on time, on budget while maintaining strong relationships across the project team
• Bachelor's Degree is preferred.
• Highly organized and strong strategic thinker capability.
• Extensive background in cost management and financial oversight.
• Proven record of delivering consistent, on time, on-budget performance for complex hotel renovation projects
• Demonstrated record of accomplishment in meeting budgets and schedules.
• Extensive experience with an owner, general contractor and/or construction management company.
• Ability to manage multiple and complex design and construction projects.
• Experience in retaining third-party consultants for environmental, building systems, structural inspections and surveys. The ability to interpret such third-party inspection reports to provide investment guidance.
• Strong understanding of state and city building codes.
• Ability to think critically and multitask in a schedule driven environment
• Proven record of estimating, preparing contract documents and executing construction projects.
• Strong working knowledge of contracts, contract negotiations, scheduling.
• Prior experience with hotel construction projects is required
• Highly intelligent with a strong strategic mindset and business savvy.
• Strong positive attitude, interest in growing capabilities, accepting new challenges and becoming an important member of the company.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with an ability to drive innovative solutions.