Senior Project Manager, Real Estate (18-month Contract)
Job Description
We are looking for a Senior Project Manager to own end-to-end execution of real estate design and construction projects across our global portfolio. You will be the day-to-day operator on active projects, managing consultants, contractors, schedule, budget, and stakeholder coordination from intake through commissioning and close-out. You’ll hold the technical, commercial, and relational layers of delivery so that complex builds land on time, on budget, and on brief.
This is an 18-month contract role with the potential to extend. The role is hybrid (in office 3 days/week) with travel to project sites (~20% expected). You’ll report to the Lead, Real Estate Project Management.
Responsibilities:
Project execution, end-to-end
Own assigned projects from intake through commissioning and close-out.
Build, maintain, and pressure-test the project schedule against milestones. Surface schedule risk early and propose mitigations.
Own the project budget at the line-item level. Track committed versus forecast versus spend, manage change orders, and flag variances above tolerance.
Maintain the project risk log and publish weekly status updates.
Own project close-out documentation and lessons-learned capture.
Contract administration and commercial management
Draft, negotiate, and administer consultant and contractor agreements across architect, engineer, GC, sub-trades, and specialty vendors.
Run RFPs and bid analysis for prime consultant and contractor selection on assigned projects.
Issue and track POs, invoices, change orders, and payment certificates through procurement systems.
Lead commercial negotiation on fees, scope, and business contract terms.
Drawing and submittal review
Review consultant drawing packages at schematic, design development, and construction document stages for completeness, constructability, and alignment to brief.
Mark up architectural, mechanical, and electrical drawings for coordination and conflict resolution.
Pressure-test consultant timelines and scope assumptions before they are accepted.
Coordinate technical reviews with internal stakeholders across Facilities, IT, AV, Security, Brand, and Marketing.
Vendor and consultant management
Manage prime consultant and GC relationships through the full project lifecycle.
Coordinate sub-trade scope across millwork, AV, IT, lighting, and FF&E.
Hold consultants accountable to deliverables, deadlines, and contract terms, and resolve performance issues directly.
Stakeholder communication
Keep internal Shopify stakeholders aligned through the build, across Facilities, IT, Brand, Events, Security, Culinary, and Port Operations.
Lead project meetings including kickoff, weekly site, and owner-architect-contractor coordination.
Site oversight
Conduct site visits at key milestones including mobilization, in-wall, finishes, and punch list.
Coordinate with on-site port operations to compress disruption windows during live-port construction.
AI-enabled execution
Use the team's internal AI tools and agents to accelerate day-to-day execution.
Build net-new agents and AI-enabled workflows that accelerate execution and deepen the technical layer of the project process.
Reporting
Own weekly status updates for cross-functional stakeholders, covering schedule, budget, risks, and decisions.
Translate project status into exec-ready content for leadership decks and updates.
Qualifications:
5 to 7+ years of construction project management experience, preferably in commercial fit-out, hospitality, or office build environments.
PMP certification.
Demonstrated ownership of multi-million-dollar capital projects from design through close-out.
Strong contract administration and commercial negotiation experience.
Comfort reading and reviewing architectural, mechanical, and electrical drawing sets.
Strong written communication, with the ability to translate site complexity into executive-ready summaries.
Comfort working across multiple time zones, vendors, and internal stakeholders, and the judgment to know when to escalate.
Client-side project management experience, with the perspective of representing the client through design and construction rather than executing as the GC.
Demonstrated ability to manage risk and escalate effectively, with examples of preventing or recovering schedule and budget impacts on complex builds.
Preferred Qualifications:
Commercial construction background, with extensive experience on boutique projects (hospitality, premium retail, or design-led commercial fit-out) where design intent, craft, and finish detail set the bar.
Familiarity with AutoCAD, Revit, and Procore.
Experience executing projects across multiple jurisdictions in North America and Europe.
Hands-on experience with AI tooling such as Claude or custom agents as part of everyday project delivery.
How to Apply:
If this sounds like the kind of work you want to be doing, we want to hear from you. Please submit your application along with a brief note (300 words max) on a recent project you delivered that didn't go to plan: the moment you had to make a hard call, the decision you made, and what you'd do differently.