Construction Executive Search
Advastar has partnered with contractors, developers and owners on their most senior construction hires
Construction executive search for leadership hires that change the company
Advastar is a construction executive search firm working with general contractors, specialty contractors, developers, owners and private equity-backed platforms on the hires that sit at the top of the organization. Division presidents, vice presidents of operations and preconstruction, chief estimators, COOs and CFOs of construction businesses and the regional leaders who own a P&L rather than a project.
Executive search in construction is not a bigger version of filling a project manager role. The candidate pool for a division president in a given market and building type is measured in dozens, most of them are not looking, and nearly all of them are known to your competitors and possibly to you. That changes the work. It becomes a mapping exercise first – who exists, where they sit, what they are compensated – and a persuasion exercise second. It is almost always confidential, because the incumbent is frequently still in the chair and the market talks.
Compensation is where these searches most often come apart. A senior construction leader’s package is rarely just salary and bonus. It may include profit share on a division, a phantom equity or stock appreciation plan, a vehicle and expense structure and in owner-led firms, some conversation about succession that nobody has written down. If the compensation conversation is left until the offer, the search fails at the last step. We put a realistic package range on the table before candidates are approached, and we tell you when the range you have in mind will not clear the market.
We run these engagements on a retained or engaged basis with an agreed process, a written candidate map and scheduled reporting, because a contingent approach does not produce serious candidates at this level. Advastar brings more than 60 years of combined staffing experience and a construction desk that has been in these markets long enough to know who is quietly available. If you are considering a leadership change, the earliest useful conversation is usually before you have decided to make it.
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Our construction executive network
- 6,300 construction executives in network
- 91% of executive placements still in seat at two years
- 40 states with completed executive searches
- 62days median retained search, kickoff to accepted offer
Construction executive roles commonly searched
Executives who bring work in: client relationships, pursuit strategy and market entry when a firm is opening a geography or a building type it has not served before.
The senior technical authority on price. Accountable for methodology, historical cost data, subcontractor coverage and the defensibility of every number that leaves the building.
CFOs and finance VPs with construction-specific experience: WIP and percentage of completion, bonding and surety relationships, job cost integrity and lender and equity reporting.
Operations executives accountable for delivery across the portfolio: field leadership, project controls discipline, risk and the operating rhythm. Common hire when a firm outgrows founder-led operations.
Market and division leaders owning a full P&L, backlog and staff. Usually recruited confidentially, frequently as part of a succession plan the wider company has not been told about yet.
Corporate directors and VPs of safety, risk and quality. Hired when EMR, insurance cost or a serious incident has made the function a board-level concern rather than a departmental one.
Senior operations leaders running multiple project teams, responsible for staffing, margin performance and the escalation path. The most frequently searched title on this desk.
Executive owners of the pursuit and pricing function, accountable for hit rate, bid quality and the accuracy of the numbers the company commits to.
What we assess at the executive level
- Backlog & Revenue Scale
- Board & Ownership Reporting
- Bonding & Surety Capacity
- Claims & Dispute Exposure
- Client Portfolio Transferability
- CM-at-Risk Delivery
- Design-Build Delivery
- EMR & Safety Culture Turnaround
- Executive Compensation Structures
- M&A & Integration Experience
- Market Entry & Geographic Expansion
- Multi-State Operations
- P&L Ownership
- Phantom Equity & SAR Plans
- Private Equity-Backed Growth
- Public & Federal Contracting
- Self-Perform Operations
- Succession Planning
- Union & Open Shop Environments
- WIP & Percentage of Completion
Real-world outcomes: executive searches we have delivered
- Read Case Study: Family-Owned General Contractor – Succession Hire
Family-owned general contractor – succession hire
- Candidate map built across four adjacent markets before any approach was made
- Compensation restructured to include profit share after the first two candidates declined on package
- Search run entirely confidentially; staff learned of the hire on announcement day
- Read Case Study: Private Equity-Backed Specialty Contractor – Operations Leadership
Private equity-backed specialty contractor – operations leadership
- Prioritized integration experience over sector familiarity after sponsor alignment
- Equity participation modeled with the sponsor before candidates were approached
- Two acquired-company leaders assessed internally as part of the same process
- Read Case Study: Heavy Civil Contractor – Preconstruction Executive
Heavy civil contractor – preconstruction executive
- VP of Preconstruction recruited from a larger competitor in an adjacent state
- Chief estimator succession mapped at the same time to avoid a second vacancy
- Reference process extended to owners and subcontractors, not just former employers
What hiring managers say about Advastar
Why clients trust Advastar
Forbes 2026Best of Recruiting & Best of Staffing
Advastar was named to Forbes' 2026 Best of Recruiting and Best of Staffing lists, both compiled from independent surveys of the clients and candidates we work with.
Read the AnnouncementGE EnergyStaffing Partner of the Year
GE Energy named Advastar its Staffing Partner of the Year in 2025 through the GE Vernova supplier program.
60+ yearsof combined construction executive search expertise
Our construction executive search recruiters bring more than 60 years of combined recruiting experience to every search we run.
Tell us who you need to hire
- Tell us about the role you need to fill
- A recruiter calls you within one business day
- Together we agree on a plan to fill the role
Find your next role
- Tell us what kind of work you want
- A recruiter reviews your details and gets in touch
- We put you forward for jobs that fit
GE Energy Staffing Partner of the Year
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Our construction executive search recruiting team
David Case
President, Advastar Engineering Services
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Tim Shearer
VP & National Managing Director
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Robert Cornelio
Director of Business Development
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Jaime Summers
Senior Recruiter
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Amanda Martin
Recruiter
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Christen Trent
Recruiter
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Laura Carrillo Barrios
Recruiter
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Lisa Wombwell
Office Manager
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Frequently asked questions about construction executive search
Presidents and division presidents, chief operating officers, vice presidents of operations and preconstruction, CFOs and finance leadership, chief estimators, business development executives and corporate directors of safety, risk and quality.
Retained or engaged. At this level a contingent approach does not produce serious candidates, because the people you want are not applying to anything and will only engage with a search that is clearly real and clearly confidential.
Fully, when you need it to be. We approach candidates without naming you until there is mutual interest and an understanding of the process. Most of our executive work involves an incumbent who is still in the seat, so discretion is the default rather than an option.
Median across our retained construction searches is about 62 days from kickoff to accepted offer. Mapping and approach take the first few weeks; the back half is usually paced by the client’s own interview availability and the candidate’s notice and compensation position.
Because it is the most common reason these searches fail at the last step. Senior construction packages involve profit share, phantom equity, vehicle and expense structures and sometimes a succession conversation. If those are not defined until offer stage, you lose the candidate after three months of work.
Yes, and we would rather do it at kickoff than after two declines. Part of what a retained engagement buys is a real read on what the market is paying for the profile you have described.
When asked, and it is often worth doing. Running internal candidates through the same assessment as the external slate gives the owner or board a defensible comparison, and occasionally confirms that the right person was already in the building.
We go beyond former employers. For construction executives, references from owners, subcontractors and bonding or banking relationships tell you more about how someone actually operates than a reporting-line reference will.
Yes. Sponsor-backed platforms have specific needs – integration experience, reporting discipline, comfort with an equity story – and we model the equity participation with the sponsor before candidates are approached.
This page is leadership only, run as retained search. Project-level hiring, including project managers, superintendents and construction management staff, sits on the separate practice-area pages for those roles.
Retained engagements carry a defined guarantee period and a replacement commitment, agreed in writing at the start. The specifics depend on the level and structure of the engagement.
We recruit nationally across the United States and have completed executive searches in 40 states. Relocation is common at this level and we build it into the compensation conversation from the outset.