Project Risk Manager - North America

About Volta

Volta is the category-defining, fully vertically integrated AI infrastructure platform – from capital to clusters to software, under a founder-led enterprise. Our mission is The Utility of Compute™: AI infrastructure as dependable and available as electricity, for every organization that needs it. Launched with a $10B strategic partnership with one of the leading frontier AI labs, a Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz, and a $5B AI Infrastructure Fund, Volta is building the infrastructure layer of the AI era from the ground up. We are 100+ people across London, Palo Alto, and New York, with rapid growth expectations to hundreds.

About The Role

The Project Risk Manager, North America provides leadership, oversight, and assurance of risk management across the regional portfolio. You will bring subject matter technical expertise in project risk management (PRM) and enable predictable and successful delivery of the regional portfolio by proactively managing uncertainty and reducing exposure to project execution. You will be responsible for guidance, support and relationship building to enable a robust risk management program. This is a hands-on role that pairs technical risk management depth with genuine business partnering - you will sit alongside project directors, engineers, procurement, construction and commissioning, not apart from them.

Key responsibilities

Leadership and Governance

> Risk Leadership: Lead the regional risk management program across the North American portfolio, establishing consistent governance, standards, processes, methodologies, and escalation requirements.

> Risk Integration: Ensure risk management is integrated throughout the project lifecycle and across Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Project Controls, Commercial, Commissioning, and Operations Readiness.

> Independent Oversight: Provide independent risk oversight and constructive challenge to project and functional leadership, ensuring significant risks and opportunities receive appropriate management attention.

> Risk Culture: Promote a proactive risk culture focused on early identification, clear ownership, accountability, timely escalation, and risk-informed decision-making.

> Leadership Advisory: Serve as the regional risk management subject matter expert and advisor to project, regional, and executive leadership.

Risk Management

> Risk Management: Lead the identification, assessment, mitigation, monitoring, escalation, and closure of risks and opportunities throughout the project lifecycle.

> Project Risk: Build, own and maintain, oversee project risk registers and ensure significant risks have appropriate ownership, mitigation strategies, action plans, residual assessments, and escalation paths.

> EPC Risk: Evaluate key project delivery risks across design, permitting, utility interconnection, procurement and long-lead equipment, construction, commercial/contractual performance, commissioning, energization, and MW capacity delivery.

> Portfolio Risk: Consolidate and evaluate project risks at the regional level to identify emerging, systemic, correlated, and concentration risks requiring portfolio-level action.

> Opportunity Management: Promote identification and realization of opportunities related to cost, schedule, standardization, procurement, constructability, and overall project delivery.

Risk Analysis

> Quantitative Risk Analysis: Lead qualitative and quantitative cost and schedule risk analysis, including Monte Carlo simulation and other probabilistic techniques, include schedule risk analysis (SRA), to evaluate project uncertainty and confidence in achieving key objectives.

> Cost and Schedule Risk: Assess cost exposure, schedule uncertainty, critical-path risks, key milestones, and confidence in achieving committed milestones and ready for service dates.

> Contingency Management: Develop risk-based recommendations for project contingency and management reserves and support governance of contingency utilization and release.

> Portfolio Analysis: Analyze common and correlated regional risks, key risk drivers, scenarios, and sensitivities to identify potential portfolio impacts and mitigation priorities.

> Decision Support: Provide risk analysis and recommendations to support investment decisions, stage gates, baseline approvals, major contract awards, and other significant project decisions

Reporting

> Executive Reporting: Develop concise project and regional reporting of top risks and opportunities, emerging exposures, trends, mitigation effectiveness, contingency status, and matters requiring management action.

> Risk Analytics: Develop project and portfolio dashboards and analytics that provide visibility into risk exposure, trends, concentrations, and confidence in achieving cost, schedule, commissioning, and MW capacity commitments.

> Mitigation and Escalation: Monitor and report mitigation progress, overdue actions, changes in exposure, realized risks, and significant issues requiring project, regional or executive escalation.

> Governance Support: Provide risk information and analysis for project reviews, project and regional leadership meetings, investment decisions, and executive governance forums.

Risk Assurance & Continuous Improvement

> Risk Assurance: Conduct periodic project risk reviews and health checks to assess the quality and effectiveness of risk identification, analysis, mitigation, reporting, and compliance with company requirements.

> Independent Test: Test key project assumptions, forecasts, contingency requirements, mitigation strategies, and confidence levels to ensure material exposure is appropriately understood and communicated.

> Cross-Project Learning: Identify recurring risks, systemic weaknesses, successful mitigation strategies, and lessons learned across the portfolio and incorporate findings into future project execution.

> Continuous Improvement: Drive continuous improvement of risk processes, methodologies, tools, analytics, reporting, and organizational risk management capability.

Candidate profile

Essential

> Bachelor’s in Engineering, Construction Management, Project Management, Business, Finance, or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant industry experience.

> Significant experience in risk management, project controls, or project delivery within complex EPC, construction, infrastructure, energy, mission-critical, or major capital programs.

> Demonstrated experience leading project and portfolio risk management, including risk identification, assessment, mitigation, monitoring, escalation, and assurance.

> Strong understanding of cost, schedule, contingency, and project controls principles and their integration with project risk management.

> Experience applying quantitative risk analysis and probabilistic techniques to evaluate project cost and schedule uncertainty.

> Advanced experience with Monte Carlo simulation, cost and schedule risk analysis, scenario analysis, and risk-based contingency development.

> Strong understanding of EPC contracting, procurement, supply chain, change management, claims, and commercial risk.

> Proven ability to influence and constructively challenge senior project and functional leaders in a complex, fast-paced project environment.

> Strong written, verbal, facilitation, and executive communication skills, with the ability to translate complex risk information into clear business insights and recommended actions.

> Ability to identify systemic and correlated risks across multiple projects and provide regional-level insight to support management decision-making.

Desirable

> Experience delivering hyperscale, AI, mission-critical, or other large-scale Data Center programs, with knowledge of power, cooling, utility interconnection, long-lead equipment, commissioning, and MW capacity delivery.

> Experience with enterprise or project risk management platforms and integration with scheduling, cost management, and reporting systems.

> Relevant professional certification such as PMI-RMP, PMP, AACE, IRM, or equivalent risk/project management credential.

> Working knowledge of recognized risk management principles and frameworks, including ISO 31000, PMBok, and associated standards, e.g. ISO 9001, ISO 45001, ISO 14001, etc.

> Experience presenting portfolio risk, contingency, schedule confidence, and emerging exposure to executive leadership and governance committees.

> Experience with @Risk, Riskonnect, SAFRAN or other industry-standard software.

REQ 255

What We Offer

At Volta, we believe people do their best work when they feel supported, trusted and able to grow. We're building a company where you can make an impact, keep a healthy balance between work and life, and build a career you're proud of.
As a global team, we do our best to provide great benefits wherever you're based. While some benefits vary by country due to local regulations, we believe looking after our people is simply the right thing to do.

• Competitive salary based on the work you do here, not your previous salary

• Equity in Volta, giving you the opportunity to share in the company's long-term success

• Retirement/pension contributions

• Comprehensive health, wellbeing and insurance benefits

• Generous number of vacation days each year

Additional Information

Background Checks

All offers of employment at Volta are conditional on the satisfactory completion of pre-employment screening, which includes confirmation of your right to work, verification of your employment history and a criminal record check, where this is permitted by local law. Screening is carried out by Zinc, an accredited third-party provider, after an offer is made and all information is handled confidentially and in accordance with applicable data protection law.

Equal Opportunity

Volta is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive team and make employment decisions based on skills, qualifications, experience and business needs. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or any other legally protected characteristic.

Accessibility

Volta is committed to providing an accessible recruitment experience for all candidates. If you require accommodations or adjustments at any stage of the application or interview process, please contact us at [email protected]. We will work with you to identify reasonable accommodations that enable you to participate fully in the hiring process.

Candidate Privacy Notice

By applying, you consent to the processing of your personal data for recruitment purposes in accordance with applicable data protection laws, including the UK GDPR, EU GDPR and relevant US state privacy regulations. Your data will be shared only with those involved in the hiring process and will not be used for unrelated purposes. For details, see our Recruitment & Candidate Privacy Notice.

Note to Recruitment Agencies

Volta does not accept unsolicited CVs or candidate profiles from recruitment agencies. Any unsolicited submissions, including those sent directly to hiring managers or employees, will be treated as the property of Volta. No agency fees will be payable unless a valid, signed recruitment agreement is in place, and the agency has been specifically engaged for the relevant vacancy.