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Program Manager – Utility Field Safety Operations Location: Somerset, NJ / Central New Jersey Job Type: Full-time Schedule: Monday through Friday, with field support as needed Anticipated Assignment: Utility field safety program support; contingent upon client award or notice to proceed Travel: Local travel to utility field locations as needed About Us CARIAN is a purpose-driven, woman-owned consulting and advisory firm dedicated exclusively to the power sector. We partner with leading electric and gas utilities to provide strategic advisory and disciplined execution across program management, business intelligence, and field execution oversight. Guided by integrity, trust, excellence, and accountability, our team helps deliver complex capital programs and build the resilient energy infrastructure that communities depend on. Position Overview CARIAN is seeking a Program Manager – Utility Field Safety Operations to lead day-to-day delivery of utility field safety operations across active construction and infrastructure environments. This role is responsible for managing field program execution, workforce deployment, supervisor coordination, client communication, reporting cadence, issue escalation, and operational performance. The Program Manager will work closely with safety leadership, field supervisors, program controls, operations support, recruiting, and client stakeholders to ensure field personnel are properly deployed, trained, credentialed, and supported. This is not a traditional corporate Safety Manager role. The successful candidate will be a field-oriented program leader with strong utility, construction, safety-sensitive operations, workforce management, and client-facing delivery experience. Key Responsibilities - Lead day-to-day execution of utility field safety operations across assigned work areas and field locations - Manage workforce deployment, staffing coverage, schedule alignment, and field resource coordination - Serve as a primary operational point of contact for client stakeholders, field supervisors, internal leadership, and support teams - Coordinate with safety leadership to support field safety expectations, training readiness, observation practices, escalation protocols, and documentation standards - Oversee regional field supervisors and support consistent execution across multiple field locations - Monitor active staffing levels, upcoming manpower needs, schedule changes, deployment gaps, and coverage risks - Partner with program controls to review labor hours, staffing forecasts, utilization, reporting dashboards, issue logs, and performance trends - Partner with operations support to ensure onboarding, credentialing, training, badging, access readiness, timesheets, expenses, and field documentation remain current - Establish and manage regular program operating cadence, including field check-ins, status meetings, weekly reporting, issue reviews, and action-item tracking - Support ramp-up, ramp-down, replacement staffing, and redeployment planning as program needs change - Escalate operational, staffing, training, access, safety, or performance issues in a timely and professional manner - Maintain strong communication with client representatives and internal leadership regarding field readiness, schedule changes, risks, and required actions Qualifications - 8+ years of experience in utility, construction, infrastructure, field services, safety-sensitive operations, or related program delivery - 3+ years of experience managing field teams, supervisors, multi-site operations, or client-facing field programs - Strong understanding of utility construction, field safety expectations, worksite coordination, access readiness, and operational risk management - Experience coordinating field staffing, workforce deployment, schedule changes, manpower planning, or multi-location coverage - Demonstrated ability to manage client communication