At Kelvion, a Project Manager is the critical link that transforms complex thermal engineering designs into high-performance physical realities. As a global leader in industrial heat exchange technology, Kelvion relies on its project management team to oversee the end-to-end execution of custom engineering and manufacturing projects. Whether you are managing the fabrication of massive air-cooled heat exchangers or coordinate-sensitive shell-and-tube designs, you will be directly responsible for delivering highly technical, capital-intensive equipment to clients in the oil and gas, power generation, and chemical processing industries.

This role is highly collaborative and cross-functional. You will not work in an isolated office; instead, you will actively partner with sales, design engineering, global procurement, and manufacturing shop-floor teams. Your performance directly impacts Kelvion's operational efficiency, manufacturing throughput, and bottom-line profitability. By keeping projects on schedule and within budget, you ensure that the company maintains its reputation for precision engineering and reliable delivery.

For a professional looking to make a tangible impact, this position offers an exciting blend of technical challenge and strategic execution. You will work on projects with significant engineering complexity, managing tight fabrication schedules and navigating global supply chain dynamics. Success in this role requires a robust understanding of industrial manufacturing processes, exceptional stakeholder management skills, and the agility to solve unexpected shop-floor challenges in real time.

The interview process at Kelvion is designed to evaluate both your behavioral alignment and your technical execution capabilities. While the questions are structured as a natural, conversational dialogue, they are highly targeted. The hiring team seeks to understand how you handle pressure, manage client expectations, and navigate the realities of a heavy manufacturing environment.

Behavioral & Leadership

These questions assess your communication style, conflict-resolution skills, and how you lead cross-functional teams without direct authority.

• Tell me about a time you had to deliver bad news to a client regarding a project delay. How did you handle it?
• Describe a situation where you had a disagreement with an engineering or manufacturing lead. How did you resolve it to keep the project on track?

Preparing for an interview at Kelvion requires a balanced approach. You must demonstrate both your structured project management methodology and your practical, hands-on familiarity with industrial environments.

Role-related knowledge – You must understand how heavy manufacturing projects move from sales handoff through engineering, procurement, fabrication, testing, and final logistics. Familiarity with heat exchangers, pressure vessels, or general thermal dynamics is highly valued.

Problem-solving ability – Interviewers want to see how you analyze schedule delays, resource constraints, and technical bottlenecks. Be prepared to walk through your decision-making process step-by-step, showing how you use data and logical reasoning to find solutions.

Leadership & Communication – Because you will interface directly with external clients and internal shop-floor personnel, your communication style must be adaptable. You need to show that you can build trust with welders and machinists just as effectively as you can present project metrics to corporate executives.

Culture fit / values – Kelvion values accountability, safety, and continuous improvement. Your answers should reflect a "safety-first" mindset and a proactive approach to identifying and resolving project risks before they escalate.

The interview process at Kelvion is conversational yet thorough. It is designed to assess your technical capability while ensuring you are a good cultural fit for a collaborative, fast-paced manufacturing environment. The process typically moves at a steady pace, focusing heavily on practical experience rather than theoretical testing.

The journey begins with an initial screening call with Human Resources to discuss your background, salary expectations, and overall alignment with the role. This is followed by a more detailed technical and behavioral interview with the hiring manager and key team members. A unique and highly positive aspect of the Kelvion onsite interview is the facility tour, where you will walk the manufacturing floor, see the products firsthand, and get a realistic sense of the daily working environment.

The timeline above outlines the typical progression from your initial application to the final offer stage. Candidates should use this timeline to pace their preparation, ensuring they are ready to transition from high-level behavioral discussions to detailed technical and situational conversations by the time they reach the onsite interview. Note that depending on the seniority of the role, such as a Program Manager versus a Project Coordinator, the depth of the technical evaluation may vary.

To succeed in your interviews, you must understand the specific competencies Kelvion evaluates during the process.

Project Lifecycle & Schedule Management

This area focuses on your ability to initiate, plan, execute, monitor, and close out manufacturing projects. Interviewers want to know how you build and maintain a project schedule that accounts for engineering approval cycles, material lead times, and fabrication capacity.

Be ready to go over:

• Critical Path Methodology – How you identify and protect the critical path of a project.
• Milestone Tracking – Your approach to setting and meeting key milestones with engineering and shop floor teams.
• Resource Leveling – How you manage project timelines when shared manufacturing resources are constrained.

Advanced concepts (less common):

• Managing multi-project portfolios with competing resource demands.
• Implementing lean manufacturing principles to optimize project delivery timelines.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk me through how you build a project schedule from the moment a contract is signed."
• "How do you adjust your project plan when a key milestone is missed due to an engineering bottleneck?"

Client & Stakeholder Management

At Kelvion, the Project Manager is the face of the company to the client. You must demonstrate that you can manage client expectations, handle difficult conversations, and protect Kelvion's commercial interests while maintaining strong customer relationships.

Be ready to go over:

• Scope Management – How you document and manage changes to the project scope.
• Conflict Resolution – Your strategies for resolving disputes over project delays or technical specifications.
• Reporting & Communication – How you structure status updates for both external clients and internal leadership.

Advanced concepts (less common):

• Negotiating contract amendments and change orders on multi-million dollar projects.
• Managing international clients with diverse communication styles and business practices.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "A client insists that a specific design change was included in the original scope, but your contract says otherwise. How do you handle this?"
• "Describe a time you had to rebuild trust with a client after a major project mistake occurred."

Financial & Risk Management

Every project at Kelvion must be executed profitably. You will be evaluated on your financial acumen, your ability to track project costs, and your proactive approach to identifying and mitigating project risks.

Be ready to go over:

• Cost Tracking – How you monitor actual costs versus budgeted costs throughout the fabrication process.
• Risk Identification – Your method for identifying potential schedule, quality, or financial risks early in the project.
• Contingency Planning – How you develop and execute fallback plans when risks materialize.

Advanced concepts (less common):

• Understanding revenue recognition and cash flow management on long-term projects.
• Conducting post-project financial analyses to identify areas for future cost savings.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "How do you identify financial variances in your project budget before they become critical issues?"
• "Tell me about a project risk you identified early on and the steps you took to mitigate it."