Corporate Director, Project Controls

CRB • Kansas City, MO

95d

About The Position

The Corporate Director of Project Controls will lead the centralized Project Controls organization for an industry-leading EPC+CQV company with over $1B in annual revenue, specializing in pharmaceutical manufacturing and food & beverage facilities. This role is accountable for building and evolving a world-class project controls program that delivers consistent, accurate, and actionable cost, schedule, risk, and performance insights across a diverse portfolio of projects—ranging from small fast-track upgrades to mega GMP manufacturing plants. The successful candidate will be a visionary leader who can inspire the company with what is possible, create buy-in across executive and project teams, and drive a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, and excellence. This role will focus on developing and standardizing project controls practices within a culture of continuous improvement, attracting, developing, and retaining top talent, and leveraging advanced technology and AI to improve productivity. This position has the opportunity to be remote with travel.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Business Administration or related field.
• Professional certifications such as PMP, CCP, EVP, or PSP strongly preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive project controls experience in large EPC+CQV projects, with at least 3 years in a senior leadership role.
• Direct experience with pharmaceutical, biotech, food & beverage, or similar process manufacturing capital projects strongly preferred.
• Proven success in implementing enterprise-wide project controls standards and tools preferred.
• Strong track record of leveraging technology, automation, and data analytics to drive improvements a plus.

Nice To Haves

• Thought Leader with the ability to inspire stakeholders and gain buy-in at all levels.
• Extensive expertise in cost management, scheduling, change control, forecasting, and earned value measurement.
• Exceptional leadership, communication, and influencing skills.
• Adaptable and resilient in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
• Demonstrates understanding of project accounting and how it ties in with revenue recognition in accordance with US GAAP.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a comprehensive strategy for the Project Controls function aligned with corporate growth and operational excellence goals.
• Expand cost engineering, scheduling, progress measurement, and project data analytics capabilities across the company.
• Partner closely with the corporate accounting team to ensure alignment between project financial reporting and corporate financial systems, while maintaining separation of the project controls and accounting functions.
• Build a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, and accountability.
• Lead, mentor, and grow a diverse team of project controls managers, cost engineers, schedulers, and analysts across multiple offices and sites.
• Inspire and communicate a clear vision of the group’s role in company success.
• Foster career development pathways and succession planning within the group.
• Develop and maintain scalable project controls standards, procedures, and tools tailored for different project types, sizes, and contract models.
• Establish governance processes to ensure data accuracy, consistency, and compliance across all projects.
• Create key performance indicators (KPIs) and dashboards to measure project performance and organizational effectiveness.
• Oversee and coordinate project controls support for all active projects—ensuring effective change management and timely, accurate, and actionable reporting of cost, schedule, earned value, and risk.
• Collaborate with project teams and corporate and regional leadership to proactively identify issues and opportunities.
• Drive standardization while allowing flexibility for unique project needs.
• Quickly develop expert-level proficiency in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and serve as an internal subject matter expert for D365 as it relates to project controls.
• Lead the development and implementation of project reporting tools, with a heavy emphasis on real-time Power BI dashboards and reports.
• Investigate and deploy AI-driven forecasting, analytics, and productivity tools to enhance speed, accuracy, and decision-making.

Benefits

• Complete and competitive benefit package designed to meet individual and family needs.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree