Cost Controls Manager

Arcadis • Manchester, CT

3d • $145,000 - $165,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. We are more than 36,000 people, in over 70 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together. Role description: Location: Groton, Connecticut area Work Arrangement: Hybrid, with required on-site presence in the Groton, CT area 2–3 days per week, plus additional in-person attendance as needed to support business and client requirements. Arcadis is seeking a PMO Program Controls & Systems Lead to support a major life sciences and corporate real estate capital program in the Groton, Connecticut area. This role will serve as the working controls lead for the Northeast portfolio while also providing leadership across the broader Arcadis PMO controls team supporting the account. This is a high-impact, hands-on leadership role for a professional who can combine strong project controls capability with systems oversight, governance leadership, and team management. The successful candidate will lead integrated controls delivery across cost, forecasting, planning oversight, risk, reporting, and PMO systems while coordinating a team of U.S.-based controls leaders and global systems support resources. The scope also includes partnership with project managers and stakeholders on funding governance, reporting accuracy, tool adoption, data integrity, and project administration enablement. The ideal candidate will be comfortable operating in a managed-services environment with defined reporting cadences, governance forums, service expectations, and continuous improvement requirements. This role is best suited for a leader who is equally effective driving day-to-day execution, strengthening PMO processes, and improving the quality and consistency of portfolio-level controls services. The underlying scope emphasizes monthly KPI performance, formal quarterly business reviews, accurate and timely reporting, support for governance and funding submissions, and disciplined maintenance of PMO systems and data.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Business, Finance, Project Management, or a related field.
• Significant progressive experience in project controls, PMO operations, capital program management, or comparable portfolio environments.
• Demonstrated experience leading integrated controls functions across cost, forecasting, planning, governance, systems, and reporting.
• Strong knowledge of project controls and PMO tools such as Primavera P6, Smartsheet, Excel, Power BI, SharePoint, SAP, CORE, CAMMS, Procore, or similar platforms.
• Experience developing dashboards, executive reporting, governance materials, and performance metrics.
• Experience supporting funding approvals, cost governance, accruals, financial reporting, and portfolio-level controls.
• Experience leading or coordinating distributed teams, including remote or global support resources.
• Strong analytical, communication, stakeholder management, and problem-solving skills.
• Detail-oriented, organized, and able to operate effectively in a fast-paced, client-facing environment.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree in a relevant discipline.
• Professional certification such as PMP, CCM, PSP, or similar.
• Experience in life sciences, pharmaceutical, corporate real estate, or other complex institutional capital programs.
• Experience with enterprise PMIS environments, governance-driven capital programs, and managed-services delivery models.
• Experience building or refining SOPs, templates, reporting structures, and PMO operating frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Integrated Project Controls Leadership Serve as the primary controls lead for the Northeast portfolio, supporting active project and program delivery across cost management, forecasting, milestone and schedule oversight, risk, reporting, and governance.
• Provide leadership across the Arcadis PMO controls function supporting the account, including coordination of U.S.-based Controls Managers and global systems support resources.
• Drive consistency in project controls delivery, reporting standards, governance execution, and overall portfolio support across projects and regions.
• Partner closely with project managers, program leaders, finance, procurement, and other stakeholders to support effective project planning, control, and decision-making Cost Management and Financial Controls Lead budget planning, cost tracking, forecasting, accruals, actuals review, and portfolio-level financial reporting.
• Support project teams in establishing and maintaining accurate cost plans from project initiation through closeout.
• Oversee cost governance activities, including funding requests, budget verification, contingency review, financial controls, and capital approval support.
• Monitor cost performance against approved budgets and defined performance metrics, identifying risks, trends, and corrective actions where needed.
• Support closeout activities including invoice reconciliation, purchase order closeout, and project capitalization processes..
• PMO Systems, Reporting Tools, and Data Governance Lead oversight of PMO systems, reporting tools, dashboards, and repositories used to support project, program, and portfolio visibility.
• Help guide administration and continuous improvement of CORE and other PMO-managed systems, ensuring strong data quality, consistency, traceability, and timely updates.
• Support enhancements to dashboards, templates, SOPs, and reporting tools to improve usability, governance alignment, and leadership insight.
• Partner with the global systems support team to ensure responsive user support, issue resolution, and reliable platform performance.
• Planning, Schedule, and Lifecycle Controls Oversee the broader planning and lifecycle controls framework across the portfolio, including milestone visibility, baseline alignment, update governance, and progress reporting.
• Support project teams in maintaining effective planning practices and interpreting schedule information to identify risks, constraints, and recovery opportunities.
• Ensure project controls outputs remain aligned with governance checkpoints, funding milestones, and lifecycle stage requirements.
• Provide integrated planning support as part of the overall controls model.
• Governance, Performance Reporting, and Continuous Improvement Lead preparation and review of project, program, and portfolio reporting packages, governance materials, and executive summaries.
• Support recurring governance forums, including funding reviews, regional governance meetings, and quarterly business reviews.
• Help monitor KPI performance across cost, schedule, risk, administration, systems, and reporting service areas, and drive improvement actions where required.
• Lead or support root-cause analysis, performance improvement planning, and corrective actions where service or delivery expectations are not met.
• Promote lessons learned, retrospectives, and process improvement initiatives to strengthen PMO maturity and service quality over time.
• Team Leadership and Stakeholder Engagement Lead a distributed delivery model that includes regional controls resources and global systems support team members.
• Mentor team members, support capability development, and foster accountability, responsiveness, and high-quality execution.
• Build trusted relationships with client stakeholders and internal delivery teams through clear communication, strong follow-through, and practical problem solving.
• Ensure work is delivered with professionalism, accuracy, and consistency in support of a complex capital program environment.

Benefits

• Arcadis offers benefits for full time and part time positions. These benefits include medical, dental, and vision, EAP, 401K, STD, LTD, AD&D, life insurance, paid parental leave, reward & recognition program and optional benefits including wellbeing benefits, adoption assistance and tuition reimbursement.
• We offer nine paid holidays and 15 days PTO that accrue per year.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees