DCE Project Controls Manager

Flexential Corp.•Atlanta, GA

2d•$135,000 - $150,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Serve as the VP of Construction's direct tactical eyes and ears on the ground, governing daily project financial defense, variance tracking, change validation, schedule integration, and project controls reporting processes. The core focus is to ensure active field execution matches contractual billing, provide immediate visibility into cost variances, defend the portfolio contingency against erosion, establish reporting frameworks used across projects, and audit multi-project bookkeeping. This role involves the strategic tracking of multiple concurrent live builds, utility campus infrastructure projects, and active operational retrofit/repair construction projects while maintaining ownership of project controls processes, reporting standards, and portfolio-level financial visibility.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Finance, Civil/Mechanical Engineering, or Accounting.
5–8 years of experience in project controls, cost engineering, or construction accounting on heavy industrial or utility-scale commercial projects.
At least 2–3 years working directly on mission-critical or data center construction projects with a clear understanding of heavy MEP cost profiles.
Advanced proficiency utilizing enterprise construction PMIS tools, relational spreadsheet applications, and critical-path scheduling software.
Strong understanding of open-book cost reviews, shared savings clauses, and multi-tier contract mechanics.
Comfortable splitting time between the office and the active construction field to verify work-in-place alongside superintendents.
Must be legally authorized to work in the United States and reside in a state where the company maintains employment eligibility.

Nice To Haves

Unique skills that set them apart from the rest.
Enthusiastic about this role and believe you have the skills and abilities that would make you successful.

Responsibilities

Establish and maintain project controls reporting frameworks, financial tracking standards, and performance metrics to ensure consistent portfolio-level visibility and decision support.
Maintain active site sub-ledgers and execute daily cost-code accounting using MasterFormat/Uniformat standards, ensuring all field commitments are logged accurately.
Review, verify, and process monthly progress billings and pay applications from the General Contractor, cross-referencing all billings against physical on-site work-in-place verification.
Collect, audit, and log conditional and unconditional lien waivers from all sub-tier trades to eliminate financial, legal, and title risks.
Monitor delivery timelines, tax exemptions, and milestone payments for critical Owner-Furnished Equipment (OFE) once items transition to the field.
Isolate, track, and bookkeep distinct budgets for large operational repair or retrofit builds to prevent cost blending with standard facility maintenance budgets.
Command the change order defense process; review incoming Subcontractor Change Orders (PCOs/COs) for strict contractual entitlement.
Verify contractor material quantities and labor rates against original contract baselines and regional labor indexes.
Execute rapid, first-principles quantity takeoffs for field variations to negotiate fair value with contractors before work begins.
Monitor early warning indicators on labor productivity, material waste, and design gaps to flag cost overruns before they impact the ledger.
Integrates project budgets with active master schedules using critical path methodology to calculate schedule and cost performance indexes (SPI/CPI) via Earned Value Management (EVM).
Build and update monthly site-level and portfolio-level Work-in-Progress (WIP) forecasts and cash drawdown curves for direct review by the VP of Construction.
Develop, maintain, and continuously improve project controls reporting standards, dashboards, and portfolio performance metrics utilized by leadership and project stakeholders.
Provide unfiltered weekly financial health updates, early-warning risk logs, and contingency drawdown status reports to leadership.
Lead coordination across project teams, contractors, consultants, and internal stakeholders to drive alignment on project controls, forecasting, cost management, and schedule performance.
Advise the VP of Construction on portfolio-wide contingency liquidity and cash velocity to optimize capital deployment.
Support long-range portfolio planning activities through multi-project forecasting, capital deployment analysis, and projected financial performance reporting.
Audit and process final contract closures, retention reconciliations, and sub-tier ledger settlements upon project commissioning.
Enforce strict compliance with corporate budget boundaries, contractual frameworks, and Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) structures.
Identify opportunities to improve project controls processes, reporting methodologies, financial controls, and compliance practices across the portfolio.
Support corporate financial and compliance audits by providing clean, unassailable financial records of site expenditures, signed waivers, and progress history.