Principal Project Controls Manager - Major Capital Projects (EPC)

KBR•Houston, TX

About The Position

KBR ISA (Integrated Solutions Americas) delivers integrated engineering, procurement, and construction management services across refining, LNG, midstream, chemicals, petrochemicals, oil and gas, power, and industrial infrastructure. Its work spans proprietary technology, consulting, energy transition, and delivery of major capital projects and programs. The Principal Project Controls Manager provides enterprise-level leadership for the integrated cost, schedule, change, risk, and performance management framework on major, complex capital projects. The role covers the full project lifecycle, from FEL/FEED through engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, and closeout. It establishes a reconciled source of truth for project performance, advises senior project and business leadership, and provides an early, quantified view of project outlook. This principal-level functional leadership position is accountable for project controls strategy, governance, assurance, and execution across the discipline. The role leads and develops senior planning, cost, change, risk, and reporting professionals; influences project directors, clients, partners, and executive stakeholders; and independently challenges forecasts, recovery plans, and commercial positions. Success is measured by forecast credibility, timely identification of deviations, effective governance and assurance, and the defensibility of the project's position in commercial disputes.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Quantity Surveying, Finance, or a related discipline; equivalent experience with strong technical grounding will be considered.
At least 18 years of progressive project controls experience on major EPC or EPCM capital projects.
At least 8 years leading integrated project controls functions on complex projects or programs exceeding $1 billion.
Recognized subject-matter expertise in cost engineering, planning and scheduling, change management, risk, forecasting, and performance reporting, including the ability to independently challenge complex project positions.
Proven ownership of change control and contingency management on a project through closeout.
Expert command of earned value management, forecasting methodology, and progress measurement in a contractual EPC setting.
Extensive experience leading large, geographically dispersed, multidisciplinary project controls teams.
Experience influencing senior stakeholders across owner, EPC contractor, joint venture, and executive governance environments.

Nice To Haves

Sector experience in oil and gas, LNG, chemicals, nuclear, power and renewables, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, or data centers.
AACE, PMI, or equivalent professional credentials.
Hands-on capability with Primavera P6, SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, and Power BI.
Experience with FIDIC, LSTK, reimbursable, or alliance contract forms and associated delay and quantum analysis.
Familiarity with advanced work packaging (AWP), systems completion methodologies, and stage-gate (FEL) governance frameworks.
Prior experience in a joint venture environment.

Responsibilities

Own project budget architecture, including the Cost Breakdown Structure, control accounts, contingency and management reserve structures, and mapping between CBS, WBS, and the general ledger.
Establish and maintain the cost control baseline; govern budget transfers, contingency drawdown, and reserve release.
Produce monthly cost reports covering commitments, accruals, actuals, value of work done, and variance against budget by control account.
Deliver documented, challengeable Estimate at Completion and Cost to Complete forecasts based on trends rather than arithmetic alone.
Oversee cash flow forecasting, funding drawdown profiles, and currency and escalation exposure reporting to Finance/Treasury.
Set planning standards and hold the Planning Manager accountable for schedule integrity, critical-path credibility, and baseline control.
Ensure cost and schedule are integrated, resource-loaded, time-phased, and reconciled to consistent scope and progress data.
Review and challenge forecast completion dates; translate schedule slippage into cost impact and reflect it in the EAC.
Own the end-to-end project change control process, including identification, cost and time impact quantification, review, approval routing, and baseline incorporation.
Chair or provide secretariat support to the Change Control Board and ensure scope changes have documented cost, schedule, and risk impacts before proceeding.
Maintain the trend register and drive early identification of potential changes before they become variations.
Maintain the project risk register with the Risk Manager/Project Director and ensure risks are quantified for cost and time impact.
Run quantitative cost and schedule risk analyses, including Monte Carlo analysis, to establish P50/P80 positions and size and defend contingency.
Track risk drawdown against contingency consumption and report divergence.
Define the project reporting calendar, KPI set, and dashboards for project leadership, steering committees, joint venture partners, and lenders.
Implement earned value management, including rules of credit, progress measurement, SPI and CPI trending, and performance-based forecasting.
Produce an integrated monthly project report consistent across cost, schedule, and risk narratives.
Provide ad hoc analysis for investment decisions, recovery planning, and scope trade-offs.
Provide project controls input to tender evaluation, contract schedules and exhibits, milestone payment structures, and incentive and liquidated damages mechanisms.
Review contractor cost and schedule submissions for contractual compliance and drive resolution of non-compliance.
Support assessment and defence of variations, claims, extension-of-time submissions, and disruption arguments with Commercial/Legal.
Coordinate with Procurement/Supply Chain on commitment tracking, purchase order status, and vendor payment milestones.
Own the project controls toolset and data architecture, including Primavera P6, SAP, and Power BI, data integrity, coding discipline, and system interfaces.
Develop and enforce project controls procedures, templates, and standards, promoting consistency across the capital portfolio.
Prepare and defend submissions to stage gates, independent project reviews, internal audit, and partner/lender assurance processes.
Build, resource, and develop the project controls team across planning, cost, estimating, and reporting, adjusting team structure to project phase.
Mentor team leads to become credible advisors to package managers and the Project Director.
Manage controls work performed by contractors, consultants, or a PMC, including deliverable quality and staffing adequacy.