Project Controller I

Plummer•Fort Worth, TX

About The Position

The Project Controller I supports project managers and leadership by maintaining reliable project plans, forecasts, resource schedules, cost information, and performance reporting. The role works across engineering consulting projects to help ensure budgets, schedules, staffing plans, costs, and contractual authorizations are accurately reflected in the company’s project management system, Unanet. The Project Controller I partners with Project Managers, Project Controls, Project Accounting, and Finance to identify project exceptions, improve forecast accuracy, support consistent project setup, and provide timely information for decision-making. The ideal candidate is analytical, organized, comfortable working with project financial data, and able to communicate clearly with technical and financial teams. The role also supports project dashboards, KPI reporting, data validation, trend analysis, maintenance and improvement of project controls documentation and processes, and additional project accounting functions as needed. Tasks may develop or change as Plummer grows.

Requirements

Three to five years of experience in project controls, project coordination, project finance, project accounting, PMO support, or a closely related project delivery function.
Experience reviewing project budgets, actual costs, forecasts, schedules, or resource plans.
Strong Excel skills, including formulas, lookups, pivot tables, filtering, and reconciliation of data from multiple sources.
Ability to identify inconsistencies, investigate their causes, and communicate findings clearly.
Strong attention to detail and ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines.
Effective written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to work collaboratively with Project Managers, accountants, finance professionals, and operational leaders.
Ability to learn and consistently apply project setup, forecasting, and reporting standards.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting fixed-fee/lump sum, T&M, on-call, or task-order contracts.
Experience with Unanet or another project-based ERP, accounting, scheduling, or resource-planning system.
Experience with Power BI or other dashboard and reporting tools.
Familiarity with project schedules, WBS development, resource planning, contract amendments, subcontractor commitments, and change management.
Experience in engineering consulting, architecture, construction, environmental services, or another project-based professional-services environment.
Working understanding of earned value management concepts, including planned value, earned value, actual cost, CPI, SPI, ETC, EAC, and variance analysis.
College degree in Finance, Business, or Project Management; additional work experience may supplement degree requirements.

Responsibilities

Support consistent project setup, including WBS structure, budgets, labor plans, billing rates, allocation codes, project dates, and task dates.
Confirm project setup agrees with approved budget, level-of-effort, fee, contract, and amendment information.
Assist Project Managers with maintaining current estimates to complete, resource plans, staffing assumptions, and project schedules.
Review actual and scheduled costs for missing budgets, incorrect coding, unsupported charges, and other project exceptions.
Compare actual costs and remaining forecasts with approved project budgets.
Monitor material changes in EAC, ETC, forecasted profit, labor hours, and project completion dates.
Prepare project exception reports and supporting information for monthly Project Manager reviews.
Monitor T&M–NTE and task-order projects for remaining authorization, forecasted cap dates, and potential overruns.
Track subcontractor commitments, invoices, remaining forecasts, and completed work that may not yet be invoiced.
Support identification and tracking of additional services, pending amendments, at-risk work, and work performed without authorization.
Document forecast decisions and follow through on required updates and corrections.
Assist with project dashboards, KPI reporting, data validation, and trend analysis.
Maintain project controls logs, templates, work instructions, and supporting documentation.
Help develop and improve standardized Project Controls and Unanet processes.
Provide responsive, service-oriented support to Project Managers and other internal stakeholders.
Escalate unresolved budget, forecast, coding, authorization, or contract-cap issues to the appropriate owner.
Support additional project accounting functions on an as-needed basis.
Learn Plummer’s project lifecycle, contract types, financial terminology, and Unanet processes.
Support assigned Project Managers with consistent monthly project reviews.
Improve the accuracy and completeness of resource plans, ETCs, project dates, and project coding.
Identify and track missing budgets, unbudgeted costs, stale forecasts, authorization concerns, and other project exceptions.
Produce reliable project-control reports with minimal supervision.
Develop strong working relationships with Project Managers, Project Accounting, Finance, and operational leadership.
Contribute to documentation and improvement of Project Controls standards and workflows.