Project Controls Manager

Galloup • Conshohocken, PA

2d

About The Position

The Project Controls Manager is a key leader within the Relay & Power Project Management Team and reports to the Vice President and GM of Relay and Power Systems. The role leads planning, cost control, scheduling, forecasting, reporting, and performance management across the company’s project portfolio. It ensures that project financial performance, schedule adherence, resource planning, earned value, change order activity, and risk exposure are tracked, analyzed, and communicated to leadership.

The manager partners with Project Management, Operations, Finance, Contracts, Procurement, Engineering, and Senior Leadership. The position establishes and maintains standardized project controls processes, improves project visibility, identifies risks and trends, and supports timely decision-making throughout the project lifecycle. It also leads and develops team members, promotes company values, supports continuous improvement, and trains Project Managers and functional leaders on project controls tools and practices.

Requirements

• At least 10 years of progressive experience in project controls, project management, or a related discipline supporting complex projects with multiple vendors, schedules, budgets, and contractual requirements.
• Demonstrated experience leading people, processes, or cross-functional project teams.
• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, engineering, construction management, business management, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Advanced Microsoft Office skills and advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel, including complex formulas, pivot tables, data models, Power Query, and structured reporting.
• Strong knowledge of project accounting, cost controls, forecasting, Earned Value Management, and scheduling principles.
• Strong knowledge of project lifecycle management, including project setup, execution, monitoring, change control, invoicing support, closeout, and financial review.
• Ability to translate complex portfolio data into actionable recommendations for senior leadership.
• Experience working with ERP systems, project management software, scheduling tools, and business intelligence platforms.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented, with the ability to prioritize competing portfolio initiatives, delegate effectively, allocate resources, establish operating rhythms, and deliver on time in a changing environment.
• Proven ability to lead and influence across finance, operations, engineering, project management, sales, and commercial teams; build alignment, resolve competing priorities, and serve internal and external stakeholders.
• Excellent oral and written communication, presentation, facilitation, and interpersonal skills; ability to explain complex financial and project information clearly, influence decisions, manage difficult conversations, and maintain confidentiality.
• Ability to see, talk, and hear.
• Ability to sit for 8 hours a day.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in project-centric manufacturing, industrial automation, utility projects, EPC, construction, or engineered-to-order environments.
• Experience with ERP systems used for job costing, labor tracking, purchasing, inventory, production, and project accounting.
• Experience with Microsoft Dynamics, Power BI, Microsoft Fabric, SharePoint, Smartsheet, Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, or similar tools.
• Familiarity with contract terms related to liquidated damages, milestones, payment terms, change orders, retainage, claims, and back charges.
• Experience developing project dashboards, manpower forecasting tools, earned value reports, and executive-level project review packages.
• PMP, CCP, PSP, EVP, CMA, or similar professional certification.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership, direction, growth, and mentoring to the team; model company values and pursue continuous improvement and development.
• Establish, maintain, and monitor project budgets, cost codes, forecasts, commitments, actual costs, and estimate-at-completion projections.
• Review project financial performance, including budget variances, cost trends, margin erosion, labor performance, material impacts, subcontractor costs, and unbilled exposure.
• Prepare financial summaries, variance explanations, and forecast updates for monthly project reviews.
• Monitor profitability and identify risks to gross margin, revenue recognition, cash flow, and overall financial performance.
• Coordinate with Finance and Accounting to align project cost data with ERP records, revenue recognition requirements, invoicing status, and accruals.
• Develop and maintain cost control procedures and consistent project performance reporting.
• Oversee project schedule development, maintenance, analysis, and reporting; support Project Managers with baseline schedules, updates, milestone tracking, and recovery plans.
• Monitor schedule performance against contractual milestones, internal production plans, engineering deliverables, procurement commitments, customer approvals, and shipment requirements.
• Identify schedule risks, delays, critical path impacts, and resource constraints; coordinate with relevant teams to validate schedule assumptions and progress updates.
• Develop schedule reporting tools that show near-term priorities, long-lead constraints, production bottlenecks, and customer-driven delays.
• Lead manpower and resource forecasting across active and upcoming projects; analyze labor budgets, actual hours, productivity trends, remaining work, and staffing requirements.
• Develop baseline, current forecast, and reforecast views; validate resource loading assumptions with department managers and identify capacity gaps.
• Prepare labor utilization and forecast reports for leadership and improve forecasting models using ERP, CRM, project schedules, and weekly actuals data.
• Support identification, tracking, valuation, and reporting of change orders, contract modifications, claims, back charges, and customer-directed scope changes.
• Maintain visibility into pending, approved, disputed, and at-risk change orders; work with stakeholders to document, communicate, and pursue commercial impacts.
• Develop change order logs, risk registers, technical clarification logs, and commercial issue tracking tools.
• Monitor contract requirements concerning schedule impacts, notice obligations, liquidated damages, billing milestones, retainage, and closeout documentation.
• Develop and maintain project controls reports, dashboards, KPIs, and portfolio summaries; provide leadership with visibility into cost, schedule, risk, backlog, resource demand, change orders, and forecasted performance.
• Prepare monthly and ad hoc executive reporting packages; convert data from business systems and tools into actionable insights.
• Identify trends, exceptions, and early warning indicators that may affect delivery, profitability, or customer commitments, and ensure reporting is consistent and reliable.
• Establish and improve project controls standards, tools, templates, procedures, and best practices.
• Lead improvements to project setup, budgeting, scheduling, forecasting, cost coding, change tracking, and closeout processes.
• Integrate project controls with project onboarding, sales-to-execution handoff, contract review, procurement, production planning, and financial reporting workflows.
• Promote data discipline and accountability across project teams; support relevant ERP, CRM, Power BI, Microsoft Fabric, SharePoint, and other system improvement initiatives.
• Train Project Managers and functional leaders on project controls tools, reporting expectations, and cost and schedule management practices.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Employee ownership

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager