Senior Project Controller

GEA Group•Columbia, SC

1d•$105,000 - $125,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Project Controller will establish constructive close working relationships with the NPE (Nutrition Plant Engineering) NAM Leaders and Key Business Partners. This role involves ownership of key project activities, including project reviews, tracking of risk and opportunity registers, ensuring accuracy of project work breakdown structure, and analyzing project financial performance compared to baseline. The Senior Project Controller will collaborate with Project Managers to ensure comprehensive project budgets, cost recognition, and estimates for completion are accurate within the local ERP and other applicable systems. They will maintain the accuracy of reported project financials, evaluate project cash flow versus planned models, and capture, summarize, and report quarterly revenue forecasts, cash flow forecasts, project risks, and mitigation plans. This role also involves communicating key risk areas to leadership, coordinating with intercompany partners, partnering with other Project Analysts for month-end financials, and liaising with Shared Services for transactional processing. Additionally, the Senior Project Controller will drive continuous improvement through automation and reporting, coordinate with the Accounting team for monthly close, and provide finance expertise to improve business results.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in accounting or finance (strongly preferred but not required), demonstrating a working knowledge of generally accepted accounting principles and financial analysis principles (IFRS knowledge a significant plus)
5+ years of progressive responsibility in any of the following functions: finance, accounting or audit.
Minimum of 2 years of financial planning and analysis responsibility, demonstrating the ability to execute complex analysis, prepare comprehensive, clear, concise and action-oriented reporting.
Strong leadership skills, ability to influence Senior Management.
Resilient in a fast-paced, changing environment.
Strong working knowledge of ERP/Financial Systems and Application.
Demonstrated proficiency in Microsoft Office, including advanced Excel skills required.
Solid time/project management skills and demonstrated ability to balance multiple tasks.
Effective written communication skills, demonstrated technical writing skills through development of training materials, example worksheets for costing and other relevant templates to convey new system functionality to key stakeholders.
Ability to “think on your feet” and respond constructively with action-oriented ideas during meetings with Key Stakeholders and Senior Management.
Desire to consistently learn and take on additional responsibilities.
Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S. without current or future sponsorship.

Nice To Haves

Access or other multi-dimensional analysis experience (ability to build a relational database and queries is strongly preferred)
Experience with reporting tools such as Cognos, Tableau, BW (CBI) or PowerBI (preferred)
Microsoft Dynamics or SAP (preferred)
Strong data analysis experience, demonstrating the ability to understand business needs, obtain and validate data, build queries to address targeted analysis, interpret results, root cause anomalies and generate meaningful results.
Percentage of Completion Accounting Experience (strongly preferred)
Manufacturing/Costing experience a plus
Knowledge of Finance or accounting professional certification, is a plus
Knowledge of finance operational cycles, preferably gained through hands-on experience, a plus.

Responsibilities

Establish constructive close working relationships with the NPE (Nutrition Plant Engineering) NAM Leaders and Key Business Partners.
Ownership of key project activities: Project Reviews according to global project controlling guidance (risk and frequency) and proactively communicate status and results of reviews.
Tracking of risk and opportunity register throughout the life of the project.
Accuracy of project work breakdown structure.
Analysis of project financial performance compared to baseline.
Collaborate with Project Managers to ensure comprehensive project budgets (including change orders), cost recognition and estimates for completion are updated and accurate within the local ERP and other applicable systems.
Maintain the accuracy of reported project financials including gross margin, billing plan, overdue receivables, cost to complete, cost overruns, percentage of completion, risks and contingencies, change orders and accruals.
Evaluate project cash flow versus planned cash flow model within contract and escalate significant deviations for resolution.
Capture, summarize and report quarterly revenue forecast, cash flow forecast, project risks and related mitigation plans.
Communicate key risk areas or projects requiring increased focus to Business Line and Finance Leadership.
Coordinate with intercompany partners to ensure timely documentation and accounting for percentage of completion on project-related intercompany purchases.
Partner with other Project Analysts within the legal entity to complete all required closing tasks and analysis to deliver month end financials, project summaries and a rolling quarterly estimate based on existing backlog.
Liaison with Shared Services team to facilitate transactional processing, timely vendor invoice processing, customer billing, collections and accurate financial records.
Drive continuous improvement through automation, data modeling, and enhanced reporting to improve visibility and decision-making speed.
Coordinate with Accounting team to ensure timely and accurate monthly close and financial ledger.
Provide finance expertise to assist others in better understanding financial information to drive better business results.
Other duties as assigned.