Required Skills & Experience
- Associate degree in Business, Finance, Project Management, Engineering, or related field, OR 2+ years of relevant project controls experience in lieu of a degree.
- Understanding of basic project controls, project financials, budgeting, estimating, or cost management concepts.
- Strong Excel skills and comfort working with financial/project data.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Excellent verbal communication skills and comfortable speaking with different stakeholders.
- Self-starter with strong attention to detail
Nice to Have Skills & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Project Management, Engineering, or related field.
- Previous experience supporting projects in a cost analyst, project controls, project coordinator, financial analyst, or estimating capacity.
- Experience with scheduling or financial/project management systems such as Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, Business Objects, Maximo, PeopleSoft, PowerPlant, or similar tools.
- CAPM, PMP, PMI-SP, or AACE certification.
Job Description
Job Summary The Project Controls Specialist I will support the financial and cost management of a portfolio of projects, working alongside Project Managers and more experienced Project Controls professionals. This is an entry-level project controls role focused on cost tracking, forecasting, estimating, variance analysis, and project financial reporting. The ideal candidate has a strong financial/cost mindset, understands basic project processes, and is comfortable communicating with different project stakeholders. This person should be a self-starter who can learn quickly, ask questions, and speak up when something does not look right.
Responsibilities
- Track project costs, budgets, forecasts, and actual spend across multiple projects.
- Compare monthly actual costs against project budgets/baselines and identify variances.
- Assist with cost forecasting and estimating throughout the project lifecycle.
- Monitor project spending and help ensure costs are captured and reported accurately.
- Analyze financial/project data in Excel and prepare routine cost reports.
- Work closely with Project Managers, Project Controls Analysts, Schedulers, and other project stakeholders.
- Identify cost discrepancies, potential issues, or changes and communicate them to the appropriate team members.
- Learn and follow established project controls, financial, and reporting processes.