Project Controls Manager

Company Profile 

At Sand Cherry Associates, we excel in the design and delivery of strategic customer-centric initiatives through digitally native, data-empowered solutions. Our client’s confidence in us is centered on exceptionally skilled, high-energy talent working with the support of the full Sand Cherry team. Finding the right match for this role is a critical aspect of continuing that success.

Overview 

The Project Controls Manager owns and actively drives cost, schedule, and performance controls across projects from early development through execution and handover. This is a hands-on, execution-focused role responsible for building and maintaining controls frameworks, developing baseline budgets and schedules, tracking performance, and producing decision-ready reporting. The role ensures that plans are measurable, risk-adjusted, and aligned with investment decisions, while providing clear visibility into progress, risks, and required actions across the project lifecycle.

This position requires qualified candidates to live in the continental US. This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship, visa transfer or C2C candidates. 

Responsibilities

• Establish and implement project controls standards, including WBS structures, cost codes, schedule frameworks, and progress measurement methodologies
• Build and maintain baseline budgets, cost estimates, and integrated schedules aligned to scope, contracting strategy, and stage-gate requirements
• Define and manage controls governance, reporting cadence, and deliverable expectations across projects including cost reports, variance analyses, and executive summaries for leadership review
• Build and manage detailed project budgets, including development, construction, and owner costs, with cash flow and contingency tracking
• Maintain forecasting models (EAC/ETC), analyze variances, and identify drivers, risks, and corrective actions
• Support and coordinate invoice tracking, accruals, and cost coding with finance and procurement teams
• Develop and maintain integrated project schedules covering development, permitting, procurement, construction, commissioning, and handover
• Track progress against baseline schedules and maintain critical path analysis, float tracking, and schedule risk assessments
• Identify schedule risks and develop mitigation and acceleration plans with accountable owners
• Coordinate schedule interfaces across permitting, interconnection, procurement, and delivery milestones
• Implement and manage formal change control processes, including maintaining change logs, schedule impact analysis, cost validation and supporting approval workflows
• Quantify cost and schedule impacts of risks and opportunities and maintain risk registers and contingency models
• Consolidate project-level data into portfolio-level views (capex, schedule, milestones, risks) for leadership visibility
• Develop dashboards, reporting tools, and executive-ready materials to support investment decisions and prioritization
• Drive continuous improvement of controls tools, templates, and reporting processes

• 7+ years of experience in project controls, including cost management, scheduling, forecasting, and change control on capital projects
• Bachelor’s degree required (Engineering, Construction Management, Business, Finance, or related discipline preferred)
• Strong proficiency with scheduling tools (Primavera P6 and/or Microsoft Project) and cost/reporting tools (advanced Excel; Power BI or similar)
• Deep understanding of EPC contracting, procurement workflows, and earned value or similar performance measurement methodologies
• Proven ability to build and manage budgets, schedules, trackers, and reporting outputs independently
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate complex data into clear, actionable insights and executive-ready materials
• Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities in a fast-paced, delivery-focused consulting environment
• Strong collaboration and stakeholder management skills, with ability to influence without authority
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• Experience supporting power generation, industrial, midstream, or data center projects is preferred
• Experience working with EPC contractors, Owner’s Engineers, and/or joint ventures is preferred
• Professional certifications (PMP, AACE/CCP, PSP, or similar) is preferred

Our team is unique — we are passionate about what we do. At Sand Cherry, our Consultants know they are impacting and shaping our clients’ industries. We recognize our employees for their contributions. Our culture is one of the most friendly and communicative in the consulting industry. Sand Cherry is not a top-heavy organization. We offer the opportunity to be part of a digital workforce. Discover the experience that only comes with self-responsibility in the workplace. Our team members manage their own workloads and are expected to deliver exceptional work for our clients. Professional career growth is one of our main priorities, as we affirm that investing in our Consultants and empowering our people will also deliver the best results and value for our clients.