Corporate Director

Job Description

The Corporate Director of Project Controls will lead the centralized Project Controls organization for an industry-leading  EPC+CQV company with over $1B in annual revenue, specializing in pharmaceutical manufacturing and food & beverage facilities. This role is accountable for building and evolving a world-class project controls program that delivers consistent, accurate, and actionable cost, schedule, risk, and performance insights across a diverse portfolio of projects—ranging from small fast-track upgrades to mega GMP manufacturing plants.

The successful candidate will be a visionary leader who can inspire the company with what is possible, create buy-in across executive and project teams, and drive a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, and excellence. This role will focus on developing and standardizing project controls practices within a culture of continuous improvement, attracting, developing, and retaining top talent, and leveraging advanced technology and AI to improve productivity.

Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Develop and execute a comprehensive strategy for the Project Controls function aligned with corporate growth and operational excellence goals.
• Expand cost engineering, scheduling, progress measurement, and project data analytics capabilities across the company
• Partner closely with the corporate accounting team to ensure alignment between project financial reporting and corporate financial systems, while maintaining separation of the project controls and accounting functions.
• Build a culture of innovation, continuous improvement, and accountability.

People Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and grow a diverse team of project controls managers, cost engineers, schedulers, and analysts across multiple offices and sites.
• Inspire and communicate a clear vision of the group’s role in company success.
• Foster career development pathways and succession planning within the group

Standards & Governance

• Develop and maintain scalable project controls standards, procedures, and tools tailored for different project types, sizes, and contract models (including Design, Construction, Procurement, Commissioning, and fully integrated EPCM+C projects).
• Establish governance processes to ensure data accuracy, consistency, and compliance across all projects.
• Create key performance indicators (KPIs) and dashboards to measure project performance and organizational effectiveness.

Operational Excellence

• Oversee and coordinate project controls support for all active projects—ensuring effective change management and timely, accurate, and actionable reporting of cost, schedule, earned value, and risk.

• Collaborate with project teams and corporate and regional leadership to proactively identify issues and opportunities.
• Drive standardization while allowing flexibility for unique project needs.

Technology Deployment

• Quickly develop expert-level proficiency in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and serve as an internal subject matter expert for D365 as it relates to project controls, providing guidance, training, and support to project teams across the organization
• Lead the development and implementation of project reporting tools, with a heavy emphasis on real-time Power BI dashboards and reports

• Investigate and deploy AI-driven forecasting, analytics, and productivity tools to enhance speed, accuracy, and decision-making.

Position Type

Travel expectations are approximately 25% for hybrid status and up to 50% for remote working status

Qualifications

Education & Credentials

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Business Administration or related field.
• Professional certifications such as PMP (Project Management Professional), CCP (Certified Cost Professional), EVP (Earned Value Professional), or PSP (Planning & Scheduling Professional) strongly preferred.

Experience

• 10+ years of progressive project controls experience in large EPC+CQV projects, with at least 3 years in a senior leadership role.
• Direct experience with pharmaceutical, biotech, food & beverage, or similar process manufacturing capital projects strongly preferred.
• Proven success in implementing enterprise-wide project controls standards and tools preferred.
• Strong track record of leveraging technology, automation, and data analytics to drive improvements a plus.

Skills & Competencies

• Thought Leader with the ability to inspire stakeholders and gain buy-in at all levels.
• Extensive expertise in cost management, scheduling, change control, forecasting, and earned value measurement.
• Exceptional leadership, communication, and influencing skills.
• Adaptable and resilient in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
• Demonstrates understanding of project accounting and how it ties in with revenue recognition in accordance with US GAAP