Associate Director, Project Controls

Princeton University; Princeton (NJ); On-site; USD 165,000 - 188,000; Full time

Job summary

Princeton University is seeking an Associate Director of Project Controls to lead development and oversight of cost, schedule and risk controls for its OCP portfolio. You will build data tools, maintain databases, and produce standardized monthly reporting for executives and project teams.

Responsibilities include advancing control standards, supervising a team of four professionals, and collaborating with compliance and IT to optimize platforms like ACC Forma and related systems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, construction management or architecture required.
• Minimum of 8+ years’ experience as direct manager of project controls teams on large, complex construction projects.
• Experience in project management of software application development and/or integration.
• Excellent communication (written and verbal) and organizational skills.
• Advanced Excel skills and highly proficient in visualizations and analytics.
• Proficiency in Primavera P6, Autodesk BIM suite, E-builder, Procore, etc.

Responsibilities

• Lead and oversee development and governance of project controls standards, tools, and procedures for cost, schedule, risk management and performance tracking.
• Build and maintain cost estimating databases, historical data libraries, and benchmarking tools.
• Review budgets, forecasts, variance reports, and cash flow models across projects.
• Develop workforce projections, actuals and variance reporting.
• Maintain project schedule truth and deliver timely dashboards for stakeholders.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Time management

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, construction management or architecture

Graduate-level education and/or professional license

Tools

Primavera P6

Autodesk BIM Suite

E-builder

Procore

Power BI

Python

Tableau

Excel

Job description

Overview

The Associate Director of Project Controls provides leadership for the planning, development and execution of project controls across Facilities Office of Capital Projects (OCP) portfolio. This role is responsible for building and maintaining tools, data, and processes for cost estimating, cost and schedule management, risk management, archiving, and portfolio, program and project level performance reporting for construction related projects.

The Associate Director reports to the Executive Director of Strategy and Governance, OCP. The Associate Director will oversee a staff of (4) professionals, optimizing the adoption of required Capital Project Management Platforms for scheduling, project management, construction management and archiving. The Associate Director ensures overall portfolio-wide transparency, through standardized, integrated, and accessible data that supports timely and informed decisions.

Responsibilities

Project Controls Development & Oversight

• Lead and support the development, implementation, continued oversight and enhancement of project controls standards, tools, and procedures for cost, schedule, risk management, and performance tracking.
• Build and maintain cost estimating databases, historical data libraries, and benchmarking tools to support accurate and consistent estimates.
• Review and analyze construction budgets, cost forecasts, variance reports, and cash flow models.
• Develop workforce projections, actuals, and variance reporting.
• Utilize Princeton’s historic projects to support facilities finance groups forecasting efforts to forecast planned construction/project costs.
• Ensure that cost, schedule, and risk data are accurately captured and accessible. Lend creative thinking in pursuit of opportunities to improve project delivery and reporting.
• Participate and find opportunities for system upgrades, data integration initiatives, and platform governance efforts.
• Collaborate closely with Construction Compliance team and Project teams to ensure optimal adoption and use of ACC Forma and / or other applications
• Ensure the timely and accurate distribution of a variety of monthly reports/ dashboards across University and Facilities stakeholders.

Risk Management

• Develop and maintain project level risk registers.
• Facilitate risk identification, qualitative and quantitative analysis, and mitigation planning across capital projects.
• Combine risk, with cost and schedule information to support scenario planning and decision-making.

Scheduling

• Demonstrate industry leading expertise in the P6 scheduling environment and / or other scheduling applications and provide expert level CPM schedule analysis and reporting across the project portfolio.
• Engage directly with CM (Construction Manager) scheduling representatives to ensure best-in-class scheduling skillsets are being utilized.
• Maintain an accurate and detailed awareness of project statuses across the entire portfolio.
• Provide timely, clear, and accurate reports and commentary to the Executive Director that describe current statuses, floats paths, risk severity, delay mitigation measures and an informed narrative as to likely outcomes.
• Maintain the P6 database as a single source of schedule truth as it relates to project and collaborate closely with stakeholders/audiences who benefit for consuming schedule information.
• Support, maintain and enhance existing project controls standards, by providing data rich forecasting, analytics and archiving that enhances the end user experience.

Analytics & Reporting

• Develop dashboards and reporting tools that provide visibility into project performance metrics (e.g., earned value if applicable, cost/schedule trends, risk exposure).
• Support executive-level reporting and portfolio analysis in coordination with the Program and Project Managers.
• Drive continuous improvement in data quality, reporting consistency, and predictive analytics.

Project Controls Team Oversight

• Provide support in the financial and human resources related to project services. Maintain and grow partnerships with FFAS, the Office of Sustainability, Operations, Engineering, Office of the University Architect and the Contracts Group.
• Provide supervision, leadership, and training to Business users and functional admins of delivery platforms and analytics
• Mentor staff.

Other duties

• Functions as the Department’s representative on committees and task forces of the University, external regulatory agencies, and other organizations in support of the mission and design and construction process.
• Makes effective presentations to groups with disparate levels of technical knowledge of design and construction.
• Identifies elements of project design and construction likely to give rise to disputes and claims.

Qualifications

Essential Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, construction management or architecture required, well versed in all construction trades.
• Minimum of 8+ years’ experience as direct manager of project controls teams working concurrently on large, complex construction projects with diverse project teams from across the Owner, Architect, Contractor spectrum.
• Experience in project management of software application development and/or integration to coordinate with Facilities Information Technology team.
• Excellent communication (written and verbal) and organizational skills.
• Advanced Excel skills and highly proficient in visualizations and analytics.
• Strong organizational and time-management skills.
• Requires problem solving, strong leadership and team building skills.
• Ability to identify process gaps, breakdowns in workflows and create, with the input of stakeholders, alternative solutions that will improve the work product.
• Demonstrated proficiency in design and construction software applications like Primavera P6, Autodesk BIM suite, E-builder, Procore, etc.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Graduate level education and/or professional license.
• Power BI, Python, Tableau

Princeton University is an Equal Opportunity Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

The University considers factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's qualifications, work experience, education/training, key skills, market, collective bargaining agreements as applicable, and organizational considerations when extending an offer. The posted salary range represents the University's good faith and reasonable estimate for a full-time position; salaries for part-time positions are pro-rated accordingly.

If the salary range on the posted position shows an hourly rate, this is the baseline; the actual hourly rate may be higher, depending on the position and factors listed above.

The University also offers a comprehensive benefit program to eligible employees. Please see this link for more information.

Standard Weekly Hours

36.25

Eligible for Overtime

No

Benefits Eligible

Yes

Probationary Period

180 days

Essential Services Personnel (see policy for detail)

Yes

Physical Capacity Exam Required

No

Valid Driver’s License Required

No

Experience Level

Mid-Senior Level#LI-SB1

Salary Range

$165,000 to $188,000