Data Center Senior Project Controls Specialist

Socket.dev; Amarillo (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Fermi America is seeking an experienced Owner's senior project-controls representative to oversee integrated cost and schedule control for data center facilities. This role focuses on reviewing, challenging, and validating contractor cost/schedule deliverables and ensuring contractual compliance.

You will be the primary controls interface with general contractors, MEP trades, equipment vendors, and commissioning agents to drive speed, repeatability, and MEP intensity in data center delivery.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of progressive project controls experience in data center or mission-critical facilities.
• Expertise in cost forecasting and Earned Value Management.
• Advanced Primavera P6 and Unifier proficiency; strong change/invoice validation.

Responsibilities

• Review and validate contractor schedules to align WBS/CBS with construction sequence.
• Validate monthly cost reports: commitments, accruals, actuals, and forecasts.
• Apply Earned Value Management to assess contractor performance and advise leadership.
• Coordinate long-lead equipment tracking and its impact on the critical path.
• Manage owner-side change process: review trends, change orders, and claims.
• Perform Primavera P6 analyses to verify progress and support commissioning sequencing.
• Ensure contractors meet contract requirements and report deliverables.
• Coordinate with owner team, GC, MEP trades, and vendors to keep the schedule fast-tracking.
• Prepare and present controls deliverables for leadership.
• Produce timely project-controls data for informed decisions.

Skills

Cost engineering

Earned Value Management

Primavera P6

Excel

Contract management

Data center delivery

Schedule validation

Change management

Tools

Primavera P6

Oracle Unifier

Job description

Description

Fermi America is building the largest private power campus in the United States to serve the compute demand of artificial intelligence. Project Matador, our flagship development in Carson County, Texas, is planned to scale to approximately 17 GW of generation, comprising roughly 11 GW of natural gas, 5.4 GW of nuclear, and 600 MW of solar. We deliver behind the meter power at a speed and density the incumbent grid cannot match.

Position Summary

Owner's senior project-controls representative overseeing integrated cost and schedule control across the design, procurement, and construction of data center facilities (hyperscale and colocation). This is a coordination and validation role – reviewing, challenging, and validating contractor and vendor cost and schedule deliverables, ensuring accuracy and contractual compliance, and holding contractors accountable to contract requirements – rather than producing the controls data directly. Serves as the owner's primary controls interface with general contractors, MEP trades, equipment vendors, and commissioning agents, with a focus on the speed, repeatability, and MEP intensity that define data center delivery.

Key Responsibilities

• Review, validate, and challenge contractor-developed integrated schedules for data center builds, confirming alignment of the WBS/CBS with the construction sequence across shell, MEP, and fit-out.
• Validate the contractor's monthly cost report cycle – commitments, accruals, actuals, ETC/EAC forecasts, and variance analysis – reconciling against owner budgets and contract terms.
• Independently apply Earned Value Management (CPI/SPI) to verify contractor-reported performance and translate metrics into recommendations for owner leadership.
• Coordinate and validate long-lead equipment tracking (generators, switchgear, transformers, chillers/CRAHs, UPS) and its impact on the critical path.
• Manage the change process from the owner's side – reviewing, validating, and dispositioning contractor trends, change orders, and claims for schedule/cost impact and contractual entitlement.
• Perform independent Primavera P6 schedule analysis (critical path, float, logic, progress validation) to verify contractor progress and support commissioning (Cx) sequencing.
• Manage contractors to maintain contract requirements – reporting deliverables, cadence, formats, and controls standards – and hold them accountable to those obligations.
• Coordinate across the owner team, general contractor, commissioning agents, MEP subcontractors, and vendors to keep the schedule accurate and fast-track ready.
• Prepare and present owner-level controls deliverables and independent assessments for leadership and stakeholders.
• Produce accurate, complete, and timely project-controls information and data that enable senior leadership to make informed decisions on projects.

Requirements

• 3+ years of progressive project controls experience, including data center or mission-critical facility construction.
• Owner's-representative or owner-side experience validating contractor cost and schedule deliverables preferred.
• Deep expertise in cost engineering, forecasting, and Earned Value Management.
• Advanced Primavera P6 and cost-management systems (Oracle Unifier or equivalent) proficiency.
• Strong command of change management, contracts, and progress/invoice validation, with the ability to enforce contract requirements.
• Advanced Excel; ability to build and interrogate large controls data sets.
• Familiarity with data center delivery — MEP-heavy scopes, long-lead equipment, and commissioning (Levels 1–5).