Project Control Engineer

The Spear Group; Lawrence Township (NJ); On-site; USD 90,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

The Spear Group has an exciting opportunity for an experienced Owner's Side Project Controls Cost Engineer to manage cost engineering, forecasting, budgeting, and project controls across pharmaceutical capital projects in a hands-on owner’s representative role. You will collaborate with engineering, procurement, construction, and leadership to ensure cost performance and governance.

The ideal candidate will bring 3+ years of project controls experience in regulated manufacturing environments,

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Engineering, Construction Management, or related discipline.
• 3+ years of project controls, cost engineering experience.
• Experience supporting owner-side capital projects preferably in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life sciences, semiconductor, food, or highly regulated manufacturing industries.

Responsibilities

• Develop, manage, and maintain project budgets, cost reports, forecasts, and cash flow projections.
• Establish project control systems for planning, cost tracking, change management, and performance reporting.
• Review and validate contractor cost estimates, change orders, and payment applications.
• Monitor project expenditures against approved budgets and identify cost risks and opportunities.
• Prepare monthly cost reports, executive dashboards, and KPI metrics for leadership.
• Support project authorization requests and capital appropriation documentation.
• Perform earned value analysis and trend forecasting.
• Manage project contingency and risk allowances.
• Coordinate with scheduling personnel to integrate schedule and cost performance.
• Support procurement by evaluating bid pricing and commercial proposals.
• Review contractor progress measurements for accuracy and completeness.
• Track commitments, invoices, accruals, and forecasted final costs.
• Facilitate project change control processes and maintain change logs.
• Participate in project risk assessments and quantitative cost risk analyses.
• Support project closeout, final reconciliation, and lessons learned documentation.
• Ensure compliance with internal governance, financial controls, and audit requirements.

Skills

Project controls

Cost engineering

Financial analysis

Budgeting and forecasting

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Earned value management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Engineering, Construction Management, or related discipline

Tools

Microsoft Project

SAP/Oracle ERP

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft PowerPoint

Cost estimating software

Earned Value Management tools

Job description

Position:

Lawrence, NJ / Princeton, NJ Area - on site

Position Summary:

The Spear Group has an exciting opportunity for an experienced Owner's Side Project Controls Cost Engineer to be responsible for providing comprehensive cost engineering, estimating, forecasting, budgeting, and project controls support for a portfolio of pharmaceutical manufacturing capital projects. Acting as the owner's representative, this role ensures effective cost management throughout the project lifecycle while supporting project teams, engineering, procurement, construction management, and executive stakeholders. This role requires close coordination with EPCM contractors and vendors while maintaining independent oversight of project cost performance.

Position Responsibilities:

• Develop, manage, and maintain project budgets, cost reports, forecasts, and cash flow projections.
• Establish project control systems for planning, cost tracking, change management, and performance reporting.
• Review and validate contractor cost estimates, change orders, and payment applications.
• Monitor project expenditures against approved budgets and identify cost risks and opportunities.
• Prepare monthly cost reports, executive dashboards, and KPI metrics for leadership.
• Support project authorization requests and capital appropriation documentation.
• Perform earned value analysis and trend forecasting.
• Manage project contingency and risk allowances.
• Coordinate with scheduling personnel to integrate schedule and cost performance.
• Support procurement by evaluating bid pricing and commercial proposals.
• Review contractor progress measurements for accuracy and completeness.
• Track commitments, invoices, accruals, and forecasted final costs.
• Facilitate project change control processes and maintain change logs.
• Participate in project risk assessments and quantitative cost risk analyses.
• Support project closeout, final reconciliation, and lessons learned documentation.
• Ensure compliance with internal governance, financial controls, and audit requirements.
• Interface with Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Validation, Facilities, Procurement, Finance, and external EPCM partners.owner’s side Project Controls COST Lead professional to provide leadership for owner’s side comprehensive project control services that will be a key component of a highly integrated capital project area in the pharma industry.
• The role will interface with many phases of project execution performed by the owner and project vendors for the Owner. The position requires an owner’s rep with effective communication skills and an ability to always maintain the detailed direction of the stakeholders. The ideal candidate will have the technical skills set to manage and report project cost details while maintaining positive and forward-moving team dynamics. The position requires consistent alignment with the owner’s project cost and planning objectives/requirements.
• Project Controls
• Capital Budgeting Forecasting
• Change Management
• Schedule Integration
• Executive Reporting
• Contract Administration
• Cross-functional Collaboration
• Attention to Detail
• Strategic Thinking
• Problem Solving
• Position Requirements – Experience/Skills/Education
• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Engineering, Construction Management, or related technical discipline.
• 3+ years of project controls, cost engineering project experience.
• Experience supporting owner-side capital projects preferably in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, life sciences, semiconductor, food, or highly regulated manufacturing industries.
• Strong understanding of capital project lifecycle from conceptual design through commissioning.
• Strong analytical and financial management skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Pharmaceutical manufacturing or biotechnology facility experience.
• Owner's representative experience.
• EPC or EPCM project experience.
• Professional certifications such as: AACE Certified Cost Professional(CCP), PMI Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Earned Value Professional (EVP)

Experience with FDA-regulated manufacturing facilities.

Examples of Ideal Technical Skills:

• Microsoft Project
• SAPOracle ERP
• Microsoft Excel (advanced)
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Cost estimating software
• Change management systems
• Earned Value Management (EVM)
• Risk analysis tools (e.g., @Risk or Primavera Risk Analysis)

Compensation based on relevant experience

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

The Spear Group, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employers. All personnel actions are affected without regard to race, color, sex, age, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other protected status pursuant to law. As a responsible organization, we resolutely support the concept and practice of Equal Employment Opportunity. We uphold federal, state, and local civil rights laws and work to ensure that all of our personnel actions and policies are in compliance. Additionally, we recognize and value the importance and diversity of our work force and support its various cultures. The Companies are dedicated to fostering an environment that respects the dignity, rights and contributions of our employees.