Project Controls Manager (Cost)

Arcadis; Columbus (OH); On-site; USD 130,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision benefits

401K with company match

Nine paid holidays and PTO

Job summary

Arcadis is seeking an experienced Construction Cost Controls Manager for primarily remote work on major data center and mission critical programs. The role covers fit-outs, retrofits, modernization, connectivity, and ground‑up builds with minimal travel.

You will lead cost controls, budgeting, forecasting, and reporting, reviewing invoices and change orders while coordinating with multiple teams to maintain cost discipline and schedule alignment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Quantity Surveying, Finance, Business, or related field.
• 7+ years of experience in construction cost controls, project controls, cost management, or related roles.
• Experience supporting large-scale data center, mission critical, or complex capital programs.
• Strong knowledge of cost control, forecasting, change management, invoice review, accruals, POs, and reporting.
• Experience reviewing change orders, invoices, cost reports, forecasts, and cash flows.
• Ability to work with multiple stakeholders, systems, and deadlines.
• Strong Excel, analytical, and written communication skills.
• Attention to detail and data accuracy.

Responsibilities

• Manage construction cost controls for data center fit-out, retrofit, modernization, connectivity, and new builds.
• Support budget setup, cost tracking, forecasting, cash flow, and cost reporting.
• Review contractor and vendor invoices, payments, and backup documentation.
• Analyze and process change orders, unit rates, and forecast impacts.
• Keep budgets, commitments, POs, actuals, and forecasted costs aligned.
• Support risk register updates, risk tracking, and escalation.
• Perform data QA/QC across project controls, finance, procurement, and reporting systems.
• Prepare monthly cost reports, variance commentary, and executive summaries.
• Coordinate with construction, controls, finance, procurement, scheduling, estimating, and delivery teams.
• Support contract, PO, compliance, and financial closeout activities.

Skills

Data center delivery

Cost controls

Forecasting

Invoice review

Change management

Excel

Written communication

Stakeholder management

QA/QC

Deadlines

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Quantity Surveying, Finance, Business, or related field

Tools

Unifier

eBuilder

Procore

Tableau

Power BI

Primavera P6

Oracle

SAP

Job description

• Data center retrofits
• Ground-up data center construction

Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets.

We are more than 34,000 people, in over 30 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.

Role description

Arcadis is seeking an experienced Construction Cost Controls Manager to support major data center and mission critical capital programs. This position will be primarily REMOTE with minimal travel. This role will provide hands‑on construction cost controls support across leased data center facilities, tenant fit‑outs, retrofits, technology modernization, connectivity work, ground‑up data center construction, and associated infrastructure.

Program Context

This role supports construction cost controls delivery across complex data center project types, which may include:

Leased Data Center / Fit‑Out / Retrofit / Modernization Programs

• Leased data center facility fit‑outs
• Data center retrofits
• Technology modernization projects
• Connectivity scope
• Projects in various lifecycle stages from planning and pre‑construction through closeout

New Build Data Center Programs

• Ground‑up data center construction
• Associated campus and utility infrastructure
• New build construction cost controls
• Contractor forecasting and cash flow review
• Change management, accruals, reporting, and closeout support

Role accountabilities

• Manage construction cost controls for data center fit‑out, retrofit, modernization, connectivity, and new build programs.
• Support budget setup, cost tracking, forecasting, cash flow, work‑in‑place, accruals, and estimate‑at‑completion reporting.
• Review contractor and vendor invoices, payment applications, backup documentation, and cost submissions.
• Analyze and process change orders, including unit rates, labor rates, markups, commercial backup, and forecast impacts.
• Maintain alignment between budgets, commitments, purchase orders, actuals, pending changes, and forecasted final costs.
• Support risk register updates, cost risk tracking, mitigation actions, and escalation of emerging issues.
• Perform data QA/QC across project controls, financial, procurement, and reporting systems.
• Prepare monthly cost reports, variance commentary, executive summaries, and ad‑hoc cost analyses.
• Coordinate with construction, project controls, finance, procurement, scheduling, estimating, and delivery teams.
• Support contract, purchase order, compliance documentation, and financial closeout activities.

Role Expectations

The Construction Cost Controls Manager will be expected to:

• Operate as a hands‑on construction cost controls professional in a high‑volume data center project environment.
• Support project controls leadership with reliable execution, quality control, and reporting.
• Maintain strong discipline around deadlines, data accuracy, documentation, and workflow follow‑through.
• Translate cost and commercial information into clear, decision‑ready insights.
• Proactively identify cost, invoice, change, accrual, and reporting issues before they become project impacts.
• Support consistent service delivery across leased data center, retrofit, modernization, connectivity, and new build construction requirements.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Quantity Surveying, Finance, Business, or related field.
• 7+ years of experience in construction cost controls, project controls, cost management, commercial management, or related capital project delivery roles.
• Experience supporting large‑scale construction, data center, mission critical, industrial, technology, infrastructure, or complex capital programs.
• Strong knowledge of construction cost control, forecasting, change management, invoice review, accruals, purchase orders, variance analysis, and financial reporting.
• Experience reviewing contractor change orders, invoices, cost reports, forecasts, cash flows, and supporting documentation.
• Ability to work with multiple stakeholders, systems, workflows, and reporting deadlines.
• Strong Excel, analytical, and written communication skills.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to data accuracy.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior data center, hyperscale, mission critical, technology, or advanced manufacturing experience.
• Experience with leased data center facilities, tenant fit‑outs, retrofits, technology modernization, connectivity scope, or new build data center construction.
• Familiarity with platforms such as Unifier, eBuilder, Procore, procurement systems, Tableau, Power BI, Primavera P6, Oracle, SAP, or similar PMIS / ERP / reporting systems.
• Experience with compliance documentation, audit readiness, financial controls, and governance‑driven reporting.
• Professional certifications such as CCP, CEP, PSP, PMP, MRICS, CCM, or AACE credentials are a plus.

Key Competencies

• Construction cost controls discipline and commercial judgment
• Data center delivery awareness
• Strong data validation and QA/QC mindset
• Forecasting and variance analysis capability
• Change order and invoice review experience
• Clear written and verbal communication
• Ability to manage deadlines and high‑volume workflows
• Comfort working across multiple systems and stakeholders
• Proactive escalation and issue resolution
• Strong service orientation
• Ability to operate independently while staying aligned with program governance

Performance Expectations / Success Measures

Success in this role will be measured by the Construction Cost Controls Manager’s ability to support:

• Timely invoice reviews aligned with month‑end deadlines.
• Change order reviews completed within agreed turnaround periods.
• Accurate cost, forecast, cash flow, work‑in‑place, and variance reporting.
• Clean quarterly accruals with minimal or no defects.
• Accurate risk register maintenance and reporting.
• Timely support of new contract and contract change approvals.
• High‑quality data across project controls platforms.
• Clear, reliable support to project controls and delivery leadership.
• Consistent delivery across leased data center, retrofit, modernization, connectivity, and new build construction requirements.

Why Arcadis?

We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone’s contribution matters. It’s why we are pioneering a skills‑based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.

You’ll do meaningful work, and no matter what role, you’ll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark, on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.

Together, we can create a lasting legacy.

Join Arcadis. Create a Legacy.

Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We are an equal opportunity employer. We are dedicated to a policy of non‑discrimination in employment on any basis including race, creed, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship status, disability, veteran status, or any other basis prohibited by law.

Arcadis offers benefits for full time and part time positions. These benefits include medical, dental, and vision, EAP, 401K, STD, LTD, AD&D, life insurance, paid parental leave, reward & recognition program and optional benefits including wellbeing benefits, adoption assistance and tuition reimbursement. We offer nine paid holidays and 15 days PTO that accrue per year. The salary range for this position is $130,000 - $165,000. Actual salaries will vary and are based on several factors, such as experience, education, budget, internal equity, project and location.