Project Controls Specialist

Audubon Companies; Mobile (AL); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Audubon Companies is seeking a seasoned Project Controls Specialist to develop and manage complex schedules and cost control processes for multi-disciplinary EPC/energy projects. You will coordinate with engineers, procurement, and construction teams to ensure accurate forecasts, narrative reports, and timely updates.

The role requires strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and proficiency with Primavera P6 and EVM systems.

Qualifications

• 5–10 years of project controls experience in engineering, EPC, energy, infrastructure, or similar capital projects.
• Demonstrated ability to develop, update, and analyze project schedules with Primavera P6.
• Hands-on experience with an EVM or project cost control system to maintain budgets, actuals, commitments, ETC, EAC, and performance reports.
• Experience with cost controls data reconciliation and reporting requirements.
• Strong analytical skills and attention to detail; proficient in Excel and standard reporting tools.
• Ability to interpret data, explain variances, and provide evidence-based analysis.

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and status project schedules in Primavera P6 per WBS, calendars, and conventions.
• Build integrated schedules for engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning.
• Collect progress data from project managers and validate against rules of credit.
• Prepare schedule narratives, variance explanations, and look-ahead schedules.
• Monitor baseline development, change control, and forecast analyses.
• Deliver weekly and monthly project controls updates with data coordination across teams.
• Support cost control processes, budgets, ETC/EAC calculations, and forecast trends.

Skills

Project controls

Primavera P6

Earned value management

Cost control systems

Excel

Written & verbal communication

Independent delivery

Education

Relevant engineering or related degree

Tools

Contruent

Excel

Job description

Key Responsibilities

Planning and Schedule Management

• Develop, maintain, and status project schedules in Primavera P6 using approved work breakdown structures, calendars, activity coding, logic, and schedule conventions.
• Build and maintain integrated engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning schedules at a level of detail appropriate to project scope and contract requirements.
• Collect progress and forecast information from project managers, discipline leads, and other responsible parties; validate updates against evidence and agreed rules of credit.
• Review schedule logic, relationships, constraints, calendars, open ends, lags, critical and near-critical paths, float, activity durations, and sequencing for reasonableness and quality.
• Analyze current and baseline schedules to identify slippage, changes in critical path, near-critical work, missed or threatened milestones, and emerging schedule risks.
• Prepare schedule narratives, variance explanations, milestone forecasts, look-ahead schedules, progress curves, and concise schedule status reports.
• Support baseline development, schedule change control, recovery planning, reforecasting, and time impact or what-if analysis as directed.

Cost Control and EVM

• Set up and maintain project budgets, control accounts, time-phased plans, actual costs, commitments, and forecasts in the company’s designated EVM or project controls software.
• Coordinate with project teams and accounting to reconcile actual costs, labor hours, purchase orders, commitments, and other cost data to the project control structure.
• Collect and validate estimate-to-complete (ETC) inputs by discipline, resource, cost category, or work package; document assumptions and key changes.
• Calculate and review estimate at completion (EAC), budget at completion (BAC), earned value metrics, cost and schedule indices, variances, and forecast trends in accordance with project procedures.
• Compare actual costs and hours with budget, earned value, progress, and the current forecast; investigate unusual trends, rate differences, productivity changes, and forecast movements.
• Maintain change, trend, and contingency records as required by project procedures and ensure forecast changes are supported by clear explanations and traceable backup.
• Prepare recurring cost reports and dashboards, including budget-versus-actual, commitments, ETC/EAC, variance explanations, and key forecast risks.

Integrated Schedule and Cost Analysis

• Connect schedule status and forecast dates with cost and labor forecasts to assess the likely cost effect of schedule movement, productivity changes, resequencing, and extended duration.
• Analyze schedule progress against the baseline and current plan, then relate delayed or accelerated work to remaining labor hours, staffing needs, indirect costs, commitments, and EAC exposure.
• Develop supportable forecast scenarios using stated assumptions, such as current performance, planned recovery, revised remaining quantities, or schedule-driven staffing changes.
• Identify the activities, control accounts, disciplines, milestones, or cost categories driving a variance; quantify the exposure where data permits and explain limitations where it does not.
• Prepare analysis that helps project managers act: describe the condition, explain the driver, show the potential consequence, and identify the decision or follow-up needed.
• Present findings in clear written summaries and review them with project managers, discipline leads, and project controls leadership.

Reporting and Coordination

• Deliver accurate weekly and monthly project controls updates in accordance with established reporting calendars and quality checks.
• Coordinate with project managers, engineering and construction leads, procurement, accounting, and other project personnel to obtain timely, consistent data.
• Maintain source documentation, schedule and forecast assumptions, change records, and reporting files so results can be traced and reviewed.
• Escalate missing or inconsistent data, material forecast movement, schedule threats, and control issues promptly; recommend practical follow-up actions.
• Support project setup, control account and cost code alignment, schedule-to-cost mapping, project controls procedures, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Minimum Qualifications

• Five to ten years of project controls experience supporting engineering, EPC, energy, infrastructure, industrial, or other complex capital projects.
• Demonstrated ability to develop, update, and analyze project schedules using Primavera P6.
• Hands-on experience using an EVM or project cost control system to maintain budgets, actuals, commitments, ETC, EAC, and performance reports. Experience with Contruent or a comparable system is preferred.
• Working knowledge of earned value concepts, cost forecasting, schedule analysis, change control, and project reporting.
• Ability to interpret project data, investigate variances, identify drivers, and develop clear, evidence-based analysis.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, sound attention to detail, and proficiency with Microsoft Excel and other standard reporting tools.
• Ability to manage assigned deliverables independently, organize competing deadlines, and work effectively with periodic direction and review.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience integrating schedule and cost data through a common WBS, control account structure, or project controls platform.
• Experience with EPC project phases, discipline labor forecasting, resource or quantity-based planning, progress measurement, and rules of credit.
• Experience preparing schedule narratives, EAC analysis, executive reporting, recovery scenarios, or project risk and opportunity assessments.
• Relevant degree in engineering, construction management, business, project management, or a related field; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
• Estimating is not a core requirement of this position; however, the specialist may occasionally be asked to support estimating activities based on business needs.

Work Approach

The specialist independently manages assigned work with limited day-to-day direction and seeks guidance for priority conflicts, material baseline or forecast changes, and issues requiring management or client alignment.

Working at Audubon

The Audubon Family of Companies provides professional consulting solutions to the energy industry. For over 25 years, our proven reputation for operational excellence and dedication to client satisfaction has helped us become a leading service provider to some of the biggest names in oil and gas. Our team of over 1,000 of the country's top professionals can deliver a full range of consulting services, from EPCM to field solutions and operational support.

At Audubon we are always growing, though we never lose sight of our commitment to excellence. Our focus on flexibility and our demand for unsurpassed quality control over continue to guide our growth as they have since our inception. We realize that service goes beyond plugging in a professional skill set. Service means flexibility. Service means understanding and solving project challenges in dynamic environments. Service means communication. We pride ourselves on providing the service of the quality which allows us to implement efficient solutions that deliver immediate value and long-term returns.

Our dedication to people requires an equal dedication to safety. Our rigorous safety program helps us maintain a safe and incident-free work environment from the desktop to the pipeline trench. Our people drive the quality and efficiency that have established Audubon as a leader in the oil and gas industry - their growth and safety are at the core of our business.

EEO is the Law