Senior Cost Specialist: Energy Projects Budget Leader

Quanta Services; Baton Rouge (LA); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive base salary

Generous PTO & paid holidays

401(k) with generous match

Medical, dental, vision, life

Weekly pay

Career mentoring & growth

Job summary

QISG, Baton Rouge, seeks a Senior Cost Specialist to own project budgets and cost baselines across utility, power, and renewable energy projects in North America. You’ll develop budgets, track actuals, forecast final costs, and identify risks with Project Managers and Operations leaders.

You’ll turn financial data into actionable insights, support cost-recovery plans, apply EVM principles, and maintain cost-control processes using JDE, EcoSys, Procore, Excel, and Power BI.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in project cost controls, cost management, project controls, or a related field
• Hands-on experience developing, controlling, planning, and forecasting project budgets
• Strong understanding of actuals vs. budget, forecasting, variance analysis, and cost-to-complete
• Ability to identify cost issues, analyze project financials, and recommend corrective actions
• Experience communicating project cost performance and risks to Project Managers and leadership
• Experience with EAC/ETC and change management ; EVM experience is highly preferred
• Strong Excel skills and experience with project cost or financial systems such as JDE, EcoSys, Procore, or similar tools
• Experience supporting EPC, construction, utility, energy, infrastructure, or other project-based environments preferred
• Willingness to travel up to 15% domestically

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain, and control project budgets and cost baselines
• Track actual costs, commitments, forecasts, and cost trends
• Perform EAC/ETC, variance, and cost-to-complete analysis
• Identify cost risks, deviations, and emerging issues and recommend corrective action
• Support change orders, budget transfers, and cost impact analysis
• Prepare clear cost reports, forecasts, dashboards, and project performance updates
• Communicate cost performance, concerns, and recovery plans to Project Managers and leadership
• Partner with project teams to align financial performance with execution plans
• Apply EVM principles to evaluate cost and schedule performance
• Use tools such as JDE, EcoSys, Procore, Excel, and Power BI
• Support consistent cost-control processes and continuous improvement across projects

Skills

Budgeting

Forecasting

Cost control

Variance analysis

EVM

Excel

Communication with PMs

Project cost management

Education

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

Tools

JDE

EcoSys

Procore

Power BI

Excel

Job description

QISG, Baton Rouge, seeks a Senior Cost Specialist to own project budgets and cost baselines across utility, power, and renewable energy projects in North America. You’ll develop budgets, track actuals, forecast final costs, and identify risks with Project Managers and Operations leaders.

You’ll turn financial data into actionable insights, support cost-recovery plans, apply EVM principles, and maintain cost-control processes using JDE, EcoSys, Procore, Excel, and Power BI.