Senior Manager, Project Financial Controls

NextGenEnergyJobs; Asbury Park (NJ); On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Solar Landscape seeks a Senior Project Controls professional to define and maintain financial control policies across multiple solar projects. You will set budget approvals, track commitments, manage change orders, and ensure accurate forecasting and invoicing.

Collaborating with Project Accounting, Procurement, and PMO, you will drive adherence to governance standards, closeouts, and auditable records while supporting audits and continuous process improvements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, business, construction management, or related field.
• CPA, CMA, CFM or equivalent experience preferred.
• Significant experience in project controls, project accounting, financial controls, construction finance, capital projects, or similar environment.
• Experience designing, implementing, or monitoring financial controls across multiple projects.
• Strong understanding of project budgets, commitments, purchase orders, change orders, forecasts, invoices, contingency, and financial closeout.
• Experience with ERP systems and project financial reporting tools; Microsoft Dynamics experience preferred.
• Strong analytical, documentation, communication, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to challenge decisions constructively while maintaining effective working relationships.
• Demonstrated judgment in assessing risk, materiality, exceptions, and escalation requirements.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain project financial control policies, standards, procedures, and guidance for projects.
• Establish clear requirements for budget approval, commitment controls, change order management, forecasting, invoice validation, and financial closeout.
• Maintain the project financial control framework and ensure it aligns with policy, accounting requirements, and business objectives.
• Define required documentation, evidence, approvals, and segregation of duties for key financial processes.
• Maintain control calendars, compliance checklists, process maps, and control owners.
• Identify control gaps and recommend process, system, or policy improvements.
• Monitor approvals and auditable evidence for budgets and commitments.
• Support periodic reviews of project financial compliance and readiness for audit.
• Define standards for budget development, version control, and baseline management.
• Monitor procurement and PO approval requirements; suggest governance improvements.
• Establish escalation for high-risk commitments; review PO and change-order logs for exceptions.
• Define documentation and process requirements for Change Orders and their auditability.
• Review change-order trends and bottlenecks; ensure forecast accuracy and variance handling.
• Audit forecasting practices and connect scope, schedule, commitments, costs.

Skills

Analytical skills

Documentation

Communication

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, Construction Management, or related field

CPA, CMA, CFM or equivalent experience preferred

Tools

Microsoft Dynamics

Job description

Solar Landscape is the leading commercial rooftop solar developer in the U.S.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain project financial control policies, standards, procedures, and guidance for projects.
• Establish clear requirements for budget approval, commitment controls, change order management, forecasting, invoice validation, and financial closeout.
• Maintain the project financial control framework and ensure it remains aligned with company policy, accounting requirements, and business objectives.
• Define required documentation, evidence, approvals, and segregation of duties for key financial processes.
• Maintain control calendars, compliance checklists, process maps, and control owners.
• Identify control gaps and recommend process, system, or policy improvements.
• Maintain and coordinate periodic review of the project Approval Authority Matrix for budgets & commitments.
• Monitor whether approvals are obtained at the correct authority level and retained as auditable evidence.
• Support periodic reviews of project financial compliance and readiness for internal or external audit.
• Define standards for budget development, completeness, consistency, approval, version control, and baseline management. Working within existing project stage-gate process.
• Monitor compliance with budget creation and approval requirements.
• Establish requirements for budget changes, transfers, reallocations, contingency usage.
• Define project financial closeout requirements, including budget freeze, purchase order closeout, final invoicing, unresolved commitments, documentation, and approvals.
• Monitor compliance with procurement and purchase order approval requirements.
• Suggest improvements to governance requirements for purchase order creation, changes, blanket purchase orders, commitment changes, and closeout.
• Establish enhanced review or escalation requirements for high-value, unusual, over-budget, or otherwise higher-risk commitments.
• Monitor the purchase order and change-order logs for control exceptions, aging items, and unresolved approvals.
• Support the definition of requirements for final billing and purchase order closeout.
• Define documentation and process requirements for Change Orders. Monitor compliance with change-order requirements and auditability of the approval process.
• Review change-order trends, bottlenecks, aging, and recurring exceptions.
• Define control requirements for invoice validation, matching, approval, exception handling, disputes, holds, and final invoicing. Monitor compliance with requirements.
• Work closely with Project Accounting to establish project forecasting standards.
• Produce clear guidance for incorporating exposures, pending buyouts, unbought scope, risks, and opportunities into project forecasts.
• Set escalation thresholds for projected budget overages, deteriorating cost performance, or unsupported forecast assumptions.
• Test forecast accuracy over time and identify recurring sources of forecast variance.
• Audit forecasting practices for consistency, completeness, and adherence to approved standards.
• Partner with Project Management and Project Accounting to improve the connection between project scope, schedule, commitments, risks, and cost forecasts.
• Perform periodic control reviews, sample testing, and targeted audits of project financial processes. Track findings, corrective actions, owners, due dates, and remediation status.
• Use control results to recommend training, system enhancements, process redesign, or changes to approval requirements.
• Partner with Project Management, Project Accounting, Procurement, PMO, Finance, teams to clarify roles and improve end-to-end processes.
• Work closely with PMO to translate control requirements into practical procedures and system-enabled workflows.
• Support implementation of improved project financial controls and related change management.
• Provide training and guidance to project teams on financial governance requirements.
• Promote consistent financial practices across projects while allowing for documented, risk-based exceptions.
• Project Management, Project Accounting, Procurement, Subcontracting, Corporate Finance, PMO, Internal or External Audit

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, Construction Management, or a related field.
• Relevant professional qualification such as CPA, CMA, CFM, or equivalent experience preferred.
• Significant experience in project controls, project accounting, financial controls, construction finance, capital projects, or a similar environment.
• Experience designing, implementing, or monitoring financial controls across multiple projects.
• Strong understanding of project budgets, commitments, purchase orders, change orders, forecasts, invoices, contingency, and financial closeout.
• Experience with enterprise resource planning systems and project financial reporting tools; Microsoft Dynamics experience preferred.
• Strong analytical, documentation, communication, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to challenge decisions constructively while maintaining effective working relationships.
• Demonstrated judgment in assessing risk, materiality, exceptions, and escalation requirements.