Senior Project Risk Manager

COMPA Industries, Inc.; Berkeley (CA); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

COMPA Industries is seeking a Senior Project Risk Manager for the ALS-U project at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, CA. The role leads the integrated risk-management program across technical, cost, schedule, and external risks, coordinating with project leadership and DOE reviews.

The position requires a bachelor’s degree in a technical field and at least eight years in risk management for complex capital projects, with strong quantitative analysis and executive communication

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or related field with eight years of risk management experience.
• Experience leading risk management for large capital projects or science facilities.
• Experience with quantitative cost and schedule risk analysis.
• Experience developing and maintaining risk registers.
• Experience facilitating risk workshops and senior-level reviews.
• Strong executive communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead the project risk-management program and maintain governance cadence.
• Maintain risk register with ownership, triggers, mitigation, and residual exposure.
• Coordinate risk analysis with project controls and master schedule integration.
• Prepare monthly risk reports and executive briefings for leadership and DOE reviews.
• Develop training and establish quality checks for risk statements and plans.

Skills

Risk management

Quantitative analysis

Monte Carlo

Risk registers

Executive communication

Cross-functional collaboration

EVMS knowledge

Project controls

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Primavera P6

Safran Risk Manager

Safran Risk

Earned value systems

Job description

Contract

1-year base with two (2) 1-year option periods

Work Schedule

Full-time; primarily on-site, with limited remote work as authorized

Clearance

Laboratory site-access, security, and cybersecurity requirements apply (US citizenship needed)

About the Role

We are recruiting for a Senior Project Risk Manager to join a team at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California, supporting the Advanced Light Source Upgrade (ALS-U) Project. ALS-U is a DOE capital project that will upgrade the Laboratory’s Advanced Light Source - a 1.9 GeV storage ring operating at 500 mA - with a multibend achromat lattice design, producing a soft x-ray source 100 to 1,000 times brighter than what is available today.

In this role you will lead, administer, and continuously improve the ALS-U integrated risk-management program, covering technical, cost, schedule, procurement, installation, operational, organizational, and external risks and opportunities. You will provide independent, objective, decision-ready risk information to Project leadership, working closely with the Project Director, Project Manager, Chief Engineer, Technical Project Managers, Project Controls Manager, Control Account Managers, functional leads, risk owners, Laboratory management, the Department of Energy, and external review committees.

The work is performed in accordance with DOE Order 413.3B, DOE risk-management guidance, the approved ALS-U Project Execution Plan, the ALS-U Risk Management Plan, and applicable Laboratory policies and procedures.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and administer the project risk-management program: maintain the Risk Management Plan, risk taxonomy, scoring criteria, and governance cadence, and serve as the principal project advisor on risk-management matters.
• Maintain the project risk register and associated configuration-controlled records, documenting risk ownership, affected Work Breakdown Structure elements, triggers, handling strategies, mitigation actions, due dates, retirement criteria, and residual exposure.
• Facilitate the Risk Management Board, focused risk reviews, project-wide risk workshops, subsystem risk reviews, schedule-risk sessions, lessons-learned reviews, and targeted risk deep dives.
• Develop and maintain integrated cost and schedule risk-analysis models; perform Monte Carlo simulation, sensitivity and scenario analysis, estimate- and schedule-uncertainty analysis, risk correlation, and confidence-level assessment.
• Coordinate with Project Controls to map risk events and mitigation actions to P6 activities, milestones, cost estimates, control accounts, critical and near-critical paths, schedule margin, and contingency forecasts.
• Evaluate cost and schedule contingency adequacy and reconcile modeled exposure against available contingency, realized risks, retired risks, emerging threats, and approved baseline changes.
• Assist risk owners in developing specific, measurable, time-phased, and adequately resourced mitigation plans; track commitments and identify overdue, stalled, or ineffective actions.
• Conduct forward-looking assessments of critical-path and near-critical-path work, vendor-delivery exposure, staffing constraints, funding scenarios, technical interfaces, installation sequencing, and commissioning readiness.
• Monitor external dependencies including DOE actions, funding profiles, regulatory approvals, tariffs, supply-chain conditions, institutional commitments, and labor availability.
• Prepare monthly risk reports and executive-level briefings for Project leadership, Laboratory management, DOE representatives, and review committees; support baseline-change proposals, recovery plans, independent cost reviews, and DOE reviews.
• Develop and deliver role-based risk-management training, establish quality checks for risk statements and mitigation plans, and benchmark practices against DOE capital-project experience and recognized standards.
• Escalate material concerns when risk information is not maintained, mitigation actions are not progressing, exposure is increasing, or project decisions are inconsistent with the documented risk posture.

Required Education & Experience

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, construction management, project management, business, economics, applied mathematics, statistics, or a related discipline, and at least eight (8) years of progressively responsible experience in project risk management, project controls, cost estimating, scheduling, or management of complex capital projects; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

Top Skills & Requirements

• Experience leading or administering risk management for a large, technically complex capital project, construction program, scientific facility, infrastructure program, aerospace or defense program, or comparable high-consequence undertaking.
• Experience performing or directing quantitative cost and schedule risk analysis.
• Experience with Monte Carlo simulation, estimate uncertainty, schedule uncertainty, sensitivity analysis, and contingency confidence-level assessment.
• Experience developing and maintaining project risk registers.
• Experience facilitating risk workshops and senior-level risk reviews.
• Experience assigning and tracking risk ownership and mitigation actions.
• Experience integrating risk information with an Integrated Master Schedule, cost estimate, Estimate at Completion, change-control process, and project performance reporting.
• Experience producing executive-level risk assessments and defending methodology, assumptions, and results before senior management or independent reviewers.
• Experience working across technical, project-management, project-controls, procurement, construction, operations, and institutional support organizations.
• Strong analytical writing, presentation, facilitation, and executive-communication skills.
• Ability to challenge unsupported assumptions, raise unfavorable information, and elevate material concerns while maintaining constructive working relationships.
• Strong records-management and configuration-control discipline.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting a DOE Order 413.3B capital asset project or comparable federally governed major project.
• Working knowledge of DOE Guide 413.3-7A or comparable capital-project risk-management guidance.
• Experience with Safran Risk Manager and Safran Risk.
• Proficiency with Primavera P6.
• Familiarity with earned-value systems and EVMS concepts.
• Experience supporting a project rebaseline, baseline deviation, recovery plan, independent cost estimate, external review, or major corrective-action effort.
• Experience with accelerator facilities, scientific user facilities, installation-intensive projects, industrial construction, aerospace, defense, or other highly integrated technical programs.
• Professional certification such as PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP), Project Management Professional (PMP), AACE certification, or equivalent.
• Advanced degree in a relevant technical, analytical, or management discipline.

Duration: 1-year base period with two (2) additional 1-year option periods. Each option period is exercisable separately at the Laboratory’s sole discretion, subject to continued project need, satisfactory performance, and availability of funds.

Level of Effort: One (1) full-time Senior Project Risk Manager throughout the authorized period of performance. Level of effort may be adjusted based on project phase, review requirements, quantitative-analysis needs, and overall project priorities.

Work Schedule: Full-time. Because the work requires frequent interaction with project leadership, Project Controls, technical teams, Control Account Managers, functional leads, and review participants, services are performed primarily on site in Berkeley, CA. Limited remote work may be authorized for quantitative analysis, report preparation, model development, and document review.

Travel

Travel is not anticipated as a routine requirement. Occasional approved travel may include attendance at DOE reviews, risk workshops, or vendor assessments.

Interview Process

Interviews are conducted via Microsoft Teams.

Why Work at COMPA Industries?

We strive to provide careers, not just jobs, for our employees. We invest in and serve the communities where we work and live. We provide best-in-class administrative, professional, and technical services to solve complex problems to meet customer mission-critical objectives.

For over 30 years, Compa has been a trusted partner in progress. We combine decades of technical expertise with a forward-thinking spirit, tackling intricate challenges in nuclear facilities alongside the brightest minds in science and engineering. Join us, and don’t just build your career, build the future, with competitive compensation, a collaborative culture, and the chance to make a real difference for national security and beyond.

COMPA is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to protected status.