Senior Vice President, Director of Project Controls

WSP Global Inc.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 250,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

WSP Global Inc. is seeking a transformational executive to establish and lead a Project Controls organization across the company’s lines, markets, and geographies.

This role will build the function from its formative stage into an integrated team of about 200 professionals, defining the operating model, leadership structure, and scalable service delivery. The executive will recruit, develop, and deploy talent while partnering with senior stakeholders to translate project delivery needs into

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in a relevant field and 15+ years in project controls or related function.
• Experience leading large, geographically dispersed teams and complex programs.
• Strong understanding of governance, cost management, scheduling, forecasting, and reporting.

Responsibilities

• Establish vision, charter, governance, and operating plan for the project controls organization.
• Grow the team to ~200 staff through recruitment, transitions, and talent development.
• Define roles, responsibilities, career paths, and succession planning for the organization.
• Develop and implement standardized processes for project setup, forecasting, reporting, and closeout.
• Lead phased rollout: strategy, mobilization, pilot, expansion, and national implementation.
• Provide executive oversight for a full suite of project controls and related services.
• Promote data-driven decision making with reliable project and portfolio insights.
• Advance automation and AI-enabled solutions to improve efficiency and forecasting.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Change management

Stakeholder management

People development

Project controls

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering, construction management, business, finance, project management, or related discipline

Master’s degree in business administration, engineering, construction management, finance, or related field

Tools

Power BI

InEight

Enterprise PMO tools

Job description

The Opportunity

WSP is seeking a transformational executive to establish and lead a Project Controls organization supporting projects across the company’s business lines, market sectors, and geographies.

As WSP delivers increasingly complex, multidisciplinary, and high-risk projects, this new Project Controls function will provide the governance, controls, operational support, and performance insight needed to strengthen project delivery while allowing Project and Program Managers to concentrate on strategic leadership, client service, and technical execution.

This executive will be responsible for building the function from its formative stage into an integrated organization of approximately 200 professionals. They will be responsible for defining the operating model, establish the leadership structure, recruit & develop the team, launch pilot deployments, build partnerships across the business, and create a scalable service delivery model. This is an enterprise-building role requiring a leader who can move comfortably between strategy and execution, influence senior stakeholders, establish organizational credibility, and translate project delivery needs into practical and measurable solutions.

Key Responsibilities

Build and Lead the Organization

• Establish the vision, charter, governance model, organizational structure, operating plan, and service-delivery framework for the organization.
• Develop and execute a workforce strategy to grow the organization to approximately 200 staff through recruitment, internal transitions, talent development, and appropriate use of global delivery resources.
• Build a leadership structure that includes business-line leads, functional subject matter experts, project-deployed professionals, and centralized support capabilities.
• Define roles, responsibilities, competencies, career paths, staffing ratios, and succession plans for the organization.
• Recruit, develop, engage, and retain a diverse, high-performing national team.

Develop & Implement the Operating Model

• Lead the development of responsibility matrices and rules of engagement that clarify ownership, decision rights, escalation paths, and handoffs.
• Define how Project Controls services will be requested, prioritized, priced, staffed, deployed, and evaluated.
• Establish clear interfaces and accountability among Project and Program Managers, Finance, Operations, Commercial Management, project controls, quality, risk, and other enabling functions.
• Coordinate the integration of resources, responsibilities, and workflows that may transition from existing functions into the new organization.
• Lead a phased rollout beginning with strategy and mobilization, followed by pilot deployment, business-line expansion, optimization, and national implementation.
• Manage growth in a disciplined manner while maintaining quality, consistency, utilization, and responsiveness.
• Establish standardized and consistent processes for project setup, forecasting, reporting, contract compliance, milestone tracking, invoicing, risk monitoring, and closeout.
• Create a data-management strategy that supports reliable project and portfolio-level decision-making.
• Advance automation and responsible AI-enabled solutions that improve efficiency, data quality, forecasting, and management insight.

Establish Project Controls Services

• Provide executive oversight for a consistent suite of project controls and support services spanning the project lifecycle, including:
• Proposal-phase pricing and project-planning support. Project onboarding, WBS/CBS setup, and baseline development.
• Project Execution Plan and Project Management Plan support.
• Governance frameworks, RACI development, and action and decision tracking.
• Contract administration and contractual requirements tracking. Subconsultant and vendor administration, invoicing, and MWDBE compliance.
• Change-order management, insurance coordination, and audit support.
• Task-level scope, schedule, and budget tracking. Earned value, Estimate at Completion, and Estimate to Complete tracking.
• Forecasting, margin monitoring, invoicing, and financial-performance visibility.
• Milestone, deliverable, risk, quality, client-feedback, and document-management coordination.
• Reporting, dashboarding, project reviews, and management oversight.
• Contract and financial reconciliation, records archiving, lessons learned, and closeout reporting.

Strengthen Financial and Delivery Performance

• Partner with business, operational, and financial leadership to improve forecasting accuracy, cost visibility, invoicing timeliness, budget monitoring, and action resolution.
• Develop escalation and intervention protocols for projects requiring additional attention.
• Promote proactive management of scope, schedule, cost, risk, change, contracts, subconsultants, and project documentation.
• Demonstrate the measurable value of the function through improved project outcomes and actionable performance insight.

Who You Are

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, construction management, business, finance, project management, or a related discipline.
• 15 years of progressive leadership experience in project controls, program management, project delivery, commercial management, operational excellence, or a closely related function.
• Experience leading large teams through multiple levels of management and across geographically dispersed operations.
• Strong understanding of project governance, cost management, scheduling, forecasting, earned value, risk, change management, contract administration, invoicing, reporting, and project closeout.
• Demonstrated ability to develop operating models, organizational structures, workforce plans, standards, procedures, and performance measures.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in business administration, engineering, construction management, finance, or a related field.
• Professional certifications such as PMP, AACE CCP, AACE PSP, PMI-SP, PgMP, or an equivalent industry‑recognized credential.
• Experience establishing a shared‑services, center‑of‑excellence, PMO, enterprise project controls, or project performance organization.
• Experience with Power BI, InEight, enterprise financial systems, scheduling platforms, document‑management systems, forecasting applications, and integrated project‑performance reporting.
• Experience incorporating data analytics, automation, or AI into project‑performance processes.
• Familiarity with multiple project delivery models and a broad range of market sectors.

Why Join WSP

This role offers the opportunity to build a national function with a direct impact on project delivery, financial performance, governance, risk management, and leadership decision‑making. The organization is intended to create a scalable and sustainable delivery model, institutionalize consistent project performance practices, and enable Project and Program Managers to place greater focus on clients, teams, and technical excellence. #LI-MP1

WSP Benefits:

WSP provides a comprehensive suite of benefits focused on a providing health and financial stability throughout the employee’s career. These benefits include coverage related to medical, dental, vision, disability, and life; retirement savings; paid sick leave; paid vacation (or other personal time); paid parental leave; and paid time off for purposes of bereavement, voting, and/or attendance at naturalization proceedings.

Compensation:

Expected Salary (all locations): $250,000-$300,000/year

WSP USA is providing the compensation range that the company in good faith believes it might pay and offer for this position, based on the successful applicant’s education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities in addition to internal equity and specific geographic location. WSP USA reserves the right to ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant’s sex or other status protected by local, state, and/or federal law.

Expected Salary (Colorado only): $250,000-$300,000/year

WSP USA is providing the compensation range that the company in good faith believes it might pay and/or offer for this position within the state of Colorado, based on the successful applicant’s education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities in addition to internal equity and specific geographic location. WSP USA reserves the right to ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant’s sex or other status protected by local, state, and/or federal law.