Senior Manager, Project Controls

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Our employees are the heart of our company. As an employer of choice, our goal is to provide a challenging, progressive and inclusive work environment which fosters personal leadership, career growth and development for every employee. We value passionate individuals who challenge the norm, deliver world-class solutions and bring diverse perspectives. Join our team, and together we will make a difference and change the world.

CDM Smith is seeking a Senior Manager, Project Controls to provide enterprise leadership for our project controls function across a large, complex portfolio of integrated design-build projects for our municipal, industrial, and federal clients. This enterprise role will establish and continuously improve the governance, systems, processes, analytics, and talent needed to deliver projects safely, profitably, and predictably.

The ideal candidate brings deep project controls leadership within the AEC industry, including direct experience with integrated design-build and other alternative delivery models in the water industry. This leader will also advance digital transformation by modernizing project controls platforms, workflows, reporting, automation, and predictive insights across the enterprise.

Key Responsibilities

• Enterprise Leadership and Governance: Define the enterprise project controls strategy, standards, methodologies, and governance model; drive consistent adoption across business units and regions.
• Integrated Design-Build and Alternative Delivery: Establish project controls approaches for design-build, progressive design-build, CMAR, construction management, and other integrated delivery models. Partner with pursuit and delivery teams to align design, procurement, construction, cost, schedule, risk, and commercial controls from planning through closeout.
• Cost, Schedule, and Commercial Controls: Strengthen budgeting, earned value management, forecasting, variance analysis, integrated master scheduling, critical path analysis, change management, contract administration, claims avoidance, and recovery planning.
• Portfolio Performance and Risk: Develop leading indicators, project health reviews, executive dashboards, and actionable insights for margin, backlog, cash flow, labor productivity, schedule performance, forecasting accuracy, and delivery risk.
• Digital Transformation and Innovation: Lead modernization of project controls platforms, data, and workflows. Champion automation, integrated reporting, AI-enabled forecasting, predictive risk identification, and performance monitoring in partnership with Digital Delivery and Technology teams.
• Information and Document Controls: Establish scalable standards for document management, records, configuration control, collaboration platforms, data quality, traceability, and digital project delivery.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Collaborate with executive leadership, operations, project management, finance, legal, risk management, procurement, and delivery teams to improve project predictability, profitability, and client outcomes.
• Team and Capability Development: Lead and develop a geographically distributed organization of schedulers, cost controllers, and document control professionals. Build career paths, competency models, training, succession plans, and a strong enterprise project controls community.

• Demonstrated leadership of project controls for large, complex integrated design build portfolios, programs, or enterprise initiatives.
• Significant experience supporting integrated design-build, progressive design-build, CMAR, or comparable alternative delivery projects, with the ability to connect design and construction execution through integrated cost, schedule, risk, and commercial controls.
• Proven success leading digital transformation or delivery transformation initiatives involving enterprise platforms, data integration, standardized workflows, dashboards, automation, analytics, or AI-enabled capabilities.
• Deep knowledge of cost engineering, scheduling, forecasting, earned value management, risk management, commercial management, and document controls.
• Strong business and financial acumen, with the ability to translate complex project data into clear recommendations and executive-level decision support.
• Ability to influence and lead change across a large, matrixed organization while building alignment among technical, operational, and corporate stakeholders.
• Proven success in developing talent and building accountable, collaborative, high-performing teams.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, analytical, and problem-solving skills.

• Bachelor's degree.
• 15 or more years of related experience.
• PMP or PgM certification required.

Domestic and/or international travel may be required. The frequency of travel is contingent on specific duties, responsibilities, and the essential functions of the position, which may vary depending on workload and project demands. Equivalent additional directly related experience will be considered in lieu of a degree.

• PMP or DBIA certification.

• Experience with Primavera P6, EcoSys, Acumen Fuse, Oracle, Textura, Power BI, or related project controls and reporting technologies.
• Experience implementing advanced analytics, integrated data environments, AI-enabled reporting, or digital project controls solutions at enterprise scale.
• Experience supporting municipal, industrial, and federal clients in the water industry.

50%

We attract the best people in the industry, supporting their efforts to learn and grow. We strive to create a challenging and progressive work environment. We provide career opportunities that span a variety of disciplines and geographic locations, with projects that our employees plan, design, build and operate as diverse as the needs of our clients. CDM Smith Inc. and its divisions and subsidiaries are an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, pregnancy related conditions, childbirth and related medical conditions, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression), national origin, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, veteran status, citizenship status, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

CDM Smith Inc. and its divisions and subsidiaries (hereafter collectively referred to as “CDM Smith”) reserves the right to require background checks including criminal, employment, education, licensure, etc. as well as credit and motor vehicle when applicable for certain positions. In addition, CDM Smith may conduct drug testing for designated positions. Background checks are conducted after an offer of employment has been made in the United States. The timing of when background checks will be conducted on candidates for positions outside the United States will vary based on country statutory law but in no case, will the background check precede an interview. CDM Smith will conduct interviews of qualified individuals prior to requesting a criminal background check, and no job application submitted prior to such interview shall inquire into an applicant's criminal history. If this position is subject to a background check for any convictions related to its responsibilities and requirements, employment will be contingent upon successful completion of a background investigation including criminal history. Criminal history will not automatically disqualify a candidate. In addition, during employment individuals may be required by CDM Smith or a CDM Smith client to successfully complete additional background checks, including motor vehicle record as well as drug testing.

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

All bonuses at CDM Smith are discretionary and may or may not apply to this position.

USD $150,155.00

USD $262,787.00

No-We will not support sponsorship in the United States, i.e. H-1B or TN Visas for this position