Project Controls Principal, Data Center Development

Job Description

Job Description

About the Role
Hut 8 is building large-scale energy and digital infrastructure, including data center campuses with capital budgets in excess of $500 million per project. We are seeking a Principal, Project Controls to serve as the cost, schedule, and financial conscience of our construction program. Embedded within project teams, this role owns project estimating, budgeting, forecasting, and cost reporting across active developments, and acts as the connective tissue between field execution and corporate finance (FP&A), Treasury, and Strategic Finance.
This is a high-visibility position: you will prepare and deliver weekly reporting to executive leadership, and you must be comfortable challenging project managers, general contractors, and vendors when the numbers, schedule, or scope don't hold up. Independence, sound judgment, and full transparency in escalating problems are essential to success in this role.
Key Responsibilities
Project Controls & Estimating

• Own project controls across assigned capital projects ($100M+): budgets, cost tracking, forecasting (EAC/ETC), change management, contingency management, and cash flow projections.
• Develop and pressure-test project estimates at each stage gate — from conceptual and feasibility estimates through GMP validation and buyout — and reconcile estimates against actuals.
• Monitor contractor schedules and cost reports; perform variance analysis on cost and schedule and drive corrective action with the project team.
• Review pay applications, change orders, and invoices for accuracy, contract compliance, and alignment to budget before approval.

Construction Finance & FP&A

• Partner with corporate FP&A and Accounting on capital planning, accruals, monthly close support, and reconciliation of project costs between PMIS and ERP systems.
• Maintain project-level financial models supporting capital commitments, funding draws, and reforecasts.
• Support development of annual and multi-year capital budgets for the construction portfolio.

Reporting & Executive Communication

• Prepare and present weekly project status and cost reports to the C-suite; deliver monthly portfolio-level reporting covering budget health, forecast movement, risks, and key decisions required.
• Communicate clearly and credibly with executives — distilling complex project data into concise, decision-ready reporting.
• Establish and maintain consistent weekly and monthly reporting cadences, templates, and KPIs across projects.

Risk, Escalation & Site Presence

• Proactively identify and flag cost, schedule, scope, and commercial issues — with a full-escalation mindset: no surprises to leadership.
• Push back constructively on project managers, contractors, and vendors when forecasts, change orders, or schedules are not supportable.
• Travel to active project sites (25%+ of time, self-managed cadence) to validate progress, verify percent-complete against billings, and stay connected to field realities.

Qualifications

• 4–7+ years of experience in project controls, cost engineering, construction finance, or FP&A supporting large capital construction projects; data center, mission-critical, energy, or heavy industrial experience strongly preferred.
• Direct experience on projects of $500M+ total installed cost, working embedded with project delivery teams.
• Demonstrated ability to challenge and influence project managers, contractors, and senior stakeholders with data-driven analysis.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including experience reporting to executive or C-suite audiences.
• Bachelor's degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Finance, Accounting, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
• Willingness and ability to travel 25%+ to project sites across North America.

Systems & Tools

• PMIS: Hands-on experience with project management information systems (e.g., Procore, Kahua, e-Builder, Unifier, or similar).
• ERP: NetSuite strongly preferred; experience with QuickBooks or comparable ERP/accounting platforms acceptable.
• Excel: Advanced proficiency — complex models, pivot tables, lookups; Power BI or similar dashboarding a plus.
• Scheduling: Working familiarity with Primavera P6 and/or MS Project a plus.

ABOUT THE WORK ENVIRONMENT

This role is in office at our corporate headquarters in the Brickell area of Miami, Florida. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.