Project Controller (Accounting)

Butcher Power Products (BPP) designs and manufactures mission‑critical and industrial power solutions for essential infrastructure nationwide. Headquartered in Sacramento, CA, our teams collaborate closely across engineering, manufacturing, and operations to build reliable, high‑quality systems and take pride in delivering work that truly matters. Job Summary: Butcher Power Products is seeking an experienced Project Controller to assume full accountability for the financial accuracy of all active projects. This individual will serve as the primary steward of project cost integrity — ensuring every expenditure is captured, correctly allocated, and reconciled against approved budgets. Working in close partnership with Engineering, Manufacturing, Procurement, and Finance, the Project Controller is responsible for ensuring project financials reflect operational reality at all times. This position requires a highly self-directed professional with the analytical rigor and initiative to identify and resolve cost gaps without direction, combined with the interpersonal effectiveness to build trust across departments, influence cross-functional behavior, and drive organization-wide adherence to cost capture standards. The Project Controller functions as the financial authority for project operations — proactive, accountable, and consultative in equal measure. The ideal candidate brings equal fluency in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (D365 F&O) and the financial principles that underpin sound project costing. Where patterns in budget vs. actual data reveal upstream issues in quoting, estimating, or labor scoping, this individual is expected to analyze the data, draw conclusions, and present well-reasoned recommendations to leadership. Key Responsibilities: Project Financial Management & Cost Control:

• Maintain full accountability for the financial health of all active projects — tracking budgets vs. actuals, forecasting cost-to-complete, and escalating variances before they compound
• Ensure all project costs — labor, materials, subcontractors, freight, tooling, and overhead — are captured in full and allocated to the correct project and cost category
• Conduct weekly project cost reviews with Project Managers and Operations leadership; identify gaps, misallocations, and unposted costs and drive resolution
• Maintain accurate earned value and margin tracking across all projects; provide early notification to leadership of margin erosion or cost-at-completion risk
• Coordinate with Finance on monthly project close activities, accruals, and revenue recognition
• Reconcile project cost data in D365 against procurement actuals, payroll records, and vendor invoices to ensure no costs are omitted or misdirected
• Confirm that cost data is accurate and complete prior to issuance of project billing milestones and invoices

Labor Capture & Timesheet Accountability:

• Serve as the primary driver of accurate, timely labor entry across all engineering and manufacturing resources — this is among the most critical accountabilities of this position
• Collaborate directly with engineering team leads and production supervisors to ensure all hours are posted to the correct project, phase, and labor category in D365 on a daily or weekly basis
• Monitor timesheet compliance across all billable and non-billable personnel; escalate non-compliance to department managers and HR as appropriate
• Identify and address patterns of missing or incorrect labor allocation — including incorrect project codes, missing entries, or hours defaulting to overhead — through real-time correction, not end-of-month reconciliation
• Develop and maintain labor tracking reports comparing budgeted hours to actuals by project, department, and individual; distribute to project managers and department heads on a defined cadence
• Partner with HR and Payroll to reconcile total hours compensated against hours posted to projects; investigate and resolve discrepancies
• Work with manufacturing supervisors to establish disciplined shop floor labor capture practices, including proper clocking procedures for direct and indirect labor tied to specific work orders and projects
• Coordinate with department heads to establish labor budgets at the project phase level and maintain accountability to those estimates throughout execution

D365 F&O Project Module Management:

• Create and manage all projects in D365 F&O — including project setup, work breakdown structures (WBS), cost categories, and funding source configuration
• Maintain project data integrity and enforce system governance; ensure all transactions are posted accurately and within the correct accounting period
• Develop and maintain standardized project templates and category structures to support consistent, audit-ready project setup
• Train engineering, manufacturing, and procurement personnel on proper procedures for logging time, purchase requisitions, and expenses against projects in D365
• Serve as the internal subject matter expert for D365 project accounting — troubleshoot system issues, collaborate with IT on configuration requirements, and drive continuous process improvement
• Ensure all project-related purchasing, including purchase orders and subcontracts, is linked to the correct project and monitored against project budgets in D365

Cross-Functional Coordination & Reporting:

• Function as the primary financial liaison between Engineering, Manufacturing, Procurement, and Finance — translating operational activity into accurate, actionable financial data
• Participate in project status meetings to maintain current awareness of scope, schedule, and cost implications; provide financial input and escalate risks as appropriate
• Produce weekly and monthly project financial reports for Project Managers, Operations leadership, and the VP of Accounting — including budget vs. actual summaries, labor utilization, and cost-at-completion forecasts
• Develop and maintain Power BI dashboards or D365 reporting solutions that provide project managers with real-time financial visibility independent of direct Finance team involvement
• Support the project management team with cost impact analysis for change orders prior to approval
• Contribute to pre-project financial modeling and budget development in support of new bids and proposals

Quoting Accuracy & Margin Intelligence:

• Continuously analyze budget vs. actual data across completed and in-progress projects to identify patterns of cost overrun, margin erosion, or systemic misalignment between quoted assumptions and actual execution
• Where actuals indicate that current quoting practices are producing margins below expectations — due to labor hour underestimates, material cost assumptions, or unaccounted cost categories — prepare clear, data-supported recommendations for leadership and the estimating team
• Develop and maintain a formal post-project financial close process that captures lessons learned and translates them into actionable updates to quoting standards and cost assumptions
• Partner with Sales, Engineering, and Operations to evaluate quoted labor rates, hours, and material assumptions against actual project consumption; identify where quote models require recalibration
• Track final margin at project completion against margin at quote for every project; maintain a reference database of actual costs by project type and size to support future estimating efforts
• Escalate recurring quoting deficiencies to leadership with supporting data and specific recommendations — including which assumptions should be revised and by what magnitude

Process, Policy & Tools Ownership:

• Recommend and assist in implementing policies, procedures, and system configurations that optimize accurate cost and labor data capture across Engineering and Manufacturing — with a mandate to improve existing processes, not simply operate within them
• Identify breakdowns in how costs are entered and processed through D365 and propose process changes, system controls, or workflow modifications to address those gaps on a durable basis
• Evaluate and recommend tools — whether native to D365, third-party integrations, or supplemental tracking solutions — that improve the speed, accuracy, and completeness of project cost data
• Develop and maintain documented standard operating procedures (SOPs) covering project setup, labor entry, cost allocation, and project close to ensure consistency and scalability as the organization grows
• Conduct regular audits of existing cost capture processes; identify points of manual intervention, inconsistency, or error-proneness and drive standardization or automation
• Collaborate with IT and D365 administrators to propose and validate system configuration changes that enforce correct cost capture behavior at the point of entry

What Success Looks Like in This Role:

• All active projects maintain accurate, current financial data in D365 F&O — with no unposted costs, unresolved labor gaps, or allocation errors
• Engineering and manufacturing resources submit timely, accurate time entries consistently — a standard achieved through process design, training, and cross-functional accountability
• Project managers and Finance leadership have access to reliable, real-time financial data to support informed decision-making
• Cost variances are identified and communicated proactively, with context and recommended corrective action
• Labor budgets are established at project inception by phase and are actively monitored throughout project execution
• When budget vs. actual trends indicate systemic issues in quoting assumptions, leadership receives a data-supported analysis and specific recommendations for recalibration
• Policies, procedures, and tools governing cost capture are documented, communicated, and consistently applied across all departments
• Monthly project close activities are completed accurately, on schedule, and with minimal rework

Qualifications: Required:

• +6 years of experience in project accounting, project controls, or a related financial role
• Experience with ERP systems — D365 F&O strongly preferred; comparable systems (SAP, Oracle, Epicor) considered
• Strong understanding of project costing fundamentals: WBS structures, cost categories, budget vs. actual analysis, and earned value concepts
• Demonstrated ability to hold teams accountable for labor entry and cost capture without creating friction
• Excellent Excel skills; ability to build reconciliation workbooks and financial tracking tools
• Strong cross-functional communicator — equally effective with engineers, shop floor supervisors, and the CFO
• Detail-oriented and process-driven; you find errors before others do
• Comfortable working in a fast-moving environment where project scope evolves and urgency is the norm

Preferred:

• Direct experience with D365 F&O Project Management & Accounting module
• Experience in custom manufacturing, EPC, or project-based industrial businesses
• Power BI experience — ability to build and maintain project financial dashboards
• Familiarity with revenue recognition under ASC 606 for long-term contracts
• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Engineering, or Business Administration
• PMP, CPA, or CMA certification a plus
• Strong analytical skills

Traits that fit BPP:

• Highly self-directed and action-oriented — establishes priorities independently, pursues resolution without requiring direction, and holds themselves accountable to outcomes
• Collaborative by nature — earns credibility across functions, works through people rather than around them, and understands that sustainable process improvement requires organizational buy-in
• Analytical and solution-oriented — identifies root causes, develops data-supported recommendations, and presents findings clearly to both financial and non-financial audiences
• Detail-oriented without losing sight of the bigger picture — maintains precision in cost data while remaining attuned to project-level and company-level financial health
• Effective communicator at all levels — equally capable of working alongside engineers and production personnel and presenting financial analysis to senior leadership
• Process-improvement minded — approaches inefficiency and data quality gaps as problems to be solved systematically, not tolerated
• Operates with urgency and accuracy simultaneously — understands that speed and quality are both non-negotiable in a fast-moving project environment
• Takes full ownership — when a cost is uncaptured, a process is broken, or a quoting assumption is producing margin erosion, this individual identifies it, owns it, and drives it to resolution

CompensationThe base pay range for this role is $140,000 - $170,000 per year. Equal Opportunity Employer Butcher Power Products is an equal opportunity employer and considers all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. If you require a reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process, please let us know. Compensation ranges are provided in accordance with applicable state and local pay transparency laws. PId547b3de9fd4-29400-40590493 Butcher Power Products