Project Risk Specialist

Position Overview

PACO Group, Inc. is seeking a Project Risk Specialist to support risk management services for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. The selected candidate will lead and support project risk management activities for capital and non-capital projects across Authority facilities, including risk identification, assessment, quantitative modeling, mitigation planning, reporting, and continuous improvement. This role requires strong technical judgment, effective stakeholder coordination, and the ability to translate cost and schedule risk analysis into clear recommendations that support project authorization, delivery, and oversight.

Key Responsibilities

Project Risk Management and Analysis

• Identify, assess, score, and document project risks for capital and non-capital projects.
• Perform quantitative risk assessment modeling, including Monte Carlo simulation techniques.
• Analyze cost and schedule risks and quantify potential impacts to project delivery.
• Develop, maintain, and quality-check project risk registers and supporting documentation.
• Use Authority-standard tools, including Lumivero @Risk for Excel, Oracle Primavera Risk Analysis, and Oracle Primavera P6.
• Recommend improvements to risk management procedures, templates, reporting, and analytical processes.

Risk Assessment Planning and Preparation

• Compile and review project documentation, including engineering design reports, construction cost estimates, and project schedules.
• Plan risk assessment activities in alignment with project authorization requirements and project delivery milestones.
• Coordinate with stakeholders to define workshop participants, subject matter experts, and assessment team composition.
• Develop work plans, schedules, milestones, and deliverables for risk assessment activities and reporting.

Cost and Schedule Validation

• Independently review project scope, cost estimates, and schedules for completeness, consistency, and reasonableness.
• Validate alignment among scope, cost, schedule, assumptions, and supporting technical documentation.
• Facilitate coordination sessions with Authority staff to confirm assumptions, inputs, and risk model parameters.
• Develop or refine Primavera P6 schedules, as needed, to support risk modeling and schedule risk analysis.

Workshops, Facilitation, and Stakeholder Engagement

• Organize and facilitate risk assessment and mitigation workshops with project stakeholders and subject matter experts.
• Elicit and document risk likelihood, impact, root causes, triggers, assumptions, and potential responses.
• Facilitate risk scoring, contingency development, and prioritization of cost and schedule impacts.
• Present risk analysis results, mitigation options, and recommendations in clear, decision-ready formats.
• Provide guidance, training, and mentoring to stakeholders on risk management processes and tools.

Risk Mitigation and Strategy Development

• Develop and evaluate mitigation strategies considering cost, schedule, scope, implementation duration, and likelihood of success.
• Support development of actionable mitigation plans, owners, due dates, and follow-up processes.
• Track mitigation progress and support integration of risk findings into project controls and management reporting.

Reporting, Documentation, and Lessons Learned

• Prepare draft and final Project Risk Assessment Reports, including executive summaries, project descriptions, workshop assumptions, risk registers, modeling outputs, contingency results, findings, and recommendations.
• Deliver electronic and hardcopy reports, along with supporting models compatible with @Risk, Primavera Risk Analysis, and Primavera P6.
• Facilitate lessons learned workshops and prepare reports documenting issue background, successes, challenges, impacts, lessons learned, recommendations, and corrective actions.
• Support publication of lessons learned and ongoing continuous improvement of Authority risk management practices.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering, Accounting, Economics, Business Administration, or a related field; or Project Management Professional (PMP) certification with a technical degree.
• Minimum of three (3) years of experience performing project risk assessments.
• Demonstrated experience facilitating risk assessment workshops, performing risk analysis and modeling, and preparing risk assessment reports.
• Strong understanding of project risk management and project management principles.
• Experience supporting capital, infrastructure, transportation, aviation, facilities, or similar project environments.
• Ability to obtain a SWAC ID and associated security clearances upon hire.

Preferred Qualifications

• Five (5) to ten (10)+ years of project risk management experience, including risk assessment, modeling, reporting, and workshop facilitation.
• Experience supporting large, complex infrastructure programs or public agency capital programs.
• Experience supporting Port Authority or similar agency projects.
• Experience contributing to program-level risk management process improvements.
• PMI Risk Management Professional (PMI-RMP) certification.

Technical Skills and Competencies

• Advanced analytical and quantitative risk assessment capabilities.
• Proficiency with Oracle Primavera P6, Oracle Primavera Risk Analysis, Lumivero @Risk for Excel, and Microsoft Office Suite.
• Strong written and verbal communication, facilitation, and presentation skills.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent assignments and work effectively with limited direction.
• Strong problem-solving, decision-making, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively with multidisciplinary project teams.

Work Environment

• Work will be performed primarily at 4 World Trade Center, New York, NY, with assignments at other PANYNJ facilities as required.
• Standard work schedule is Monday through Friday, with flexibility based on Authority needs and project requirements.
• The role requires frequent coordination with engineering, project management, project controls, cost, schedule, and technical subject matter experts.

Compensation

• $80-$100 per hour, depending on experience, qualifications, and client requirements.

Benefits

• 401(k) and 401(k) employer matching
• Health, dental, group life, LTD, and AD&D insurance
• Paid time off and paid holidays
• Professional development assistance

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

PACO Group, Inc. is committed to furthering opportunities for everyone in the national construction market. The firm periodically reaffirms this commitment through an active affirmative action plan and provides Equal Employment Opportunities to all employees and applicants without unlawful discrimination based on race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, religion, military status, pregnancy, sexual orientation, citizenship status, or any other status protected by applicable law. As an equal opportunity employer, PACO has recruited, hired, promoted, and retained an ethnically and socially diverse professional staff, including a multidisciplinary workforce represented at all levels of the firm.