Project Controls Manager

About The Kendall Group

The Kendall Group is comprised of eight divisions with 75+ locations in ten states. Combined, we serve the Electrical, Automation, Pipe, Valve, and Fitting products, Steam, Lighting, Industrial Controls, and Instrumentation Industries. The Kendall Group is a 100% employee-owned company. Kendall offers a great opportunity for a rewarding career.

Why The Kendall Group?

Our employee ownership model is the core of who we are. You will not only own part of the company, but you will own your future. At Kendall, you'll have opportunities to learn and grow while being coached and mentored along the way. We're that company where people stay! We're proud to say more than 60% of our associates have more than 5 years of tenure, and more than 40% have greater than 10 years. At Kendall, you will be valued and supported, your ideas will be heard, your voice will matter, and you'll work alongside incredible people who care about your success.

Role Summary: Reporting to the Vice President and GM of Relay and Power Systems, the Project Controls Manager is a key leader within the Relay & Power Project Management Team. The Project Controls Manager is responsible for leading the planning, cost control, scheduling, forecasting, reporting, and performance management functions across the company's project portfolio. This role ensures that project financial performance, schedule adherence, resource planning, earned value, change order activity, and risk exposure are accurately tracked, analyzed, and communicated to leadership. The Project Controls Manager serves as a key partner to Project Management, Operations, Finance, Contracts, Procurement, Engineering, and Senior Leadership teams. The position is responsible for establishing and maintaining standardized project controls processes, improving project visibility, identifying risks and trends, and supporting timely decision-making throughout the full project lifecycle.
Exciting work you will do:

The essential duties and responsibilities of the Project Controls Manager may consist of some or all, and are not limited to, the following:

• As a leader, model the following behaviors with your team:
  • Provide leadership, direction, growth, and mentoring
  • Adhere to our company values of Success Beyond the Sale, Partnership as a Promise, We Do What We Say, Legacy of Impact, and Purpose-Driven Progress
  • Invest in self-growth through participating in continuous improvement, learning, and development
• Establish, maintain, and monitor project budgets, cost codes, forecasts, commitments, actual costs, and estimate-at-completion projections
• Review project financial performance, including budget variance, cost trends, margin erosion, labor performance, material impacts, subcontractor costs, and unbilled exposure
• Support monthly project reviews by preparing accurate financial summaries, variance explanations, and forecast updates
• Monitor project profitability and identify risks to gross margin, revenue recognition, cash flow, and overall financial performance
• Coordinate with Finance and Accounting to ensure project cost data aligns with ERP records, revenue recognition requirements, invoicing status, and accruals
• Develop and maintain cost control procedures that support consistent project performance reporting across the organization
• Oversee project schedule development, maintenance, analysis, and reporting.
• Support Project Managers in creating baseline schedules, schedule updates, milestone tracking, and recovery plans
• Monitor schedule performance against contractual milestones, internal production plans, engineering deliverables, procurement commitments, customer approvals, and shipment requirements
• Identify schedule risks, delays, critical path impacts, and resource constraints
• Coordinate with Production, Engineering, Procurement, and Project Management to validate schedule assumptions and progress updates
• Develop schedule reporting tools that provide clear visibility into near-term priorities, long-lead constraints, production bottlenecks, and customer-driven delays
• Lead manpower and resource forecasting efforts across active and upcoming projects
• Analyze labor budgets, actual hours, productivity trends, remaining work, and projected staffing requirements
• Develop baseline, current forecast, and reforecast views to support operational planning
• Coordinate with department managers to validate resource loading assumptions and identify gaps between demand and available capacity
• Prepare labor utilization and forecast reports for leadership review
• Support continuous improvement of forecasting models, including integration of ERP, CRM, project schedules, and weekly actuals data
• Support the identification, tracking, valuation, and reporting of change orders, contract modifications, claims, back charges, and customer-directed scope changes
• Maintain visibility into pending, approved, disputed, and at-risk change order activity
• Work with Project Managers, Contracts, Finance, and Executive Leadership to ensure commercial impacts are documented, communicated, and pursued in a timely manner
• Assist with the development of change order logs, risk registers, technical clarification logs, and commercial issue tracking tools
• Monitor contract requirements related to schedule impacts, notice obligations, liquidated damages, billing milestones, retainage, and project closeout documentation
• Develop and maintain standard project controls reports, dashboards, KPIs, and portfolio summaries
• Provide leadership with accurate and timely visibility into project cost, schedule, risk, backlog, resource demand, change orders, and forecasted performance
• Prepare monthly and ad hoc reporting packages for executive review
• Convert data from ERP, CRM, scheduling tools, Excel models, Power BI, or other business systems into actionable insights
• Identify trends, exceptions, and early warning indicators that may affect project delivery, profitability, or customer commitments
• Ensure reporting is consistent, reliable, and aligned with business priorities
• Establish and improve project controls standards, tools, templates, procedures, and best practices
• Lead initiatives to improve project setup, budgeting, scheduling, forecasting, cost coding, change tracking, and closeout processes
• Ensure project controls processes are integrated with project onboarding, sales-to-execution handoff, contract review, procurement, production planning, and financial reporting workflows
• Promote data discipline and accountability across project teams
• Support ERP, CRM, Power BI, Microsoft Fabric, SharePoint, or other system improvement initiatives as they relate to project controls and reporting
• Train Project Managers and functional leaders on project controls tools, reporting expectations, and cost/schedule management practices
• Other duties as assigned

Competencies you possess:

• Customer Focus
• Results, Action Oriented
• Accountability and responsibility
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Developing Talent
• Managerial Courage
• Awareness of the needs of others
• Strategic Thinking
• Decision Quality
• Inspiring and motivating others
• Problem solving

What you'll need:

• Work Experience : 10 years of progressive experience in project controls, project management, or a related discipline supporting complex projects with multiple vendors, schedules, budgets, and contractual requirements; demonstrated experience leading people, processes, or cross-functional project teams
• Education: Bachelor's degree in accounting, engineering, construction management, business management, or related field, or equivalent experience

• Analytics/Computer Skills: Advanced Microsoft Office skills; Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel, including complex formulas, pivot tables, data models, Power Query, and structured reporting; strong knowledge of project accounting, cost controls, forecasting, Earned Value Management, and scheduling principles; Strong knowledge of project lifecycle management, including project setup, execution, monitoring, change control, invoicing support, closeout, and financial review; ability to translate complex portfolio data into actionable recommendations for senior leadership; Experience working with ERP systems, project management software, scheduling tools, and business intelligence platforms

• Organization Skills: Highly organized and detail-oriented; ability to prioritize a portfolio of competing initiatives, delegate effectively, allocate resources, establish operating rhythms, and ensure timely delivery in a changing environment
• Cross-functional skills: Proven ability to lead and influence across finance, operations, engineering, project management, sales, and commercial teams; build alignment, resolve competing priorities, and deliver excellent service to internal and external stakeholders
• Communication Skills: Excellent oral and written communication, presentation, facilitation, and interpersonal skills; ability to communicate complex financial and project information clearly, influence decisions, manage difficult conversations, and maintain confidentiality
• Physical, Mental and Visual Skills: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disability to perform the essential functions.
  • Ability to see, talk and hear
  • Ability to sit for 8 hours a day
• Physical Environment: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is exposed to temperature conditions and noise levels prevalent in an office environment. Work conditions at customer sites, which may be actively under construction, vary from indoor to outdoor industrial & electric utility facilities that may have high voltage equipment.

Skills we prefer but don't require:

• Work Experience: Experience in project-centric manufacturing, industrial automation, utility projects, EPC, construction, or engineered-to-order environments; experience with ERP systems used for job costing, labor tracking, purchasing, inventory, production, and project accounting; experience with Microsoft Dynamics, Power BI, Microsoft Fabric, SharePoint, Smartsheet, Primavera P6, Microsoft Project, or similar tools; familiarity with contract terms related to liquidated damages, milestones, payment terms, change orders, retainage, claims, and back charges; experience developing project dashboards, manpower forecasting tools, earned value reports, and executive-level project review packages
• Education: PMP, CCP, PSP, EVP, CMA, or similar professional certification is a plus

The Kendall Group is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, citizenship, military status, protected veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.