TerraGraphics Environmental Engineering, Inc. is seeking an experienced Senior Project Controls Specialist to support projects and programs at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The Senior Project Controls Specialist will integrate project scope, schedule, cost, risk, and performance information to provide project leadership with accurate, timely, and actionable information. The position will develop and maintain project schedules, budgets, forecasts, performance baselines, earned value data, variance analyses, and management reports.
The successful candidate will work closely with project managers, Control Account Managers, engineers, construction personnel, procurement, finance, contracts, and client representatives to identify emerging issues, evaluate performance, and recommend corrective actions. This position requires strong technical project-controls capabilities, attention to data integrity, and the ability to operate effectively within a highly regulated DOE/NNSA environment.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Develop, maintain, status, and analyze integrated project schedules using Primavera P6 or other client-approved scheduling systems.
- Develop and maintain work breakdown structures, organizational breakdown structures, control accounts, work packages, planning packages, coding structures, and responsibility assignments.
- Integrate project scope, schedule, resources, budgets, actual costs, commitments, accruals, forecasts, risks, and technical performance information.
- Establish and maintain cost and schedule performance baselines in accordance with contract requirements, approved project-control procedures, and applicable DOE and LANL requirements.
- Develop resource-loaded and cost-loaded schedules that accurately reflect project execution strategies, sequencing, constraints, interfaces, milestones, and required completion dates.
- Perform routine schedule updates by collecting progress, validating actual start and finish dates, evaluating remaining durations, updating logic, and confirming forecast completion dates.
- Conduct critical-path, near-critical-path, float, milestone, schedule-quality, and trend analyses to identify conditions that could affect project objectives.
- Prepare and maintain project budgets, time-phased cost plans, estimates to complete, estimates at completion, cash-flow projections, and periodic forecasts.
- Reconcile project-controls information with accounting, procurement, timekeeping, subcontract, and financial systems to maintain the integrity of project performance data.
- Apply earned value management principles and calculate or analyze planned value, earned value, actual cost, schedule variance, cost variance, schedule performance index, cost performance index, variance at completion, and related performance indicators.
- Prepare monthly cost and schedule variance analyses that clearly identify the cause, effect, and anticipated impact of variances, together with responsible corrective actions.
- Identify unfavorable performance trends and work with project leadership to develop recovery plans, corrective actions, and alternative execution strategies.
- Facilitate monthly project status meetings with project managers, Control Account Managers, technical leads, finance, procurement, and other participating organizations.
- Support the development, review, approval, and implementation of baseline change requests, change-control documentation, management reserves, contingency analyses, and project trend logs.
- Maintain traceability between authorized scope, schedule activities, budget, forecast, change documentation, and reported performance.
- Support quantitative and qualitative project-risk assessments, risk-register maintenance, schedule-risk analysis, and development of mitigation strategies.
- Prepare recurring and ad hoc project-controls reports, executive dashboards, milestone summaries, staffing forecasts, funding analyses, and management presentations.
- Develop independent analyses and recommendations for project leadership rather than relying solely on system-generated reports.
- Support project estimates, funding requests, proposals, acquisition planning, independent project reviews, management assessments, and project baseline reviews.
- Support EVMS implementation, surveillance, corrective-action efforts, data calls, internal reviews, client assessments, and DOE/NNSA audits when applicable to the assigned project.
- Verify that project-controls practices comply with applicable contractual requirements, DOE Order 413.3B, EIA-748 requirements applicable to the contract, LANL procedures, and approved company processes.
- Establish effective working relationships with client representatives and communicate project performance issues accurately, objectively, and professionally.
- Protect classified, controlled unclassified, proprietary, procurement-sensitive, and personally identifiable information in accordance with applicable requirements.
- Perform other project-controls, program-management, and business-management duties as assigned.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, construction management, project management, business, finance, accounting, or a related discipline and at least five years of relevant project-controls experience.
- An equivalent combination of education, specialized training, and directly related experience may be considered.
- Demonstrated experience with project planning and scheduling, cost control, budgeting, forecasting, performance measurement, and variance analysis.
- Demonstrated proficiency developing, maintaining, and analyzing integrated schedules using Primavera P6.
- Working knowledge of earned value management principles and the integration of scope, schedule, cost, and technical performance.
- Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel, including data analysis, formulas, pivot tables, charts, and reconciliation of large data sets.
- Ability to interpret statements of work, project plans, cost estimates, schedules, financial reports, contracts, and technical information.
- Ability to independently identify project performance issues, evaluate their causes and effects, and develop practical recommendations.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex cost and schedule information to technical and nontechnical audiences.
- Demonstrated ability to manage multiple assignments, changing priorities, and firm reporting deadlines while maintaining accuracy.
- Ability to work collaboratively with project managers, Control Account Managers, engineers, construction personnel, procurement, finance, and senior leadership.
- Ability to work on-site in Los Alamos and satisfy all client badging, suitability, security, safety, training, and access requirements applicable to the assignment.
- Ability to obtain and maintain a DOE Q security clearance if required by the assigned work. A Q clearance generally requires United States citizenship except in extremely limited circumstances.
Preferred Qualifications
- Previous project-controls experience at Los Alamos National Laboratory or another DOE/NNSA site.
- Experience supporting nuclear, environmental, infrastructure, construction, decommissioning, or other complex federal projects.
- Working knowledge of DOE Order 413.3B and EIA-748-compliant earned value management systems.
- Experience supporting Control Account Managers and preparing monthly earned value performance reports.
- Experience with Deltek Cobra, Empower, wInsight, EcoSys, Power BI, MicroStrategy, Oracle financial applications, or comparable cost-processing and reporting systems.
- Experience developing integrated cost and schedule baselines and supporting baseline-change control.
- Experience conducting schedule-quality assessments, critical-path analysis, recovery scheduling, cost-risk analysis, or schedule-risk analysis.
- Experience supporting DOE project reviews, EVMS surveillance, independent project reviews, audits, or corrective-action plans.
- Current or previously held DOE Q clearance.
- Professional certification such as Project Management Professional, Planning and Scheduling Professional, Earned Value Professional, or Certified Cost Professional.
Core Competencies
- Cost and schedule integration
- Analytical judgment and problem-solving
- Data integrity and attention to detail
- Forecasting and performance measurement
- Risk identification and early issue recognition
- Accountability and follow-through
- Clear management communication
- Client service and collaboration
- Confidentiality and professional judgment
- Continuous process improvement
Working Conditions
This position is primarily performed on-site in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The work schedule will align with client and project requirements. Occasional extended hours or alternate schedules may be necessary to meet reporting cycles, project milestones, reviews, or emergent client needs.
Work is generally performed in an office environment but may include periodic visits to construction, industrial, laboratory, or nuclear-facility environments. Site visits may require personal protective equipment, safety training, walking over uneven surfaces, and compliance with radiological, industrial-safety, security, and work-control requirements.
Employment is contingent upon successful completion of company and client requirements, which may include background screening, drug testing, badging, training, security review, and access authorization.
Measures of Successful Performance
Successful performance in this position will include:
- Accurate and timely project-controls deliverables.
- Reliable forecasts and early identification of unfavorable trends.
- Schedules that accurately reflect project scope, execution logic, resources, and constraints.
- Clear and defensible cost and schedule variance explanations.
- Effective corrective-action and recovery recommendations.
- Complete traceability between scope, budget, schedule, actual costs, forecasts, and authorized changes.
- Positive working relationships with project teams, client representatives, and supporting organizations.
- Consistent compliance with company, contractual, LANL, and DOE/NNSA requirements.
Equal Employment Opportunity
TerraGraphics Environmental Engineering, Inc. provides equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants and prohibits discrimination or harassment based on any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. Reasonable accommodations will be provided to qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with applicable law.
