PMO Controller / Specialist

CEL - Critical Power

$90K — $110K *
Manufacturing & Automotive
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5+ years in PMO, project controls, or scheduling in manufacturing operations
  • Bachelor's degree in a business-related discipline
  • Strong analytical skills and commercial awareness
  • Advanced Microsoft 365 skills, including SharePoint and Power BI
  • Experience with ERP systems, preferably SAP Business ByDesign
  • PMP, CAPM, PMI-SP, or Lean Six Sigma certifications are a plus
  • Legal authorization to work in the United States

Responsibilities

  • Own project lifecycle governance from sales-to-operations handover to closeout
  • Manage variation orders and baseline control for project scope, schedule, and cost
  • Lead portfolio reviews on project performance, margin, and key risks
  • Drive recovery planning for at-risk projects across teams
  • Monitor contractual commitments and escalate issues proactively
  • Maintain project schedules and ensure systems are audit-ready
  • Prepare portfolio reporting and executive dashboards

Benefits

  • Innovative work environment in a fast-paced setting
  • Opportunities for professional development and certifications
  • Strong emphasis on process improvement and operational maturity
  • Collaboration with cross-functional teams for continuous improvement initiatives
Full Job Description
About the Role

Reporting to PMO Leadership, the PMO Controller/Specialist is responsible for maintaining governance, scheduling, forecasting, reporting and portfolio controls across CEL's project portfolio on-site in Williamsburg VA. The role ensures project, cost and schedule information remains accurate, supports executive decision-making, and drives cross-functional coordination across Sales, Engineering, Procurement, Production and Finance.
Scope of Accountability
  • Project governance and lifecycle control
  • Portfolio oversight and risk escalation
  • Reporting, analytics and executive visibility
  • Scheduling and data integrity across PMO systems
  • Process improvement and PMO maturity initiatives
Detailed Responsibilities

Governance, Controls & Portfolio Management
  • Own project lifecycle governance from sales-to-operations handover through project closeout, ensuring compliance with PMO stage-gate requirements.
  • Manage variation orders, engineering changes, and baseline control for project scope, schedule, and cost.
  • Lead portfolio reviews covering project performance, margin, schedule adherence, factory capacity, and key risks.
  • Drive recovery planning for at-risk projects by coordinating actions across engineering, procurement, production, and commercial teams.
  • Monitor contractual commitments, delivery milestones, and project risks, escalating issues proactively to leadership.

Planning, Reporting & Systems
  • Maintain project schedules, milestones, and dependencies within CEL project management platforms.
  • Ensure ERP, SharePoint, and PMO systems remain accurate, current, and audit-ready.
  • Prepare portfolio reporting, forecasting, and executive dashboards that support informed business decisions.
  • Build and maintain Power BI reporting that highlights project performance, resource constraints, and operational risks.

Coordination & Continuous Improvement
  • Coordinate project kickoffs, SIOP reviews, production reviews, and other cross-functional planning meetings.
  • Track decisions, actions, risks, and stakeholder communications, ensuring timely follow-up and escalation where required.
  • Support PMO process improvements, reporting enhancements, and automation initiatives.
  • Capture lessons learned and help strengthen PMO governance, controls, and operational maturity as the organization grows.

Requirements
Background

PMO, project controls, scheduling in a manufacturing operations environment. A planning/scheduling professional with strong analytical skills, commercial awareness, and the ability to coordinate multiple stakeholders across a fast-paced project environment.
Experience
  • 5+ years in PMO, project controls, scheduling, or manufacturing operations environments. SIOP, CFA, PP&S, and/or IMS Scheduler background in a high up-tempo production environment is very helpful.
  • Recent professional experience with Governance Frameworks, change control, project controls, manufacturing planning and portfolio management processes.
  • Experience coordinating cross-functional project portfolios.
Qualifications
  • Bachelor's degree in a business-related discipline required.
  • Advanced Microsoft 365 skills and ability to navigate SharePoint.
  • Experience with navigating Power BI (especially Capacity Charts)
  • Microsoft Planner (preferred), Microsoft Project (required)
  • Exposure to ERP systems, preferably SAP Business ByDesign.
  • PMP, CAPM, PMI-SP, Lean Six Sigma, or Power BI certifications beneficial but not required.
  • Legal Authorization to work in the United States
Skills & Competencies
  • Project scheduling
  • Portfolio reporting
  • Risk management
  • Stakeholder communication
  • Data analysis
  • Process improvement
Leadership Style & Mindset
  • Proactive
  • Detail-oriented
  • Collaborative
  • Commercially aware
  • Continuous improvement mindset

Benefits

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