Project Controls Lead

Location: Knoxville, TN (Substantially Onsite)
Experience: At least 5+ years of project-controls experience (10+ preferred)
Employment Type: Full Time

Position Summary
Management Solutions is seeking an experienced Project Controls Lead to support a major capital expansion at a Knoxville, Tennessee manufacturing facility. The contractor will work directly with the customer Project Manager and project team to establish and maintain the schedule, cost, risk, change-control, and reporting processes required to manage the program. This is a senior, embedded project-controls position.
The Knoxville expansion includes multiple concurrent equipment, infrastructure, and facility-readiness workstreams, including advanced manufacturing equipment, thermal-processing capacity, powder-handling and material-management systems, equipment installation support, overhead material-handling needs, post-processing capabilities, and other ancillary production-support systems. The program also includes associated electrical, mechanical, HVAC, exhaust, structural, utility, automation, and facility modifications. Successful delivery requires significant coordination among equipment suppliers, contractors, Facilities, Engineering, Operations, EHS, Quality, Supply Chain, and internal work-package owners.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain the overall project schedule integrating engineering, procurement, construction, OEM, installation, commissioning, and production-readiness activities.
• Identify critical-path and near-critical activities, track major milestones and dependencies, and develop recovery plans when required.
• Maintain a rolling three-to-six-week look-ahead, identifying upcoming constraints, required decisions, site-readiness needs, equipment deliveries, contractor activities, and OEM mobilization.
• Track approved budget, commitments, purchase orders, actuals, accruals, changes, and forecast-to-complete, and maintain a current estimate at completion.
• Identify unfavorable cost trends and potential exposure.
• Maintain a formal project change log, tracking scope, cost, schedule, and approval status of project changes.
• Maintain the project risk and issue register, assign owners and due dates, and escalate significant risks to the Project Manager.
• Coordinate schedule and controls information across major equipment and infrastructure packages, ensuring equipment delivery, site readiness, installation, utilities, commissioning, and production-readiness milestones are properly linked.
• Review and integrate vendor and contractor schedules, and challenge unrealistic dates or reported progress where appropriate.
• Produce a concise weekly project-controls report covering schedule status, critical path, major milestones, cost and forecast, top risks, changes, key decisions required, and work packages requiring recovery action.
• Establish and maintain the Integrated Master Schedule, Major Milestone Schedule, Look-Ahead Schedule, Project Cost and Forecast Report, Change Log, Risk and Issue Register, Action and Decision Logs, and Equipment Installation/Readiness Dashboard.
• Proactively identify schedule, cost, risk, and coordination concerns, and request status information from work-package owners, OEMs, and contractors as needed.

Required Qualifications

• At least 5+ years of project-controls experience (10+ preferred)
• Experience with large industrial capital projects.
• Strong schedule and project management tools experience, i.e., Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project.
• Cost-control and forecasting experience.
• Experience with construction and equipment-installation schedules.
• Experience integrating OEM and contractor activities.
• Strong critical-path, change-management, and risk-management skills.
• Ability to work proactively and challenge assumptions when necessary.

Preferred Qualifications

• Manufacturing or equipment-intensive capital-project experience.
• Experience supporting advanced, equipment-intensive manufacturing environments.

Core Competencies

• Integrated Schedule Development
• Critical-Path Analysis
• Cost Control and Forecasting
• Change Management
• Risk and Issue Management
• OEM and Contractor Integration
• Work-Package Coordination
• Reporting and Dashboarding
• Analytical Problem Solving
• Written and Verbal Communication
• Time Management

Role and Authority
The Project Controls Lead will support the customer Project Manager and will be expected to proactively identify schedule, cost, risk, and coordination concerns. The contractor may request status information from work-package owners, OEMs, and contractors as needed. The contractor will not independently approve scope changes, authorize expenditure, execute contracts, or replace the authority of the customer Project Manager.

Working Conditions
This position is substantially onsite at the Knoxville facility and embedded with the customer project team. Employees will be required to use a computer and other office equipment for extended periods and may be required to move throughout an active industrial and construction environment, including areas with equipment installation and commissioning activity.

Disclaimer
This job description is intended to convey information essential to understanding the scope of the position and is not a complete list of skills, efforts, duties, responsibilities, or working conditions associated with it.