Project Controls / Cost Accounting Lead
Sargent Electric Company (www.sargentelectric.com) - Established in 1907, Sargent Electric Company has since evolved into one of the largest regional electrical contracting companies, providing comprehensive services to our clients across the industrial, commercial, utility, infrastructure, government, and telecommunications sectors. Sargent operates in six (6) office locations across the Midwest and Northeast, but serves our strategic customers nationwide.
We are hiring a Project Controls / Cost Accounting Lead due to company growth, reporting to our Headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA. This key individual has an instrumental role in statusing our projects monthly, revenue forecasting, cost accounting related to projections and work in progress, and overall financial monitoring of assigned business portfolios. The Project Controls/Cost Accounting Lead will oversee and be part of a company-wide project controls and cost accounting team, located throughout our offices. This role will provide hands-on working guidance across the company Project Controls and Cost Accounting team to evaluate the risks and opportunities on projects. They will lead and participate in training initiatives to apply consistent, best practices across each P&L unit’s portfolio of projects. At the corporate level, the Project Controls / Cost Accounting Lead will help manage our monthly job cost projection process, our work in progress closing and rollup of project financial risks and opportunities across the company and supports our business forecasting functions. In addition to supervising other team members, this position will also be responsible for overseeing the Project Controls and Cost Accounting on Sargent’s portfolio of larger, at-risk projects. This position may require periodic travel to our other office locations or larger projects and is approved as a hybrid position with work from home and the office, as required.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Establish and support our project control/cost accounting team for best practices (project forecasting, estimate of job cost at completion projections, earned value, WIP analysis) and related process improvements feeding into normal Project Management reporting system.
- Enhance culture of cost control, quantity management, earned value, accurate progress assessment, and forecasting, across assigned projects, business units, and the organization.
- Bring business acumen to overall project controls and cost accounting work processes.
- Promote the rapid sharing of best practices and lessons learned across the organization.
- Lead training sessions with Project Controls Team to enhance the commercial / financial acumen of project teams and field personnel.
- Periodic travel to major field operations and regional offices.
- Understanding and support of all Company policies and procedures, including The Sargent Way.
- Assume any additional duties and responsibilities as delegated by Sargent Electric Company Management.
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BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:
- Bachelor's Degree in Accounting, Finance, Construction Management with a Project Controls focus, or 7+ years of demonstrated equivalent.
- Complete understanding of Construction Accounting (work in progress, job cost projections including calculating earned value and percent complete).
- Minimum of 5 years of construction project controls or cost accounting experience. 2+ years of experience in a hand on supervisory role or a role of increasing responsibility.
- Experience in cost accounting and project controls over a portfolio of projects, across multiple market sectors and geographies.
- Knowledge of Project Controls and Cost Accounting techniques and the ability to understand and apply them in a direct hire specialty contractor construction environment.
- Ability to lead others through personal influence in a servant leadership manner, while developing others through training and development projects.
- Excellent computer skills including Microsoft Office applications. Viewpoint (Vista) experience is a strong plus but is not a requirement. The ability to learn a new ERP/Cost Accounting system is a critical component to this position.
- Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written. Detailed oriented, analytical, and organized.
- Self-motivated and goal-oriented, ability to meet deadlines, works well under pressure.