Project Controller

We're seeking a Project Controller to lead our national project accounting function and serve as the financial conscience of our project portfolio. Reporting to the Vice President Corporate Controller, you'll lead a distributed team of project accountants supporting operations, drive the cost control standards that protect margin in a sponsor-backed environment, and deliver the reporting rigor expected by our investors, lenders, and board. This role is highly visible — your work will directly inform monthly executive reporting, quarterly board reporting and the value creation thesis that drives our next stage of growth.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of project accountants supporting branch, regional, and large loss operations across the platform
• Build the staffing model and operating structure to scale the team alongside organic growth, acquisitions, and CAT season volume spikes
• Integrate project accounting functions from acquired companies, standardizing processes, systems, and reporting onto the platform model
• Establish training programs, performance standards, and career paths that build a bench of talent capable of supporting a much larger platform
• Conduct regular performance reviews, workload balancing, and capacity planning across regions

Cost Control & Budget Management

• Support operations through the project budget lifecycle from initial scope approval through final reconciliation, ensuring rigorous variance management at every stage
• Establish national cost control standards, thresholds, and escalation triggers that protect project margins and surface risk early
• Drive operations to develop root-cause analysis on margin erosion, cost overruns, and unapproved scope creep, partnering with operations to implement corrective action
• Conduct and support project reviews with regional VPs and Project Directors and Project Managers, holding the line on budget discipline and cost recovery
• Develop and enforce policies on labor burden, equipment allocation, subcontractor markups, and indirect cost application to ensure consistent job costing across all branches
• Oversee change order governance, ensuring all scope expansions are properly priced, approved, and recovered before work proceeds

Financial Reporting & Sponsor Reporting

• Own work-in-progress (WIP) reporting, percentage-of-completion accounting, and over/under billing analysis
• Deliver executive-level reporting on project margins, cost variances, cycle times, and portfolio profitability for monthly operating reviews, quarterly board meetings, and lender reporting packages
• Support the calculation, validation, and documentation of EBITDA adjustments, normalizations, and pro forma metrics tied to project performance
• Build forecasting models that translate operational pipeline into revenue and margin projections for monthly forecasts, annual budgets, and long-range planning
• Develop KPI dashboards covering cost-to-complete, estimate accuracy, supplement capture rates, and crew productivity by service line and region
• Partner with FP&A, the Controller, and the CFO on board materials, lender covenant reporting, and sponsor information requests

Systems, Process & Compliance

• Own the project accounting technology stack across the platform and drive continuous improvement of integrations and workflows
• Lead system standardization across legacy and acquired entities, building toward a single source of truth for project financial data
• Establish documentation standards that satisfy insurance carrier, TPA, and managed repair program billing and audit requirements
• Lead internal and external audit responses, including carrier program audits, lender audits, financial statement audits, and any SOC or sponsor-driven control assessments
• Implement internal controls over project setup, cost coding, billing approval, and revenue recognition appropriate for a sponsor-backed, audit-ready environment

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Serve as the finance partner to the regional VPs of Operations, Estimating leadership, and General Managers
• Influence executive decisions on pricing, service line expansion, large l