Project Controls Specialist

Headquartered in the Greater Washington area, American Real Estate Partners (AREP) is a US-based leading institutional fund manager and real estate partner with over $13 billion deployed across key U.S. markets. Specializing in data center, residential, industrial, and office assets, AREP has acquired more than 34 million square feet of Class A real estate and currently manages over 25 million square feet.

Power House Data Centers, a wholly owned division of AREP, is a developer and owner of next-generation data centers and provides technical real estate solutions for hyperscalers across the country. Backed by strategic joint venture partnerships, Power House leverages its proven leadership and best-in-class technical expertise to deliver innovative real estate solutions.

The Project Controls Specialist (PCS) is responsible for the full financial and schedule reporting package for an assigned project or project set, serving as the primary point of contact for its data integrity. Working independently within that scope, the Specialist keeps operational data accurate, synchronized, and actionable across Project Management, Project Accounting, and project leadership. The Specialist synthesizes cost and schedule data to identify emerging risk before it becomes variance, develops and maintains the primary financial inputs that drive the Project Team dashboards, and informally guides team members on tools and reporting standards.

The Project Controls Specialist reports to the Program Manager, Technical Operations and has a hybrid work schedule of 4 days a week in-office at HQ in McLean, VA.

• Forward-Looking Cost Controls
  • Independently lead the generation and maintenance of complex project budgets, multi-year forecasts, and draw schedules in collaboration with Project Directors, optimizing capital deployment and tracking across the assigned project or project set.
  • Develop and standardize proactive financial reports, including advanced Estimate-to-Complete (ETC) and Estimate-at-Complete (EAC) analyses and scenario-based S-Curve modeling, to predict and mitigate potential budget variances.
  • Conduct and present variance analysis (Actual vs. Budgeted vs. Projected vs. Planned) directly to Project Directors, providing clear, actionable financial health narratives for the assigned project or project set.
  • Serve as the primary liaison and system owner for Finance and Accounting, ensuring data integrity across enterprise systems, including Northspyre and Oracle Primavera Cloud, to support strategic decision-making.
• Contracts and Change Management
  • Lead the financial validation and processing of complex change orders and high value invoices, guaranteeing all commitments align with contractual benchmarks and project logic.
  • Manage the end-to-end change control process, implementing best practices to mitigate scope creep and ensuring every financial adjustment is meticulously documented and integrated into the broader portfolio forecast and business plan.
  • Directly manage the project contract ledger, ensuring strict compliance in tracking lien waivers and retention to satisfy rigorous joint venture and financing requirements.
  • Lead the preparation and submission of project documentation required for quarterly audit compliance and specialized tax structures.
• Schedule Controls and Executive Reporting
  • Collaborate closely with the Director of Scheduling to oversee the integrity of the Integrated Master Schedules (IMS) within Oracle Primavera Cloud (OPC), analyzing schedule performance index (SPI) data to inform executive-level decision-making.
  • Design, develop, and maintain executive reporting frameworks and dashboards that provide high-fidelity, predictive visibility into project risks, milestones, critical path items, and workforce constraints.
  • Support the standardization of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) across all active and upcoming projects in the portfolio to ensure consistency and comparability.

• Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Finance, Engineering, related field or additional significant relevant working experience in lieu of degree.…