TAR Project Controls Lead

Location: Superior, WI
Duration: 12 months+, extendable
Pay Rate: $75-90/hr

Description:
The Turnaround Project Controls Lead oversees all cost control activities for the turnaround, ensuring alignment between scope, budget, and execution strategy. This role drives planning accuracy, progress tracking, forecasting, and reporting to keep leadership informed and the project on target.

Responsibilities:
• Provides overall stewardship of the cost aspects of the integrated turnaround management systems (i.e., cost estimating, tracking, forecasting, schedule, productivity, progress, extra work items, contract changes, etc.).
• Estimates, controls, monitors, forecasts, and reports turnaround cost including commitments vs. expenditures.
• Coordinates the preparation of turnaround estimates and utilizes risk analysis methods and tools to evaluate cost risk and establish contingency value. Prepares estimates in a manner to readily show:
o The basis of the estimates;
o Breakdowns to satisfy internal needs as well as reporting for benchmarking;
o Planned commitment schedules;
o Planned cash flow;
o Actual commitments;
o Actual cash flow;
o Allowances; and
o Contingencies.
• Supplies training and orientation on project controls systems to Turnaround Core Team (TACT).
• Works interactively with project team members to accurately maintain and update costs.
• Develop cost estimates for turnaround scope and any scope changes with Lead Planner.
• Develops turnaround ROM (Rough Order of Magnitude) estimate.
• Responsible for compiling and delivering final AFE cost estimate
• Leads, supervises, and coordinates turnaround cost management team. Defines, obtains, and allocates cost management related resources as necessary to efficiently meet turnaround project goals.
• Reconciles all commitments and expenditures and works with suppliers and contractors, Accounts Payable, and Turnaround Execution Team to ensure timely creation, review, and approval of materials goods receipts and service entry sheets in SAP.
• Provides turnaround management with expert analysis of turnaround costs and cost performance including communication of opportunities and concerns to the team, cost analysis for contingency plans, “what if” scenarios, and post-turnaround cost analysis and critique.
• Leads or participates in the development of various turnaround strategies, management plans, and execution plans as assigned.
• Participates in contractor selection and onboarding.
• Maintains project SAP work breakdown structure (WBS) and assists turnaround manager with project closure activities.
• Performs SAP activity allocations and report generation.
• Works with Manufacturing Accounting to process timely cost transfers and asset allocations.
• Works with Procurement to monitor and maintain requisitions and purchase orders including ensuring timely invoice submittal and purchase order closure.
• Completes activities assigned in the turnaround control document and provides timely activity status updates to the Turnaround Manager.

Education:
• Bachelor’s degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related discipline preferred.
• Certification or formal training in Project Management, Cost Engineering, or Planning & Scheduling (e.g., PMP, AACE, PMI-SP) preferred.
• Equivalent industry experience may be considered in lieu of formal education.

Knowledge and Experience:
• Minimum of 8–10 years of experience in project cost, with at least 5 years focused on turnarounds, capital projects, or outages in industrial settings (refining, petrochemical, power, etc.).
• Proven background in cost control, forecasting, progress measurement, change management, and earned value analysis.
• Demonstrated experience developing, integrating, and maintaining cost and schedule baselines for complex multi-discipline projects.
• Strong working knowledge of SAP is required.
• Familiarity with work breakdown structures (WBS), coding systems, and performance tracking metrics.
• Experience coordinating with planning, execution, and contracting teams to ensure alignment between schedule, cost, and scope.
• Solid understanding of turnaround workflows, field execution dynamics, and safety-critical scheduling requirements.
• Experience with TRACK, IPS, and P6 preferred.

Skills and Abilities:
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills with a focus on accuracy and actionable insights.
• Excellent leadership and interpersonal skills; able to build trust and collaboration across diverse teams.
• Highly proficient in interpreting and communicating schedule and cost data to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail; able to manage multiple priorities under tight deadlines.
• Confident in facilitating meetings, presenting data, and constructively challenging assumptions where necessary.
• Proactive, hands-on approach—comfortable engaging with both office and field teams to understand real-world execution issues.
• Committed to continuous improvement, teamwork, and maintaining a positive, solutions-oriented culture.
• High proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, PowerPoint, Word), and reporting/dashboard tools such as Power BI is an asset.


Preference for local candidates but will also consider non-local (non-local candidates will receive $178/calendar day per diem). Projected start date of January 2026, 1 year contract duration
Role will be onsite in Superior, WI

With over 90 years' combined experience, NES Fircroft (NES) is proud to be the world's leading engineering staffing provider spanning the Oil & Gas, Power & Renewables, Chemicals, Construction & Infrastructure, Life Sciences, Mining and Manufacturing sectors worldwide. With more than 80 offices in 45 countries, we are able to provide our clients with the engineering and technical expertise they need, wherever and whenever it is needed. We offer contractors far more than a traditional recruitment service, supporting with everything from securing visas and work permits, to providing market-leading benefits packages and accommodation, ensuring they are safely and compliantly able to support our clients.