Project Controls Lead

Project Controls Lead Location: Birmingham, AL Reports to: Director of Project Management Employment Type: Full-time Compensation: Competitive salary + performance-based bonus + benefits About Creature Creature is a vertically integrated Design–Manufacture–Construct (DMC) company headquartered in Birmingham, AL. We replace the century-old, siloed model of the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry with one disciplined system — design, manufacturing, and field execution operating as a single team, not a chain of handoffs. We self-perform our core trades alongside subcontracted scope to deliver medical and commercial facilities faster, safer, and to a higher standard than a traditional general contractor. That system only works if the cycle that turns field progress into cash, accurate numbers, and closed jobs runs with the same discipline as the work itself. Purpose of the Role Own the project controls cycle — billing, data, client reporting, and closeout — that runs through both Project Management and Accounting and has historically been owned by neither. Today every project manager runs these systems differently, and none of them has a date the company holds. The Project Controls Lead replaces that with one calendar, one standard, and one person accountable for the dates. Project Management owns the number, the forecast, and the client relationship. Construction Operations owns what the field produces. This seat owns the cycle that turns both into cash, an accurate month, and a closed job. It is a system-owner role, not administrative support: roughly half the work is performed directly, and the other half is standardized, trained, and audited so that every PM executes it the same way every time. Core Accountability Ensure every Creature project bills on time, closes each month on accurate numbers, delivers the same client experience regardless of PM, and closes out cleanly — through a standard that is documented, repeatable, and built to outlast this seat. Key Accountabilities 1) Billing Cycle & Monthly Controls Calendar Own the monthly project controls calendar — every date backward-scheduled from each owner’s contractual deadline and published to Project Management and Accounting. Own on-time submission of every owner pay application, assembled and reconciled by this seat with the PM approving the number rather than building the package. Own subcontractor billing compliance: pay apps verified against the schedule of values and commitment, lien waivers complete and accurate before payment releases, and discrepancies resolved before they reach a PM’s desk. A late pay app is a cash decision the company never consciously made. 2) Cost Capture & Data Integrity Drive cost capture ahead of the accounting cutoff — pursuing unbilled subcontractors before month-end, not after — so revenue and margin are right in the month the company reviews them and close is never held hostage to missing invoices. Protect the integrity of the data Creature decides on: scorecard inputs monitored daily rather than discovered missing on Monday morning, and the monthly review pack delivered on a fixed lead time so PMs arrive to interpret their numbers, not assemble them. 3) One Client Experience Regardless of PM Own the standard for everything the client receives — one weekly report format, one cadence, one submission discipline — produced or quality-checked by this seat, with the PM supplying judgment and narrative. Own the change order pipeline from owner approval to billing, with every approved change tracked, aged, and pulled into the next cycle so approved work never sits as unbilled revenue. A client moving from one Creature project to the next should not be able to tell the project manager changed. 4) Closeout as a Rolling Process Own closeout as a process that begins around fifty percent complete, not an event that begins at substantial completion. Collect O&Ms, warranties, as-builts, and final waivers on schedule, drive subcontractors to bill to 100%, and close every job the same way in Procore, Sage, and Box. Substantial completion should start the closeout clock, not the closeout scramble — and PMs should be preplanning the next project, not chasing the last one. 5) Platform Stewardship & Scalable Systems Protect the boundary with Project Management as a disciplined handoff, not an absorption: the PM owns the number, the forecast, the change order negotiation, and the client; this seat owns the process, the package, the data, and the chase. Surface what Accounting needs before it has to ask, and secure field data from Construction Operations on the cycle’s schedule. Document and train every process so it runs without this seat, measure PM capacity returned and where it was redeployed, and design the structure that lets the system absorb doubled volume without becoming the bottleneck every PM is waiting on. What Exceptional Execution Looks Like - Every owner pay app goes out by its contractual deadline, and the PM’s role is approving the number — not building the package. - Months close on accurate numbers because subcontractor cost was captured before cutoff, not chased after it. - PMs walk into monthly reviews to interpret their numbers because clean data was in their hands ahead of time. - Clients receive the same report, cadence, and discipline on every project, no matter which PM they drew. - Jobs close in every system shortly after the work is done, and the hours returned to PMs show up in preplanning and buyout. - The COO and Director of Project Management never have to chase for the truth about billing status, unbilled cost, or closeout exposure. Traits That Define Success - Ownership Mentality — Owns the dates and the standard, not the paperwork. A missed cutoff is a personal miss, not a PM’s problem. - Influence Without Authority — Holds subcontractors, PMs, and Accounting to the calendar without any of them reporting to this seat. - Compelling Conscientiousness — Catches the incomplete waiver, the late sub, and the unbilled change order before they cost the company. - Systems Thinker — Builds standards other people execute — never a process that lives in one person’s head. - Mastery of Communication — Surfaces billing status, unbilled cost, and closeout exposure before anyone has to ask. Qualifications Must-Have - 5+ years in construction project controls, project accounting, or construction billing with a commercial general contractor or specialty contractor. - Direct ownership of owner pay applications (AIA G702/G703 or equivalent), subcontractor billing, lien waiver compliance, and change order tracking. - Working command of construction accounting: cost cutoffs, retainage, WIP, and percent-complete revenue recognition. - Strong proficiency in Procore, Sage 300 CRE (or comparable construction ERP), and Excel. - Proven record of building or standardizing a process that others adopted and executed. - Demonstrated ability to hold people to deadlines when they do not report to you. Preferred - Experience in a self-perform, vertically integrated, or design-build environment. - Healthcare or commercial project experience, including full closeout management. - Familiarity with Smartsheet, Box, and Power BI. - Experience writing SOPs and training others to execute them. Why Creature This is not a construction administrator seat. Creature is a very good version of a traditional construction company that is deliberately becoming something more — and the project controls cycle is one of the places that difference has to be proven. You will design the system rather than inherit one, with the visible backing of the COO and the Director of Project Management, and with a clear path to building and leading a project controls function as Creature’s volume grows. If you have spent years working inside someone else’s controls process and know exactly what you would build differently, this is that role. Creature is an equal opportunity employer. We build better outcomes by integrating design, manufacturing, and construction into one disciplined system.