Construction Project Controls Lead - Transit & Rail

GFT is seeking a Senior Project Controls Lead to support a major transit and rail project in New York. This is a senior, client-facing leadership role responsible for integrating cost, schedule, change, risk, and construction progress to provide the client with an independent view of project performance and emerging impacts.

At GFT, we’re not just engineering the future; we’re meticulously building it. Our comprehensive suite of construction and program management services reflects our unwavering commitment to excellence, safety, innovation, and sustainability. Our construction management services are the cornerstone of our commitment to transforming communities and enhancing lives. We oversee every construction phase to help ensure projects are completed on schedule, within budget, and to the highest safety and quality standards.

What you’ll be challenged to do:

As a Senior Project Controls Lead, you will have a strong background in construction cost estimating and/or cost controls on major infrastructure projects valued at $120 million or greater, preferably involving rail or transit construction. The individual will serve as a primary project controls interface with the client, its Owner’s Representative, and the Design-Builder/General Contractor.

The Project Controls Lead will operate in a matrixed environment, working closely with dedicated scheduling, risk, change management, commercial, construction, and technical resources to connect individual control functions into a clear overall assessment of project performance.

In this capacity, the successful candidate will be responsible for the following:

• Lead GFT’s integrated project controls interface with the client, project stakeholders, and the Design-Builder/General Contractor.
• Use strong cost estimating and cost-controls experience to evaluate contractor performance, quantities, production assumptions, resource requirements, forecast impacts, and emerging cost exposure.
• Integrate cost, schedule, change, risk, and construction progress into an independent owner-side assessment of project status.
• Work in a matrixed structure with project schedulers, risk management, change management, commercial, construction, and technical discipline leads.
• Evaluate change orders and emerging changes for potential cost, schedule, resource, sequencing, and project-control impacts.
• Engage directly with the contractor to understand the basis of proposed work plans, forecasts, schedule changes, resource requirements, constraints, and recovery strategies.
• Review schedule information with the scheduling team to understand critical-path movement, milestone impacts, sequencing, constraints, and recovery opportunities without serving as the project’s primary scheduler.
• Support evaluation of railroad construction impacts involving track, catenary/OCS, signals, substations, Force Account resources, track outages, temporary works, and ROW access.
• Identify disconnects among contractor-reported cost, schedule, progress, change, and risk information, and drive issues toward measurable actions and resolution.
• Translate complex project-control information into concise assessments identifying what changed, why it matters, potential cost/schedule exposure, mitigation options, responsible parties, and decisions required.
• Prepare and deliver project-controls briefings and recommendations to the client and executive leadership.
• Support development of a disciplined, schedule-driven management approach that improves accountability, forecasting, decision-making, and contractor engagement.

What you will bring to our firm:

• 15+ years of project controls, cost controls, construction estimating, or related major infrastructure experience.

• Demonstrated cost estimating and/or cost controls experience on projects exceeding $120 million.

• Strong understanding of construction estimating, cost forecasting, productivity, quantities, labor/equipment, and cost development.

• Demonstrated understanding of change orders and their relationship to cost, schedule, sequencing, risk, and project completion.

• Working knowledge of CPM scheduling/Primavera P6 sufficient to assess schedule impacts and direct and collaborate with professional schedulers.

• Ability to integrate information across cost, schedule, risk, change management, and construction rather than manage each function independently.

• Experience interacting directly with contractors, owners, Owner’s Representatives, construction teams, and project leadership.

• Exceptional verbal communication and executive presentation skills, including the ability to lead difficult, fact-based discussions with contractors and communicate complex cost and schedule issues to senior leadership.

• Strong analytical judgment, negotiation skills, professional presence, and owner-side mindset.

What we prefer you bring:

• Experience with track, signals, catenary/OCS/traction power, substations and testing/commissioning.
• Previous Amtrak, MTA, Metro-North, LIRR, NYCT, NJ Transit or comparable railroad experience.

Compensation: The salary range for this role is $180,000 - $220,000. Salary is dependent upon experience and geographic location.

Featured Benefits:

• Comprehensive benefits package including wellness programs, parental leave, and pet insurance, in addition to medical, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance.
• Tax-deferred 401(k) savings plan.
• Competitive paid-time-off (PTO) accrual.
• Tuition reimbursement for continued education.
• Commitment to professional development, access to internal and external training programs, and support of active participation in professional organizations
• Incentive compensation for eligible positions.

At GFT, a privately held AEC firm, we innovate where transportation, water, power, and buildings converge. We call this the Infrastructure of Life. We measure our success by the strength of our relationships - that’s why we’re the employer of choice for 5,000+ of the industry’s brightest engineers, planners, architects, inspectors, designers, and more.

Our clients choose us for our expertise and prefer us for our nimble approach, creativity, and personal touch. Backed by over a century’s experience, together we’re building a lasting legacy for future generations: stronger communities, a healthier planet, and better lives.GFT: Ingenuity That Shapes Lives™ is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veterans’ status or other characteristics protected by law.

Unsolicited resumes from third party agencies will be considered the property GFT.

GFT does require the successful completion of a criminal background check for all advertised positions.

Location: New Rochelle, NY / New York, NY

Core Business Hours: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PMEmployment Status: Full-Time

Applicants in the County of Los Angeles- Qualified applications with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.

Applicants in the City of San Francisco- Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Applicants in the State of California -Qualified applications with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the California Fair Chance Act.