Aureos are seeking a Project Controls Officer to work in Bathgate.
The Project Controls Officer (PCO) provides independent assurance that the project is governed, represented, and controlled using complete, consistent, and evidence-based information.
The role operates across both:
Early Contractor Involvement (ECI / NEC4 Option E)
Construction (NEC4 Option C)
The PCO safeguards the integrity of governance, reporting, and control by ensuring that risks, decisions, assumptions, cost, programme, and change are:
Fully aligned
Transparently represented
Supported by evidence
The PCO does not manage delivery, own decisions, or accept risk. The role ensures that:
In ECI, the project is understood
In construction, the project is understood and demonstrably under control
Key Responsibilities
The PCO provides independent oversight of the project control environment, ensuring alignment between governance, delivery, and commercial position.
This includes:
Assuring the integrity and alignment of:
Risk, Decision, Action, and Assumption Registers
Project Programme
Cost and commercial reporting (during construction)
Verifying that the project can provide clear, evidence-based answers to the four core project control questions (current position, cost, forecast, and corrective control)
Challenging:
Misalignment across registers, programme, and delivery
Optimism bias, incomplete information, or assumption drift
Understatement or delayed recognition of cost and programme exposure
Monitoring escalation thresholds and ensuring escalation is applied without delay
Producing independent assurance reports, exception summaries, and governance inputs
Escalating any condition where the project cannot demonstrate a complete, consistent, and controlled position
Construction Phase Responsibilities (NEC4 Option C)
During construction, the PCO ensures governance is translated into controlled delivery and contractual alignment.
This includes:
Verifying that cost, programme, and performance reflect actual delivery
Confirming integrity of:
Target Cost vs Forecast Final Cost
Defined Cost and committed cost
Compensation Event position
Ensuring the correct and timely use of:
Early Warnings
Compensation Events
Formal change processes
Ensuring no work proceeds without formal approval and contractual recognition
Challenging divergence between:
Site reality and programme
Cost reporting and actual exposure
Governance records and delivery position
Confirming uncertainty is actively converted into:
Compensation Events
Accepted risks
Controlled delivery outcomes
Authority and Interfaces
The PCO is authorised to:
Require correction of governance, programme, or cost information
Request supporting evidence for reported positions
Challenge alignment between governance, commercial, and delivery data
Escalate concerns independently of delivery pressure
The role works closely with Project Management, Commercial, Planning, and Functional teams, while maintaining independence from delivery execution.
Role Boundaries (Important)
The Project Controls Officer shall not:
Act as a Decision Owner.
Act as an Action Owner.
Accept or transfer risk.
Approve scope, programme, cost, or technical solutions.
Direct delivery resources or manage work execution.
The PCO is not accountable for delivery outcomes but is accountable for ensuring that any loss of control, misrepresentation, or misalignment is identified, evidenced, and escalated.
Required Experience & Capability
Essential:
Experience in project controls, governance, assurance, or commercial/change control on infrastructure or construction projects
Strong understanding of risk, decision, cost, and programme control
Ability to interrogate data and challenge inconsistencies across multiple sources
Strong communication skills for structured reporting and senior-level engagement
Desirable:
Experience with NEC contracts (particularly Option C)
Experience in ECI environments
Background in PMO, planning, commercial assurance, or programme controls
Familiarity with stage-gate governance frameworks
Personal Attributes
Independent, objective, and evidence-driven
Able to maintain control discipline without delivery ownership
Resilient and confident in challenging bias or misrepresentation
Focused on truth, transparency, and control rather than narrative
Trusted and credible with both delivery teams and senior leadership
In return you will receive
- Generous Salary
- 25 days Holiday plus Bank Holiday
- Pension
- Learning & Development opportunities
- Assistance and Wellbeing support
Equal opportunities
Aureos are an equal opportunities employer, and we are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, age disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status or race, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.
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