Capex Project Controls Manager in Bedford

TITLE: Capex Project Controls Manager

DEPARTMENT: Infrastructure

REPORTS TO: Head of PMO

WORK PATTERNS: Full Time

JOB PURPOSE SUMMARY:

The Capex Project Controls Manager plays a critical role in supporting the successful delivery of the airport’s capital investment programme. This mid-level role is responsible for ensuring robust project controls are applied across all capital projects, including cost management, schedule performance, and reporting. The role will also be pivotal in providing actionable insights through the development of dashboards and reports to aid decision-making across the Infrastructure Directorate.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ACCOUNTABILITIES:

• Lead the application of cost control processes for capital projects, tracking against approved budgets and ensuring variances are clearly understood and reported.
• Support project managers in managing and maintaining accurate financial forecasts, cashflows, and cost-to-complete estimates.
• Develop, maintain, and enhance dashboards and performance reports that consolidate cost, schedule, and risk information for internal and external stakeholders.
• Provide periodic and ad-hoc project control reports to governance boards, project sponsors, and finance stakeholders.
• Work with PMO and Finance teams to ensure alignment of capital project reporting with corporate financial systems and reporting cycles.
• Monitor project performance against baseline programmes and support recovery planning where deviations occur.
• Ensure project change control processes are adhered to and properly reflected in project budgets and forecasts.
• Support procurement and commercial teams by reviewing tender returns and supporting cost validation exercises.
• Contribute to the development and continuous improvement of project controls frameworks, tools, and templates.
• Provide assurance on compliance with internal controls, governance processes, and capital investment policies.
• Contribute to delivering a great guest experience by performing your role with accuracy and efficiency. Recognising that every task whether guest facing or behind the scenes contributes to supporting the company’s overall LLA Way Strategy and service standards.
• Proactively and positively promote the LLA Way initiatives and projects with all employees and the wider airport community.

QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED:

Essential

• Proven experience in a project controls or PMO controls role, ideally within a capital-intensive infrastructure or transport environment.
• Strong understanding of project cost control, budgeting, forecasting, and financial tracking.
• Experience in monitoring programme performance using planning tools such as Primavera P6 or MS Project.
• Building interactive dashboards and reports in Power BI Desktop including:
• Connecting to data sources (Excel, SQL, SharePoint, APIs, etc.)
• Writing DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) for calculated columns and measures
• Data modelling — relationships, star schema design
• Power Query (M language) for data transformation and cleaning
• Publishing reports to Power BI Service and managing workspaces
• Familiarity with governance processes for capital projects and ability to support the production of business cases and board papers.
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to interpret complex data and present key findings clearly to stakeholders.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills across technical and non-technical audiences.

Desirable

• Degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Project Management, or related discipline.
• Professional qualifications or certifications such as APM, PMI, or equivalent in project controls or project management.
• Knowledge of NEC contract frameworks and capital project lifecycle methodologies.