Associate Director [Cost Intelligence], Major Projects Advisory, Commercial Advisory & Assurance

The team KPMG's Major Projects Advisory (MPA) team works with industry-leading organisations, helping to solve some of the biggest challenges in infrastructure. As a true market leader, we boast an impressive client base across the commercial and public sectors, delivering lasting results on projects and programmes which are household names. We provide clarity to Boards, Executives and SRO's at major public and private sector organisations regarding the delivery of their projects and programmes. We work on some of the UK's most strategically important programmes, and across all infrastructure sectors including transport, natural resources, energy, power and utilities, corporates, oil & gas, defence, health, housing & education. Our team comprises specialists with deep construction industry experience, gained from working for project owners, contractors, engineering consultants and others in the UK and overseas. On the back of continuing growth, we're once again investing in our team to drive a step change in our capability. This means you'll be joining one of the fastest growing areas of the firm at a time of real significance.

This role is for an innovative professional at Associate Director level, who can work alongside our existing team to use their lived experience of construction and commercial acumen to solve complex problems. You will be responsible for helping to grow and deliver our MPA business, working with our leadership team, client organisations and other KPMG teams to develop our cost intelligence capability and the value proposition in this space. This will leverage your previous experience across capex efficiency, estimating, benchmarking, cost analytics and advisory work on policy and procedure in projects and programmes across the infrastructure sectors, all supported by a team of specialists in MPA. The MPA team in the UK are based in London, Birmingham and Manchester. This role will be based in one of these locations but will require travel to client locations throughout the UK and occasionally overseas.

You will have deep experience in implementing industry-leading solutions for cost and delivery intelligence. You should have a vision of how construction and infrastructure can better utilise technology, benchmarking and cost analytics to improve capital delivery outcomes, and you will have the drive and capability to work with our specialists to implement these improvements across our clients' organisations. You will be comfortable working with senior executives in client organisations and advising on the levers needed to continuously improve and transform their infrastructure delivery capability to increase confidence in outcomes and cost efficiency, with the aim of being industry leading in this space.

This senior role is ideally suited to those with significant post-qualification experience in a field such as commercial management & quantity surveying, project controls, engineering and project management. The role requires experience with the following attributes:

• An in-depth understanding of the factors which drive costs on construction projects and infrastructure capital delivery
• Capability to interpret broad and deep data sets and project/programme reports, and determine how best to utilise and improve these to provide useful insight to senior client contacts
• Familiarity with developing and implementing techniques to benchmark and assess construction and project costs
• A good understanding of key issues which typically impact project performance, and experience of implementing policies and procedures which improve performance
• Ability to set out a clear approach to tackling a new challenge in the most efficient manner, and leading others in the delivery of that approach
• Analytical and problem-solving mindset: ability to distil complex concepts into causal factors with clear attainable plans and actions
• Competent in producing clear, concise and fact-based outputs, working with or managing a team of specialists to deliver high quality reports and solutions.
• Clear recommendation of solutions to project and programme issues based on own knowledge and experience, taking into account specific context
• Familiarity with industry best practice and government guidance
• Familiarity with industry-standard contract forms
• A relevant professional qualification, such as MRICS, MICE, MACostE, MCIOB or equivalent

In addition to the above, experience in some of the following areas would also be of benefit to the candidate in the environment that we work in:

• Cost planning and estimating
• Risk and value management
• Governance and assurance in capital projects
• Policy and procedure development in capital projects
• Project and programme management
• Project controls
• Earned value management
• Procurement strategy
• Claims, disputes and dispute avoidance

The role will also include the end-to-end lifecycle of managing client engagements, using KPMG systems, for which comprehensive training is provided):

• Management of project teams to deliver client engagements
• Management of quality & risk on engagements to meet KPMG standards
• Financial management of engagements including budgeting, reporting and invoicing processes
• Performance management and mentoring of junior employees

The role can have a material impact on the success of the ambitious MPA growth strategy. The role will be client facing and have direct impact on the reputation and perception of KPMG. In addition to the technical requirements of the role we also expect the right candidate to:

• Be capable of working alone or within a team, including quickly building rapport and delivering with new teams
• Provide clear and concise advice to manage and grow client relationships
• Maintain your requirements for continuing professional development
• Play a key role in business development, team growth, innovation and capability development