Strategic Cost Engineer in Cambridge

Circa £55,000 to £58,000 (Depending on Experience)

2x Permanent Full Time / 37 Hours (Flexible work opportunities available)

Double Matched Pension Scheme (up to 21% combined)

Private Healthcare

Make every drop of your potential count! We're looking for a Strategic Cost Engineer/Estimator to join Anglian Water's Commercial & Delivery Assurance function and play a pivotal role in supporting one of the UK's largest and most ambitious investment programmes (£11bn). This is a Senior technical, subject matter expert role, sitting at the heart of our Strategic Cost Intelligence capability. You'll help ensure that our investment decisions are underpinned by robust, transparent and auditable cost estimation, supporting everything from day-to-day delivery through to long term business planning and regulatory submissions.

You'll work across capital and operational expenditure, developing and assuring TOTEX cost estimates, providing expert challenge to delivery teams, and acting as a trusted interface with Finance, Regulation, Delivery partners and senior leadership. If you thrive on complexity, regulatory challenge and transforming data into confident decision making, this role offers both influence and impact.

What you'll be doing:

• Strategic Cost Engineering & Commercial Challenge

• Own and continuously improve Anglian Water's Corporate Cost Estimation System, ensuring alignment with approved methodologies and governance.
• Act as a recognised expert on estimating approaches, work package design and scheme scoping.
• Provide authoritative challenge and assurance of TOTEX estimates (CAPEX, OPEX and service failure impacts).
• Produce clear, auditable estimation reports suitable for senior review, audit and regulatory scrutiny.
• Support development of the Capital Investment Plan and commercial budgets with evidence based cost intelligence.

• Build, validate and govern high quality TOTEX cost models across asset groups.
• Calibrate and validate models using outturn performance and real world data.
• Analyse inflation, special factors and cost trends to produce defensible, audit-ready evidence.
• Govern the corporate cost model library, including environmental models.

• Oversee robust cost collection frameworks across construction, operational and service failure costs.
• Provide governance and expert support to cost analysts and service providers to ensure high quality, compliant data.
• Work closely with Finance, SAP and system teams to maintain data integrity and reconciliation across systems.
• Support business planning data submissions, including evidence packs.

• Identify cost efficiency opportunities across the investment programme.
• Benchmark Anglian Water's performance against peers and industry data.
• Support regulatory submissions by ensuring cost evidence aligns with regulatory expectations.
• Prepare clear audit evidence packs and lead targeted assurance reviews.

What we're looking for:

• Degree level qualification (or equivalent) in a technical discipline such as engineering, quantity surveying, or similar.
• Chartered (or working towards chartership) with a relevant professional body (e.g. RICS, ACostE or equivalent).
• Proven experience estimating large, complex programmes of work.
• Demonstrated ability to drive system and process improvements.
• Deep understanding of industry standard estimating techniques, cost management principles and benchmarking.
• Strong attention to detail with the ability to 'deep dive' into complex issues.
• Desirable: experience working in a regulated environment, including exposure to Price Reviews.
• Desirable: understanding of infrastructure assets from strategic, tactical and operational perspectives.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving and stakeholder management skills.
• Resilience and ability to work under pressure to tight timelines.
• Confidence working with cost data, systems, modelling tools and Microsoft Office.
• Desirable experience in the water or utilities sector.
• Desirable experience supporting regulatory submissions or audits.

Why join Anglian Water?

At Anglian Water, we're driven by purpose - keeping water flowing today while protecting it for future generations. In this role, you'll:

• Influence multi-billion pound investment decisions.
• Be recognised as a subject matter expert in cost intelligence.
• Work collaboratively across engineering, finance, regulation and delivery.
• Develop your professional capability in a supportive, forward-thinking environment.
• Be part of a culture that puts safety, integrity, innovation and trust at the centre of everything we do.

Benefits:

• 26 days annual leave plus bank holidays (increasing with length of service).
• Flexible working options.
• Private health care.
• Competitive pension scheme - Anglian Water double-matches contributions up to 6%.
• Life assurance at eight times your salary.
• Annual bonus.
• Potential funded car allowance depending on evidenced business mileage.
• Personal medical assessments.
• Virtual GP service.
• Cancer screening.
• Financial wellbeing support and salary finance benefits.
• Lifestyle savings including discounts on retail, travel and utilities.
• Employee Assistance Programme.
• Volunteer days.

Inclusion at Anglian Water:

We're committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels they belong. We are proud signatories of the Social Mobility Pledge, Race at Work Charter and Armed Forces Covenant, and we're a Disability Confident employer.

Closing Date: 20th May 2026