Cost Engineer in Birmingham

Make your mark with Colas Rail UK. At Colas Rail, differences matter. Join a team where being your authentic self is respected, encouraged, and vital to our success. You will also get the opportunity to help us transform transportation, set new standards, and dare to be different.

This is true because:

• We value everyone as part of the same team.
• We treat everyone as equals - and everyone is approachable, from the CEO down.
• We put you in control of your career to lead and grow in any way you want.
• We have a culture of care, from safe working environments to diversity and inclusion.
• We’re renowned for innovation, adopting new ideas, and daring to be different.
• We are building a more sustainable future and our projects impact infrastructure for generations.

About Us

Step into the world of Colas Rail, where a century of expertise merges with a daring spirit to shape the future of rail infrastructure. We deliver transport solutions for sustainable mobility. We are a leading rail infrastructure business with on track plant and freight capabilities. As a subsidiary of the Colas Group, we are part of over a hundred years' experience in delivering major innovations across our sector. Every day, thousands of trains run on tracks built, designed, or maintained by Colas Rail.

Leading by our Values

Our values, Respect, Commitment, Pioneering and Sharing are at the heart of everything we do. These values feed into our main strategies and accompany us daily in realising our ambitions.

• We Respect our employees, celebrate diversity and foster a culture of safety, care and respect for everyone we interact with.
• We Commit by showing up wholeheartedly. When we commit together, we invest in everyone’s success.
• We Share as we all hold knowledge that could and should be shared, enabling us to grow and making us a strong collective.
• We Pioneer to push boundaries, imagine what does not yet exist and dare to do what others do not.

Even if you don’t meet every requirement, please don’t rule yourself out, we still encourage you to apply if your skills, values, and experience align to the role.

Purpose of the Role

To assist the Colas Rail teams (Commercial/Delivery/Finance) in facilitating timely payment of all incoming Materials/Plant/Labour/Sub-Contract works and ensuring the Cost Clerk team maintains the DPO (Days Payment Outstanding) requirements of the business. Collation of commercial data as required by the Project team (Accruals/PO Status/Account Issues). Timely resolution of all account queries with suppliers and delivery teams.

Person Specification

• Working in a finance or commercial function within the engineering or construction sector having hands on experience working for contractors as a CE on large civils or infrastructure projects.
• Working knowledge of finance systems.
• Cost and budget administration.
• Financial and commercial reporting.
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Excel/Outlook).
• Working knowledge of PowerBI.
• Highly organised and detail driven.
• Full UK Driving licence.

Key Responsibilities

• Working closely with the SQS/QS you will assist with the cost control of the Project, focusing on labour / plant / materials through tracking of orders and regular reconciliation of costs with budget.
• Timely GRN of all POD’s received onto the system, and liaison with the finance team to ensure DPO (Days Payment Outstanding) remains within business tolerance.
• Proactive approach to closing out issues with POD/Invoice issues with suppliers/Delivery Team/Finance.
• Responsible for the accurate and timely cost collation, reconciliation and reporting of data from site records – time and allocation sheets, GRN’s, POD’s (or delivery team approval if POD missing).
• Liaising with Construction Managers / Supervisors for the completion of these site records and retrieving them from one of the MMA Compounds if necessary.
• Ensuring all labour, plant and material schedules and trackers are maintained and accurate as well as periodic review of the suppliers allocated to each Cost Clerk, assuring balanced workloads.
• Liaising with Sub-contractors & Suppliers for Verification of Hours, Missing POD’s, Quantity & Rate errors etc.
• Collation, organisation and reconciliation of spreadsheet data and data from finance / cost / site record systems and entering such records into archive as needed (Scanned/Hard Copy & Digital Records).
• Active participation in weekly planned v actual resource usage reporting from weekly “plan, do and review” meetings.
• Support the Project Commercial team as necessary in the preparation of cost reports, audit responses, evaluation of Sub-Contractor Applications & issuing of payment notices & GRN on system.
• Undertake any other reasonable duties as requested.
• Working in close cooperation with Delivery Managers around commercial performance/Purchase Order Utilisation/Missing Tickets/Problem Suppliers.
• Review of Purchase Order utilisation & notification to project teams of orders approaching or exceeding 100% utilisation. Reporting same at weekly project review meetings as required.
• Work closely with the Finance and project teams to ensure all processes are followed as required. Identify non conformance and elevate concerns to line management.
• Participating in project management team.
• Providing interface with Suppliers & Sub-Contractors.

What We Offer

• Competitive Salary.
• 26 days Annual Leave.
• Industry leading Life Assurance.
• Healthcare Cash Plan.
• Wellbeing Employee Assistant Programme.
• Pension Scheme.
• Eye Care Vouchers.
• Long Service Award.
• Season Ticket Loan.
• Occupational Health Service.

We are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace. We believe that diversity drives innovation and creativity, and we actively seek to create an environment where everyone feels welcome, heard, valued and respected. Regardless of background, disability, age, race, religion, or gender, everyone is welcome at Colas Rail.

We strive to promote equity and eliminate discrimination, actively seeking to create a workforce reflective of communities we serve. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, offering flexible and inclusive adjustments to the interview process.

As part of a positive action drive to address under-representation we encourage applications from women, ethnically diverse individuals and people with disabilities, along with all candidates who identify with protected characteristic groups under the Equality Act 2010.

We are proudly part of the Disability Confidence Scheme, and as such we operate a Guaranteed Interview Scheme if you meet the minimum requirements.

On joining Colas Rail you’ll have access to our growing Employee Network Groups including Railbow (representing the LGBTQ+ community), BeyonDisability (representing those with disabilities) and Cross Culture (representing people from ethnic backgrounds). Everyone is welcome to join our network groups whether you are part of the community or an ally.

Work life balance is important to us; flexible working options are available where feasible and dependent on the role. Please discuss this during the interview process.

Join us in making a positive impact! Apply and be part of a team that values diversity and embraces unique perspectives.