Cost & Commercial Lead, France

As Cost & Commercial Lead, you will work closely with the Regional Project Director to lead and coordinate all cost and commercial management activities across our data centre development portfolio within your country / region. Reporting to the Head of Commercials, you will also take ownership of the implementation of commercial strategy, cost governance, procurement, and financial performance across multiple active projects. In doing so, you will link closely with internal procurement, development, design, delivery, asset, and finance teams, as well as external consultants and contractors. These relationships will be key for you to safeguard investment value and drive consistent commercial excellence across the region. All of this means you will be central to ensuring that each project is delivered efficiently, with robust cost control, commercial discipline, and alignment to business objectives. In turn, this means that you’ll have a real opportunity to significantly impact our continued growth.

To achieve success, you will rely on your significant business acumen within construction commercial management. It would be even more helpful to you if this included exposure to data centre, industrial, or mission‑critical infrastructure projects. Naturally, you will also deploy your proven communication and influencing skills, which will help you lead teams and manage stakeholders across our environment and geographies.

• Commercial Strategy & Leadership: Implement the commercial and cost management strategy for all regional developments, ensuring alignment with corporate objectives and investment targets. Provide strategic input into business cases, feasibility studies, and cost benchmarking to support internal approvals. Oversee the commercial governance framework, ensuring accurate reporting, consistency, and accountability across multiple projects and markets.
• Cost Management & Financial Control: Lead all aspects of cost planning, estimating, and forecasting across the project lifecycle. Ensure robust cost validation and value engineering, driving efficiency through design and procurement decisions. Oversee and present monthly cost reporting, providing early visibility of risks, opportunities, and commercial exposure. Manage regional CAPEX performance, ensuring projects deliver within approved budgets and financial parameters. Support the finance team in cashflow forecasting, accruals, and project close‑out reconciliations.
• Procurement & Contract Management: Working alongside procurement assist in the development and implementation of regional procurement strategies for professional services, contractors, and key equipment suppliers that support the successful delivery of the projects. Support or lead contract negotiations to ensure commercial terms align with appropriate risk profile and delivery strategy. Standardise contract forms, commercial templates, and cost databases across the region to drive consistency and control. Promote long‑term supplier partnerships and monitor/appraise performance of key supply chain members.
• Risk & Change Management: Lead the management of the projects commercial and financial risk register, ensuring proactive identification, valuation and mitigation of risks. Lead regional change control processes, ensuring all variations are properly assessed, documented, and approved. Provide clear commercial impact assessments to support timely decision‑making and governance reporting.
• Leadership & Collaboration: Lead, mentor, and develop a regional team of cost and commercial managers, fostering a culture of accountability, collaboration, and excellence. Partner with internal functions — including Procurement, Asset Management, Development, Design, Delivery, Operations, Finance, and Legal — to align cost and commercial priorities. Represent the cost and commercial function in Project Steering Groups, Investment Reviews, and regional leadership meetings. Drive continuous improvement in processes, systems, and reporting to support the company’s growth across European markets.

• Significant experience in construction commercial management, ideally with exposure to data centre, industrial, or mission‑critical infrastructure projects.
• Proven experience in client‑side or developer‑side roles, managing multiple projects across different markets or regions.
• Strong understanding of European procurement practices, contract forms (NEC, FIDIC, or local equivalents), and cost drivers.
• Excellent analytical, negotiation, and reporting skills.
• Degree in Quantity Surveying, Commercial Management, or Construction Economics (or equivalent) advantageous.
• Professional membership (e.g., RICS) preferred.

• Procurement Knowledge
• Building and Managing Teams
• Supervisory Leadership
• Budgeting
• Project Management

What we offer Colt DCS is a growing business that is investing in its people. We offer skill development, learning pathways and accreditation to help our people perform at their best, regardless of role and location. In addition to offering competitive salaries and incentive plans, a range of benefits and local rewards packages are offered to staff. Colt DCS recognises and is committed to the importance of a work‑life balance.