Senior Cost Engineer (Contractor) in London

Costain Transportation division has a unique opportunity for a Senior Estimator with a background in railway projects to be responsible for the preparation of pricing for tenders/bids and other opportunities identified by the business, from receipt of documents through to presentation at tender review and final completion of submission documents. This role reports into the Divisional Head of Estimating or Lead / Managing Estimator; supervision is only required in more complex circumstances.

Costain helps to improve people's lives with integrated, leading edge, smart infrastructure solutions across the UK's energy, water, transportation and defence markets. We help our clients improve their business performance by increasing capacity, improving customer service, safeguarding security, enhancing resilience, decarbonising and delivering increased efficiency. We will achieve this by focusing on blue chip clients whose major spending plans are underpinned by strategic national needs, regulatory commitments, legislation or essential performance requirements.

We offer our clients leading edge solutions that are digitally optimised through the following five services which cover the whole lifecycle of their assets: future-shaping strategic consultancy; digital technology solutions; asset optimisation and complex programme delivery.

A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that discloses they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people.

Essential

• Degree level qualified or equivalent in a Civil Engineering or Building related discipline.
• Experience of pricing work under various forms of contract including Traditional NEC, Target Cost, Design & Build, Specification & Drawing or ECI bids.
• Prepare abstract of material and sub-contract requirements for sourcing and pricing.
• Technical and commercial appraisal of material and subcontractor quotations.
• Contribute to the identification of risk and pricing of risks throughout the bid.
• Attend site visits during tender period.
• Use of estimating software as a basis of preparing the estimate.
• Fully understands the scope of the project and customer's requirements.
• Contributes to a Supply Chain Gate 3 and Procurement Strategy and identifies key work packages and documents for inclusion in the supply chain enquiries.
• Understands and applies relevant professional standards to estimating any given project.
• Produces a Cash flow profile for a project and establishes the financial, contractual and time implications that drive the cashflow.
• Procures quantities for the project estimate either personally or via an external supplier.
• Obtains and analyses fee proposals from suppliers to ensure we have a competitive price for undertaking this role if executed externally.
• Establishes methods for quantities checking and risk mitigation.
• Identifies requirements, obtains fee proposals and makes provision within the bid for necessary design fees, statutory charges, and surveys to deliver the project.
• Updates the project risk register with any relevant risks identified during the site visit.
• Achieves the relevant safety training to access a live site to undertake site inspections and visits during the estimating stage for the project.
• Arranges for all External and Internal Supplier market testing to be undertaken during the estimating stage.
• Establishes a market testing programme and monitors progress of enquiries and chases up suppliers as necessary.
• Produces an entire Cost Estimate for the project, including the production of the pricing build-ups against each work item or service being priced and the analysis of any subcontract/third party returns when applicable into the estimating software.
• Prepares a detailed analysis of all returned supplier quotations and ensures the work scope has been properly priced and included.
• Applies relevant methods of inflation risk pricing for a project.
• Provides all necessary checks and balances to reduce the risk of pricing errors in quantity and scope of the works.
• Agrees the requirements for Staffing, Attendant Labour, Accommodation, Key Plant and equipment, Health and Safety requirements, IT setup, Insurances & Bonding requirements, Temporary Works, Fees and all other necessary on-costs for the project.
• Completes the Tender or Proposal summary in respect of any risk, inflationary allowances, opportunities pricing, fees, Profit, Overheads and any other necessary on-cost inclusions to conclude the tender total for the settlement meetings.
• Demonstrates a thorough understanding of governance, risk and control appropriate to the organisation and the project.
• Understands the principles and practice of risk management and the relevance and use of theories, processes and tools.
• Develops and implements methods of recording risks and opportunities for the project estimate and contributes to developing the strategies for mitigation.
• Prepares for and contributes to Risk and Opportunity Workshops from the estimating perspective.
• Identifies, analyses and evaluates the nature and impact of risks and opportunities on a project.
• Communicates the estimating requirements for the project at all kick-off and interim bid team meetings.
• Analyses historical data for use in benchmarking a current estimate proposal.
• Demonstrates good practice in respect of document control and the storage and retrieval of general estimating records.
• Understands the importance of good document control during the bid process and applies techniques to preserve data for the project.

Desirable

• Extensive experience working in a Senior Estimating role.
• Experienced in pricing medium to large value civil engineering works in the rail or underground would be an advantage.