Lead Cost Engineer in Darlington

Location: Teesside/Darlington

Role Type: Permanent / Full-time

About the role

The Lead Cost Engineer will be responsible for preparing and reporting project cost budgets, and for tracking, managing, and reporting project expenditure to enable robust control of projects throughout their lifecycle. It will also be accountable for developing project budgets, tracking actual and forecasted costs, and generating cost reports, ensuring they are prepared to the required level of detail and accuracy and in accordance with contractual requirements and industry best practices. Additionally, it will be accountable for ensuring project budgets, costs and reports are documented and auditable, and that project budgets, costs and reports are maintained and issued in a controlled manner.

Act as focal point for all aspects of cost support to the project team, managing the communications interfaces essential for the effective delivery of project cost analysis and delivery of key KPI’s. Accountable for identifying areas of best practice and driving continuous improvement.

Key accountabilities and responsibilities:

• Accountable for ensuring project cost budgets are developed and maintained in accordance with the Project Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
• Liaise with other functions and third parties as required, to ensure accurate and timely capture of procurement, materials, subcontract and labour resource costs.
• Ensure costs are allocated accurately in accordance with approved project WBS/CBS.
• Liaise with the project team to raise and maintain awareness of project activities and the impact on the project budget and cost forecast.
• Accountable for ensuring project cost budgets are developed and maintained using appropriate software applications (where applicable).
• Monitor and review cost commitments and expenditures through all phases of the project lifecycle.
• Liaise with project management, project planning, and others as required to ensure accuracy in project cost phasing and forecasting.
• Review and evaluate project cost performance reports in accordance with project reporting requirements including earned value management (EVM).
• Review and analyse the cost impact of project resource forecasts.
• Review, assess and communicate cost impact of change notifications on the overall cost position.
• Monitor cost impact of achievement / non-achievement of major project milestones.
• Monitor overall project cost performance and contingency drawdown.
• Attend project/client periodic meetings and present project cost performance status as required.
• Facilitate / chair internal project cost performance meetings as required.
• Participate in contract Risk Analysis sessions.
• Participate in Project Controls Compliance and Continuous Improvement Reviews.
• Participate in project audits.
• Act as the Cost Focal Point for all project scopes within the assignment.
• Accountable for ensuring that budgets correspond in structure and monetary value to submitted estimates and WBS.
• Original and current budgets correspond to approved estimates plus approved scope changes through the project life cycle.
• Updates are issued in a timely manner and cost reports are accurate and sufficiently detailed.
• Analysing cost data to generate and share insights with the project leadership team in a timely manner.
• High-quality project reports are issued in accordance with the project reporting calendar.
• Scope and design development change orders are correctly identified.
• Change order status is adjusted within cost reports to reflect the status.

Education

Degree or higher in Engineering, Business, Project Management or related field.

Essential knowledge, skills, and experience:

Incumbents will typically have a minimum of 10 years of relevant project cost experience including major project experience. Excellent knowledge of cost software and related principles, tools and techniques including budgeting, forecasting and cash-flow. Excellent understanding of WBS.