Associate Director - Cost / Commercial Management

Associate Director – Cost / Commercial Management (Projects & Commercial)

Associate Director – Cost / Commercial Management with extensive M&E experience within critical infrastructure environments for an expanding “End Client” Datacentre organisation based in London. This role will lead the Commercial Department and report to the Programme Delivery Director, providing in‑house Quantity Surveying services for all infrastructure projects and programmes.

This role involves initial estimating and budget forecasting, cost plan management, consultant and contractor selection, preliminary drafting, tendering, contractor negotiation, valuations, variation control, cost reporting and final accounting. It also supports the financial management functions normally carried out in an end‑operator construction business, including internal purchase‑order reconciliation and cash flow management.

Key Responsibilities

• Costs
  • Estimated budget costs for each scheme
  • Cost planning for each scheme and option
  • Cash‑flow plan for each scheme/option to allow for clear funding plans
• Documents
  • Internal approval of scope/briefs and similar third‑party documents
  • Approved procurement strategy/method for each project
  • Appropriate and agreed contracting approach for each project
  • Agreed tender documents that allow selection of the best and most appropriate supply chain/partners
  • Preparation of all preliminaries
  • Completed contract bundles using appropriate legal advice/support
  • Completed third‑party appointments with appropriate legal advice and support
• Management
  • Representation at all pre‑contract meetings, providing advice or assistance to all other professionals
  • Management of any tender processes and selection of the best and most appropriate suppliers/partners
  • Ensuring the best outcome in all commercial negotiations
  • Working and liaising with external Quantity Surveyors (where appointed) to deliver all of the above
• Cost Management & Reporting
  • Contract variations that are agreed by all stakeholders, formally instructed and managed within a formal contract framework
  • Accurate and agreed interim valuations that allow payments to contractors to be made
  • Accurate cost reporting and reconciliation to agreed cost plans and budgets
  • A final accounting review/payment with contractors/suppliers

Key Requirements

• More than 5 years’ experience running construction projects, ideally within the data centre industry or those with very complex service content
• Extensive experience in environments where front‑end activities such as project estimating and cost planning are routinely carried out
• Ability to provide all quantity‑surveying input necessary to run construction contracts of £10m‑30m without external quantity‑surveying firms being appointed
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain technical matters in a way that can be clearly understood by a non‑technical audience
• Demonstrable experience of managing a critical supply chain
• A sound track record in risk management