Senior Quantity Surveyor in Corby

Waites Recruitment Consultancy are seeking a Commercial Lead / QS for a client on a full time basis. The right candidate needs to have experience with fit out projects / commercial projects as this is key.

Quantity Surveying & Cost Management

• Lead all Quantity Surveying functions across live projects, ensuring accurate cost planning, control, and reporting throughout the project lifecycle.
• Prepare, review, and agree interim valuations, applications for payment, and final accounts with clients and subcontractors.
• Manage subcontractor procurement, package letting, and commercial supply chain relationships.
• Identify, quantify, and manage commercial risks and opportunities, escalating where appropriate.
• Ensure robust change management procedures are implemented and adhered to, with all variations priced, submitted, and agreed in a timely manner.
• Oversee the preparation of cost reports, cash flow forecasts, and commercial reporting to provide accurate business insight.

Estimating & Pre-Construction

• Lead and manage the estimating function, ensuring all tender submissions are accurately priced, commercially sound, and competitively positioned.
• Review and approve estimates and tender submissions prior to issue, ensuring alignment with project scope, programme requirements, and risk profile.
• Drive continuous improvement in estimating processes, tools, benchmarking data, and tender delivery.
• Work closely with operational teams to validate buildability assumptions and programme-based cost inputs during tender stages.
• Maintain and develop estimating databases, ensuring rates, outputs, and market intelligence remain current and accurate.

Operational Commercial Support

• Act as the primary commercial partner to the Operations team, supporting Project Managers and Site Managers with day-to-day commercial decisions.
• Attend project review meetings, providing commercial insight and challenge to ensure projects are delivered within budget and programme constraints.
• Support operational teams in identifying and mitigating commercial risks throughout project delivery.
• Collaborate on procurement strategies to ensure alignment between commercial objectives and project delivery requirements.
• Provide commercial guidance and training to operational teams to improve commercial awareness across the business.

Contractual Management & Business Protection

• Work closely with the Contracts Directors to protect the business's commercial and contractual position across all forms of contract, including NEC, JCT, and bespoke agreements.
• Support the negotiation, review, and execution of client and subcontract agreements.
• Provide commercial input into claims, dispute resolution, adjudications, and contractual negotiations.
• Assist in developing and implementing commercial policies, procedures, and best practice across the business.
• Support bid/no-bid decisions and pre-contract risk reviews to ensure commercially viable opportunities are pursued.

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, manage, and develop the commercial team, including Quantity Surveyors and Estimators.
• Set clear objectives, monitor performance, and support professional development.
• Conduct regular performance reviews and identify training and development requirements.
• Support team members in achieving professional qualifications and career progression.
• Foster a high-performance culture focused on accuracy, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Support recruitment, onboarding, and resource planning to ensure appropriate commercial team capacity as the business grows.

Strategic Commercial Leadership

• Provide strategic commercial input to support business growth and profitability.
• Champion best practice across commercial, contractual, and estimating functions.
• Build strong relationships with clients, consultants, subcontractors, and internal stakeholders.
• Work collaboratively with senior leadership to support business planning and decision-making.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of the company's commercial strategy.

General Responsibilities

• Ensure compliance with company policies, procedures, and governance requirements.
• Maintain high professional standards and promote the company's values at all times.
• Undertake any other duties as required to support the business and achieve company objectives.

Qualifications

• Degree in Quantity Surveying or a related construction discipline.
• Additional qualifications in Estimating, Project Management, Contract Law, or Commercial Management are desirable.

Experience

• Significant post-qualification experience within a Quantity Surveying role in the construction industry.
• Proven experience leading and managing commercial teams, including Quantity Surveying and Estimating functions.
• Strong track record of delivering successful commercial outcomes on complex construction projects.
• Extensive experience working under NEC3/NEC4, JCT, and bespoke contract forms.
• Previous experience in tendering, estimating, and pre-construction commercial activities.
• Experience engaging with clients, subcontractors, consultants, and professional teams at a senior level.
• Experience within fit-out, refurbishment, construction, or related sectors is highly desirable.

Values

• We are fair and do not expect from others what we wouldn’t expect from ourselves.
• We are ‘in person’ people with smiles on our faces.
• We are reliable and take responsibility for our actions.
• We are honest and go about our work with integrity.
• We are professional in the way we carry out our business.
• We are great team players.
• We are proactive and make things happen.

Behaviours

• Demonstrates clear and professional communication, both written and verbal.
• Shows initiative, reliability and strong personal accountability.
• Effectively manages workload and meets agreed deadlines.
• Follows up on actions and commitments in a timely manner.
• Maintains professional and respectful working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Shows flexibility and a positive attitude, contributing to the wider team when needed.

Key Performance Indicators

• Commercial performance of projects against budget and forecast.
• Tender success rates and estimating accuracy.
• Timely agreement of valuations, variations, and final accounts.
• Team development, retention, and performance.
• Contribution to business profitability and growth.