Cost Manager - Life Sciences Construction

Turner & Townsend is looking for a Cost Manager/Quantity Surveyor to join our team and support the delivery of cost management services on complex Life Sciences construction projects. This role offers the opportunity to work across a portfolio of technically sophisticated developments, including pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities, biotechnology laboratories, research and development centers, cleanrooms, GMP-regulated environments, and other advanced facilities.

The ideal candidate will be driven, collaborative, and committed to delivering exceptional client service while promoting Turner & Townsend's purpose and values. You will be responsible for providing commercial and cost management expertise throughout the project lifecycle, helping project teams achieve cost certainty, manage risk, and deliver successful project outcomes.

You will work closely with project stakeholders, design teams, contractors, and vendors to develop and maintain robust cost plans, oversee procurement and change management processes, and ensure effective financial control across multiple project phases. The successful candidate will have strong analytical, communication, and stakeholder management skills, along with experience supporting construction projects in highly regulated or technically complex environments.


Responsibilities: 

• Advising client on strategies, managing prequalification of vendors, assessing proposals, bids, and bid levelling documents, making final recommendations to the client, attending & chairing bid interviews, and managing appointment process. 
• Manage estimating services for full project by developing project estimates (relating to construction, fees, direct work and other costs), reviewing estimations prepared by junior team members, presenting estimates to client, presenting value engineering recommendations and risk assessments to client, meeting with vendors to review, validate, and challenge costs, and reviewing estimates by utilizing benchmark data collected from other projects.  
• Manage cost reporting by establishing reporting schedule, reviewing & presenting cost reports and forecasts, reviewing project budget & spend forecast with the client, developing & maintaining commercial risk register, and hosting periodic meetings with project team & vendors.  
• Manage cost control process by reviewing payment application assessments prepared by junior team members, liaising with project managers to recommend contractor entitlements, reviewing requests for change orders from vendors & making recommendations to client, and using dispute prevention/management/resolution procedures to manage payment requisitions, change orders, and contractual disputes.  
• Manage & monitor invoicing process.  
• Benchmark performance against other successful commissions.  
• Manage all facets of the final accounting process and post contract audits and account close outs.  
• Hold post-contract reviews with the client to establish a lesson learned document and apply lessons to create training manual. 
• Develop procedures governing handover of project.  
• Perform all the duties above through the use/preparation of Bid Analysis Sheets, Change Control Forms, Cost Estimating Software, and Take-off Software. 
• SOX control responsibilities may be part of this role, which are to be adhered to where applicable.