Cost Engineer - Life Sciences Construction

Turner & Townsend is seeking a Cost Engineer to join our growing Life Sciences team. This role plays a key part in providing robust cost management support across complex construction programs, with a particular focus on cost controls, payment application review, forecasting, change management, and commercial assurance throughout the project lifecycle.

The successful candidate will support the delivery of large-scale, highly regulated construction projects within the Life Sciences sector, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology, laboratory, manufacturing, and research facilities. The role will work closely with project management, procurement, contract management, and commercial teams to ensure effective financial performance, reporting, and cost governance throughout all phases of project delivery.


Responsibilities:

• Support the review, validation, and audit of GMP payment applications from general contractors and subcontractors.
• Assist in the development and maintenance of detailed project budgets covering labor, materials, equipment, and services.
• Perform detailed cost analysis, forecasting, earned value assessment, and variance analysis to support proactive cost control and risk management.
• Support the review and validation of change orders, potential change notices (PCNs), and claims, ensuring alignment with contract requirements and project budgets.
• Review and validate contractor and consultant cost estimates, bid submissions, and budget updates for accuracy, completeness, and commercial reasonableness.
• Identify potential commercial and financial risks and support mitigation strategies.
• Prepare cost reports, dashboards, forecasts, and progress updates for internal teams and clients.
• Collaborate with project management, procurement, and contract management teams to provide cost planning and cost control support.
• Assist in identifying cost efficiencies, value engineering opportunities, and cost-saving initiatives throughout project execution.
• Support the management of third-party quantity surveyors and validation of construction cost estimates.
• Maintain historical cost data, benchmarking information, and lessons learned to support future project planning and estimating efforts.
• Support monthly cost reporting, forecasting activities, and performance metric tracking.
• SOX control responsibilities may be part of this role, which are to be adhered to where applicable.