Principal Data Center Cost Manager

- Review and maintain project budgets and cost forecasts throughout the project lifecycle.
- Monitor and report on project expenditures, cash flow, and financial performance against approved budgets.
- Lead contract administration activities including procurement, change orders, and claims management.
- Identify, assess, and mitigate project risks, proactively addressing potential cost overruns and schedule delays.
- Collaborate closely with project managers, engineers, architects, contractors, and other stakeholders to align financial objectives with project delivery goals.
- Implement and maintain best practices for cost management, control, and reporting processes.
- Prepare and present regular cost and financial reports to senior management and relevant stakeholders.
- Support value engineering efforts to optimize costs while maintaining quality and project requirements.
- Ensure compliance with company policies, industry standards, and regulatory requirements throughout all project phases.

Cost Strategy, Governance & Controls

• Own the cost management strategy across one or more gigascale projects/programs from early design through closeout.
• Build cost governance: WBS/CBS structures, cost codes, control accounts, reporting cadence, and executive dashboards.
• Establish standards for estimating, forecasting, contingency management, and cost risk practices across the program.
• Provide clear cost narratives to leadership: variances, drivers, corrective actions, and forward-looking risk.

Estimating, Budgeting & Forecasting

• Lead concept-to-definitive estimating aligned to design maturity (e.g., ROM, schematic, DD, CD).
• Develop and maintain the overall project budget, cash flow, and long-range forecast; reconcile to funding and finance requirements.
• Benchmark costs using historical data, market intelligence, and parametric models; validate unit rates and productivity assumptions.
• Drive monthly cost report cycles with disciplined cost-to-complete and earned-value-informed forecasting where applicable.

Change Management & Commercial Management

• Implement a robust change control process to manage scope, schedule, and cost impacts with strong documentation.
• Evaluate change orders and claims: pricing, entitlement, schedule linkage, and negotiation support.
• Partner with contracts/procurement to align cost controls with contract types (GMP, lump sum, target cost, T&M) and commercial terms.
• Manage contingencies and allowances using risk-based approaches; maintain traceability of drawdowns and releases.
• Develop and govern dashboards (e.g., Power BI/Tableau) that integrate schedule, procurement, and cost data for predictive insights.
• Ensure AI outputs are explainable, auditable, and compliant with data governance and privacy requirements.

Procurement & Market Intelligence

• Support procurement strategy through cost modeling, bid analysis, supplier benchmarking, and should-cost frameworks.
• Track material and labor indices; assess escalation exposure and recommend mitigation actions (buyouts, alternates, hedging where applicable).
• Coordinate with logistics and construction teams to quantify impacts from lead times, resequencing, and field productivity shifts.

Stakeholder Leadership

• Serve as a trusted advisor to program leadership, project managers, design teams, construction managers, and finance partners.
• Lead cost reviews with internal and external stakeholders; communicate complex cost topics clearly to non-cost audiences.
• Mentor junior cost engineers/analysts; standardize templates, playbooks, and training for scale and repeatability.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Quantity Surveying, Finance, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 12+ years progressive experience in cost management/cost controls for large capital projects (multi-site or campus-scale preferred).
• Demonstrated expertise in estimating, forecasting, change control, and contract/commercial evaluation.
• Strong working knowledge of construction means and methods, cost drivers, productivity, and sequencing.
• Advanced Excel skills; proficiency with cost systems and project controls tools (e.g., EcoSys, Unifier, Primavera P6, MS Project, SAP/Oracle ERP, or similar).
• Ability to build executive-ready reporting and drive disciplined monthly performance routines.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience on hyperscale/gigascale programs (data centers, semiconductor fabs, EV/battery plants, large infrastructure, energy).
• Experience integrating cost and schedule data (EVMS concepts, production/earned value methods).
• Certifications: CCP (AACE), MRICS, PMP, or equivalent.
• Experience designing cost data models, governance standards, and automated reporting pipelines.

Core Competencies

• Commercial acumen and negotiation support
• Structured problem solving; strong attention to detail with executive-level judgment
• High ownership in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
• Data fluency and a continuous improvement mindset
• Integrity, discretion, and strong governance orientation