Lead Principal Data Center Cost Manager

Key Responsibilities

Cost Management Leadership and Ownership

• 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 cost management and 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

• Implement and contribute to 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). 
• 10+ 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.