Description
Develop and manage project cost estimates, budgets, and controls; analyze cost drivers and risks; integrate cost with schedule; forecast, report, and optimize performance; and support value engineering and investment decisions throughout the project lifecycle.
- • Train and direct cost analysts or estimators.
- • Prepare conceptual through detailed cost estimates using quantity takeoffs, benchmarks, and vendor quotes.
- • Build and maintain project budgets, WBS, and cost coding structures.
- • Analyze scope, drawings, and specifications to identify cost drivers and assumptions.
- • Review contracts, proposals, and purchase orders to validate pricing and commercial terms.
- • Develop cash flow forecasts, commitment curves, and funding profiles.
- • Track commitments, accruals, and actuals; reconcile against budgets and control accounts.
- • Produce periodic cost reports, KPIs, and dashboards for stakeholders.
- • Perform variance and trend analysis; forecast Estimate at Completion (EAC).
- • Lead cost risk assessments and Monte Carlo simulations to establish contingency.
- • Support value engineering and life-cycle cost (LCC) and total cost of ownership (TCO) analyses.
- • Conduct cost-benefit and ROI analyses for design alternatives and technology investments.
- • Evaluate make-versus-buy and sourcing options for total landed cost impacts.
- • Integrate cost with schedule for earned value management (EVM) and progress measurement.
- • Develop and maintain cost databases, unit rates, and productivity norms.
- • Establish cost control procedures, governance, and change management workflows.
- • Assess and price change orders, claims, and trends; maintain a change log.
- • Validate invoices, progress payments, and contractor cost reports.
- • Coordinate with engineering, procurement, construction, and operations to capture accurate cost inputs.
- • Benchmark costs and monitor market indices to identify trends and improvement opportunities.
- • Create scenario models for inflation, commodity prices, labor rates, foreign exchange, taxes, and carbon costs.
- • Provide independent cost reviews, audits, and assurance for stage-gate decisions.
- • Prepare estimate bases, assumptions, exclusions, and risk registers.
- • Determine project feasibility using budget constraints, NPV, IRR, and payback analyses.
- • Ensure compliance with company, client, and industry cost standards and practices (e.g., AACE, EVMS).
- • Support procurement with bid evaluations, cost breakdown structures, and negotiation analytics.
- • Perform constructability and methods analysis to optimize cost and productivity.
- • Prepare capital and operating expenditure (CAPEX/OPEX) plans for facilities and assets.
- • Maintain data integrity and cost traceability in ERP, EAM, CMMS, or cost management systems.
- • Report on the cost impacts of sustainability measures and incentives; price carbon and energy efficiency options.
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Supply Chain & Transportation
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Tasks & skills:
O*NET occupational data (work activities, skills, knowledge).
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This site includes information from O*NET by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Career Clutch has modified some of this information for student readability. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Last reviewed: Jan 2026
