About the position
Our client, a leading mining company, is currently seeking to engage with a Cost Engineer to join their growing team to be based in Kathu, Northern Cape. This will be a 12 month contract, renewable for up to 3 years.
Reporting into the Project Controls Manager, the Project Cost Engineer takes accountability for the planning and management of a cost control system covering the full scope of medium and large size projects.
The Cost Engineer is responsible to ensure:
- Review of the cost estimate (Including comprehensive understanding of the basis of estimate), cash-flow forecast and alignment with Scope, WBS and Schedule.
- The development of an integrated cost control plan incorporating all stakeholders and technical functions, with specific emphasis on integration with the Schedule Management Plan.
- Set-up of required cost controls elements (Data flow and integration from Engineering through to Commissioning).
- Monitoring all cash-flows, providing accurate reports of progress, variance to plan, root causes and remedial actions.
- Monitoring the greater environment to identify potential risks to the cost and financial model.
Minimum Requirements:
- University degree/diploma in Financial Accounting or Quantity Surveying.
- Qualification in Project Management.
- Qualification in Cost Engineering (e.g. AACE).
- Cost Management system experience (e.g. Costrac)
- 5 - 8 years' experience in the following:
- Construction / Engineering Project Management environment.
- Construction Management
- General Management
- Contractor Management.
- Experience in Mining and related operations environment
- Technical areas - Geology, Mining, Metallurgy, Engineering.
- Valid driver's license and own vehicle
- Willing to relocate to Kathu (Northern Cape), if not in the province
Main duties will include, but are not limited to:
Safety, Health, and Environment
- Adhere to all safety, health and environmental practices and requirements.
- SHE policies and procedures:
- Escalate all unsafe practices or risks to the direct supervisor/manager.
- Support good housekeeping in the department and on-site to ensure compliance.
- Active participation in VFLs, Risk Assessments and close-out of Safety Actions.
Development of integrated cost control plans:
- Ensuring alignment with the Group Cost Control Standards for each phase.
- Ensuring alignment with other key elements / parties of the project e.g. Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Commissioning, Project Economics, Estimating, Scheduling and Cost Accounting.
- Assisting with the development of the WBS and then ensuring integrity of data between Scope, WBS and Cost Break-down Structure.
- Base lining detailed cash flow (incl. escalation and forex) directly related to the baseline estimate and schedule.
- Set-up of an efficient controlled invoice approval process.
- Support to the development of commercial contracts in order to understand risks to cost control and therefore strategy to treat.
- Review and ensure delineation of cost control responsibilities to ensure that owner's interests are sufficiently protected.
- Establishment of required tools and techniques to ensure ongoing data integrity (auditable) and alignment.
Reporting & Analysis
- Provide financial support to other departments as requested to ensure operational efficiency and maintain data integrity through monthly accurate financial reports.
- Conduct financial analysis and evaluation of business drivers to ensure alignment with business objectives.
- Analyze monthly cost reports to eliminate deviations from the budget and supply "over cost" expenditure information to Finance in a timely and justified manner.
- Monitor the financial evaluation of business initiatives (cost and revenue ideas) to avoid deviations and enhance profitability.
- Conduct project evaluations as initiated by the business to assess project profitability.
- Apply Earned Value Management (EVM) principles, including data validation, forecasting and reporting.
- Prepare and present financial performance reports to management, highlighting key trends and areas for improvement.
- Liaising frequently with the Scheduling team to understand any potential schedule conflicts, resource constraints, time constraints, etc.
- Early identification of variance.
- Analysis and interpretation of root cause(s).
- Thorough review of options to remedy cause and / or recover.
- Initiate formal change process where applicable and maintain full ownership of the change control register, ensuring scope, cost and schedule is integrated into the forecast.
- Forecast (trending) impact and adjust cash-flow and budgets accordingly based on confidence in remedial and recovery actions.
- QA of the data collection process (working with and in supplier and contractor offices).
- Effective (audience focused) communication of key messages.
Cost Management & Compliance
- Continuously review and improve financial processes and controls to enhance compliance, efficiency and effectiveness.
- Maintain the development and management of a financial tracking system for audit purposes.
- Monitor the section's expenditure within the approved budget to ensure effective cost control and identify potential savings.
- Enforce compliance requirements and ensure team adherence to legal policies and corporate governance principles.
- Assist in developing and implementing cost control strategies and best practices across projects.
Stakeholder Engagement & Support
- Maintain appropriate stakeholder relationships, enhancing the corporate profile and fostering collaboration.
- Provide relevant financial support to applicable stakeholders, ensuring their needs are met effectively.
- Maintain internal and external relations, including interactions with external providers or other functions responsible for meeting business needs and achieving employee satisfaction.
- Collaborate with project managers to identify and manage financial risks throughout the project lifecycle.
Required technical skills:
- Proficiency in computer skills, particularly in using MS Office, including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
- Ability to make sound decisions based on available information and analysis.
- Capability to deliver precise and engaging presentations to various audiences.
- Strong research abilities to gather and analyse data effectively.
- Proficiency in analysing and interpreting complex information and data.
- Understanding of the essential principles governing effective financial systems.
- Ability to identify patterns and connections between information and unrelated situations.
- Able to judge situations from a business perspective and use business sense to identify and respond to opportunities.
- Able to scan the local and broader environment to gather diverse information potentially relevant to achieving objectives.
- Skilled in working effectively in different contexts, demonstrated by the capacity to amend one's approach to be in line with evolving circumstances and priorities.
- Professional reporting writing skills (minimum requirement that must be demonstrated).
Position interfaces with:
Internal Relationships:
- Project Manager, Area Project Manager
- Manager SIB Projects
- Manager Project Services
- VP Projects
- BU/Group Finance team
External Relationships:
- External auditors
- Suppliers engaged in finance department service provision.
- Contractors and consultants engaged in finance department work.
Desired Skills:
- cost engineer
- cost control
- cost engineering
- project controls
- AACE
- Cost management
- Quantity Surveying
- mine
- mining
- engineering
- construction
- contractor management
Desired Work Experience:
Desired Qualification Level:
