Cost Engineer

Colas USA; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading construction firm is looking for a finance assistant in Birmingham to help manage the payment processes and project costs. The role requires hands-on experience in finance within engineering or construction, strong organizational skills, and a good understanding of financial systems. Ideal candidates will have a valid UK driving licence and be detail-orientated. This position offers various benefits, including life assurance and a pension scheme.

Benefits

Industry leading Life Assurance

Wellbeing Employee Assistant Programme

Pension Scheme

Eye Care Vouchers

Long Service Award

Season Ticket Loan

Occupational Health Service

Qualifications

• Experience in a finance or commercial role in engineering or construction.
• Hands-on experience with contractors on large civils or infrastructure projects.

Responsibilities

• Assist with project cost control focusing on labour, plant, and materials.
• Liaise with finance to ensure Days Payment Outstanding remains within tolerance.
• Collate and reconcile site data with financial records.
• Interface with suppliers and subcontractors to address issues.

Skills

Working knowledge of finance systems

Cost and budget administration

Financial and commercial reporting

Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Excel/Outlook)

Working knowledge of PowerBI

Highly organised and detail driven

Full UK Driving licence

Job description

To assist the Colas Rail teams (Commercial/Delivery/Finance) in facilitating timely payment of all incoming Materials/Plant/Labour/Sub-Contract works and ensuring the Cost Clerk team maintains the DPO (Days Payment Outstanding) requirements of the business. Collation of commercial data as required by the Project team (Accruals/PO Status/Account Issues). Timely resolution of all account queries with suppliers and delivery teams.

Person Specification

Working in a finance or commercial function within the engineering or construction sector having hands on experience working for contractors as a CE on large civils or infrastructure projects

• Working knowledge of finance systems
• Cost and budget administration
• Financial and commercial reporting
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Excel/Outlook)
• Working knowledge of PowerBI
• Highly organised and detail driven
• Full UK Driving licence
  

Key Responsibilities

Including but not limited to:

• Working closely with the SQS/QS you will assist with the cost control of the Project, focussing on labour / plant / materials through tracking of orders and regular reconciliation of costs with budget.
• Timely GRN of all POD’s received onto the system, and liaison with the finance team to ensure DPO (Days Payment Outstanding) remains within business tolerance.
• Proactive approach to closing out issues with POD/Invoice issues with suppliers/Delivery Team/Finance.
• Responsible for the accurate and timely cost collation, reconciliation and reporting of data from site records – time and allocation sheets, GRN’s, POD’s (or delivery team approval if POD missing).
• Liaising with Construction Managers / Supervisors for the completion of these site records and retrieving them from one of the MMA Compounds if necessary.
• Ensuring all labour, plant and material schedules and trackers are maintained and accurate as well as periodic review of the suppliers allocated to each Cost Clerk, assuring balanced workloads.
• Liaising with Sub-contractors & Suppliers for Verification of Hours, Missing POD’s, Quantity & Rate errors etc
• Collation, organisation and reconciliation of spreadsheet data and data from finance / cost / site record systems and entering such records into archive as needed (Scanned/Hard Copy & Digital Records)
• Active participation in weekly planned v actual resource usage reporting from weekly “plan, do and review” meetings.
• Support the Project Commercial team as necessary in the preparation of cost reports, audit responses, evaluation of Sub-Contractor Applications & issuing of payment notices & GRN on system.
• Undertake any other reasonable duties as requested.
• Working in close cooperation with Delivery Managers around commercial performance/Purchase Order Utilisation/Missing Tickets/Problem Suppliers
• Review of Purchase Order utilisation & notification to project teams of orders approaching or exceeding 100% utilisation. Reporting same at weekly project review meetings as required.
• Work closely with the Finance and project teams to ensure all processes are followed as required. Identify non conformance and elevate concerns to line management.
• Participating in project management team.
• Providing interface with Suppliers & Sub-Contractors.

What We Offer

• Industry leading Life Assurance
• Wellbeing Employee Assistant Programme
• Pension Scheme
• Eye Care Vouchers
• Long Service Award
• Season Ticket Loan
• Occupational Health Service