Senior Cost Manager / Quantity Surveyor – Data Center Construction
Turner & Townsend is a global professional services company with over 22,000 people in more than 60 countries.
Working with our clients across real estate, infrastructure, energy and natural resources, we transform together delivering outcomes that improve people’s lives. Working in partnership makes it possible to deliver the world’s most impactful projects and programmes as we turn challenge into opportunity and complexity into success.
Our capabilities include programme, project, cost, asset and commercial management, controls and performance, procurement and supply chain, net zero and digital solutions.
We are majority-owned by CBRE Group, Inc., the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm, with our partners holding a significant minority interest. Turner & Townsend and CBRE work together to provide clients with the premier programme, project and cost management offering in markets around the world.
Turner & Townsend is seeking an experienced Senior Cost Manager / Quantity Surveyor to support a large-scale, multi-phase hyperscale data center program.
This position can be based in the Chicago, IL area, with travel to the project site near St. Louis, MO approximately once per month for 2-3 days.
In this role, you will serve as a key day-to-day client interface, leading the delivery of high-value cost management services across a complex, multi-phase data center development. You will be responsible for driving cost planning, procurement strategy, change management, and commercial governance, ensuring consistency, accuracy, and rigor across multiple workstreams and packages.
The ideal candidate is a confident, client-facing professional with strong communication skills, a proactive mindset, and the ability to operate both independently and collaboratively within a high-performing project team.
Responsibilities:
- Serve as the key, day-to-day client interface; ensure client objectives are met through best-in-class cost management.
- Lead scope delivery for assigned phases/packages; coordinate with designers, GC/CM, and trade partners.
- Prepare and present clear written and verbal updates, executive summaries, and recommendations.
- Develop estimates and cost plans through design, presenting updates at each design milestone.
- Review and reconcile estimates with the GC/CM and design team; validate quantities and scope alignment.
- Provide commercial input to design optioneering and value engineering (VE); inform engineering priorities based on cost/constructability.
- Support procurement strategy and contract administration; review contractor/subcontractor pricing.
- Lead/assist price negotiations to drive fair and competitive contract values.
- Provide independent cost/market inputs using internal benchmarks and supplier intelligence.
- Manage change orders end-to-end: evaluate, negotiate, and track through approval.
- Maintain commitment tracking, contingency management, trend analysis, and risk registers.
- Ensure robust cost validation, auditing, and change control processes throughout delivery.
- Produce timely monthly cost reports, forecasts, cash flows, and variance analyses.
- Coordinate funding data, develop executive-level summaries, and facilitate VE/risk sessions.
- Implement and maintain Turner & Townsend Business Management Systems (BMS) and delivery tools; comply with SOX controls where applicable.
- Mentor and coach junior team members; model T&T purpose, values, and service excellence.
- Contribute to continuous improvement of internal tools, templates, benchmarks, and best practices.
- Support account growth and cross-selling through strong stakeholder relationships.
- SOX control responsibilities may be part of this role, which are to be adhered to where applicable.
- Ability to travel to the St. Louis, MO area monthly for a 2-3 day trip.
- Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Quantity Surveying, Engineering, or related field (advanced degree a plus).
- A minimum of 6-7 years of cost management / project controls experience, including leading cost deliverables on medium-to-large, complex projects.
- Data center or mission-critical/industrial project experience strongly preferred.
- Consultancy experience preferred; strong knowledge of procurement, commercial management, contracts, change, and risk.
- Demonstrated expertise in estimating, cost planning, budgeting, reporting, and cost control systems.
- RICS accreditation (or working toward it) strongly preferred.
- Excellent client-facing communication and negotiation skills; ability to influence stakeholders.
- Strong analytical skills with high attention to detail; proficiency with industry-standard cost tools.
*On-site presence and requirements may change depending on our client's needs.*
The base salary range for this role is $140K-$160K USD. This range reflects the company's good faith estimate of the base salary for this position at the time of the posting. Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, skills, qualifications, and internal equity. In addition to base salary, employees may be eligible for bonuses and a comprehensive benefits package.
Our inspired people share our vision and mission. We provide a great place to work, where each person has the opportunity and voice to affect change.
We want our people to succeed both in work and life. To support this we promote a healthy, productive and flexible working environment that respects work-life balance.
Turner & Townsend is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and actively encourage applications from all sectors of the community.
Please find out more about us at www.turnerandtownsend.com/
Turner & Townsend does not accept any speculative or unsolicited CV’s that have been sent to our internal recruitment team or hiring managers from agencies outside of our preferred supplier list or that have not followed due process. Any speculative or unsolicited CV’s will be treated as a direct application.
All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.
Join our social media conversations for more information about Turner & Townsend and our exciting future projects:
It is strictly against Turner & Townsend policy for candidates to pay any fee in relation to our recruitment process. No recruitment agency working with Turner & Townsend will ask candidates to pay a fee at any time.
Any unsolicited resumes/CVs submitted through our website or to Turner & Townsend personal e-mail accounts, are considered property of Turner & Townsend and are not subject to payment of agency fees. In order to be an authorised Recruitment Agency/Search Firm for Turner & Townsend, there must be a formal written agreement in place and the agency must be invited, by the Recruitment Team, to submit candidates for review.