Cost Director

The Cost Director at HS2 is responsible for owning, managing, and providing strategic leadership for the overall development, management, and control of the programme cost baseline and forecast, encompassing both cost management and cost estimation. This role will provide overarching strategic and functional leadership across all phases and portfolios within the organisation, ensuring the highest levels of technical excellence and adherence to industry standards. The Director will be instrumental in developing, implementing, and embedding comprehensive cost management and estimation policies, processes, and standards across the organisation, acting as the central guiding mind for the wider supply chain.

HS2 Ltd endeavours to ensure everyone working for us and with us feels included, thrives and achieves their full potential. In practice, this means we are positive and inclusive about making adjustments, providing flexible working, encouraging our staff networks to flourish and providing personal and professional development opportunities.

Location: The role requires a minimum of three days per week office location. The role can be based in London or Birmingham.

About the role

• Accountable for developing and leading the implementation of the 'HS2 Cost Management Strategy' and 'HS2 Cost Estimation Strategy', ensuring are effectively communicated, understood, and embedded across the entire organisation.
• Providing strategic leadership and expert advice to the programme in support of the overall cost baseline. This includes overseeing the development of comprehensive programme performance reports that articulate current performance, including Earned Value Management (EVM), forecasted costs, and Estimates at Completion (EAC) pressures.
• Accountable for maintaining the unlet scope, budget, and cost forecasts, ensuring early visibility of trends is highlighted and acted upon accordingly, enabling executive decision-making based upon real-time data intelligence.
• Responsible for developing and leading strategic relationships with key internal and external stakeholders, including the Department for Transport (DfT), wider government bodies, the supply chain, and third parties. This involves maintaining high levels of transparency and cooperation to ensure sustained confidence in the organisation's ability to deliver within the prescribed approved budget.
• Accountable for providing the overall leadership and strategic direction of the Line of Defence 1 (LoD1) assurance activity across both Cost Management and Cost Estimation, ensuring consistency, best practice, and lessons learned are upheld and integrated.
• Acting as the senior point of contact within the Programme Management Office (PMO) with accountability for providing expert advice and guidance to the Department for Transport (DfT) and other infrastructure bodies (e.g., Network Rail, Transport for London (TfL)) in support of building and maintaining specialist industry knowledge.
• Responsible for developing, leading the implementation of, and continuously improving robust cost management and estimation standards, policies, and processes (including validation of cost performance data submitted by the supply chain, EVM, etc.), ensuring they are communicated, embedded, and consistently applied across the organisation.
• Accountable for leading the Cost and Estimating function, setting strategic objectives, reviewing performance, and ensuring that employees, including the Head of Cost and Head of Cost Estimation, have the necessary skills and understanding to deliver the team’s objectives.
• Accountable for deploying of specialist resources and expertise in cost and estimating across all relevant areas of the organisation, to enable effective delivery within the Project Controls teams.
• Responsible for providing overall specialist cost and estimating advice in support of freedom of information requests and responses to other industry requests.
• Responsible for the financial management of budgets and workforce planning relating to the Cost and Estimating function.
• Actively promote and embed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in all work, and support and comply with all organisational initiatives, policies, and procedures on EDI.

About you

Skills

• Leadership capabilities to define and prioritise department and team members objectives, strategic direction and integration with the other directorates in the programme. Ability to direct the broader team on the actions needed to manage and mitigate any critical issues at a directorate level.
• Effective communication and influencing skills, with the ability to lead and provide strategic guidance to Cost and Estimation teams. Ability to engage and influence senior internal and external stakeholders across the programme.
• High proficiency in developing, reviewing, analysing and understanding cost and estimating inputs and outputs. Ability to integrate and analysis numbers in conjunction with other core controls components including scope, schedule, risk.
• Rational thinking to integrate with other departments and functions, including Controls and other functions like Finance, Commercial, Delivery.
• Ability to assimilate large volumes of date, ensuring strategic understanding to lead Cost and Estimation function.
• Ability to deliver Cost Management, Estimation, and Project Controls roles in large, complex projects through line and matrix team arrangements utilising directly employed staff or contract-based provision.
• Stakeholder management including the ability to engage, influence, negotiate, and develop consensus with HS2 Board and Executive, senior internal, external and supply-chain parties.
• Setting and communicating a compelling vision and direction and keeping diverse teams focused on the same goals.

Knowledge

• Knowledge on how to lead and motivate Cost and Estimating teams in high complexity environments, major programme, or similar organisations.
• Knowledge on Cost management and Estimation methodologies in line with industry best practices.
• Knowledge in baseline development and management for major programmes or similar high complex environments.
• Knowledge of other associated controls disciplines including but not limited to Schedule, Risk, Change Management, Performance and Reporting.
• Knowledge and detail awareness of financial and commercial function, including delineation of responsibilities and accountabilities in major programmes and similar high complex environments.
• Awareness of standard assurance processes implemented in major programme environments

Type of Experience

• Demonstrable experience leading at senior level cost, estimating, or similar teams in major programmes or similar high complex organisation.
• Experience managing and influencing complex relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience of operating effectively as senior leader, undertaking strategic roles which are subject to internal and external scrutiny.
• Experience providing strategic advice to enable proactive decision making, mitigating challenges and increasing value added opportunities.
• Experience on managing big teams, creating a positive environment to support professional development of team members.
• Experience of directing a large multi-disciplinary team including internal staff and external consultants to achieve challenging business outcomes.
• Experience of developing and reporting to Executive and Board level forums and providing confidence to critical third parties.

The post-holder is expected to behave at all times in a manner consistent with the HS2 values of Safety, Leadership, Integrity and Respect. It is expected that you will actively promote and embed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in all your work and support and comply with all organisational initiatives, policies and procedures on EDI.

We ask for a variety of detail in your online application, however we perform the first assessment of suitability for a role based solely on the information in your CV. In a further development of our efforts to create a more diverse workforce, your CV will be anonymised and personal information will be removed during the first stage of the application review. This removes bias from the process and makes it even more important that you attach an updated word version of your CV for each new application ensuring you include evidence directly related to the criteria in the job advert. Watch this video on how we remove bias in the recruitment process: Removing bias in the recruitment process - YouTube

Any applications received after the closing date will not be considered.