Cost and Commercial Lead - Turnaround

Essar Oil Uk; Ellesmere Port; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday increasing with tenure

Private medical insurance

Holiday purchase flex benefits

Employee Assistance Programme with DIS

Free on-site car parking

Job summary

Essar Energy Transition, Stanlow Manufacturing Complex (Ellesmere Port), is seeking a Cost and Commercial Lead for Turnaround. This site-based, five-day-per-week role focuses on delivering robust cost management across turnaround events, with collaboration across Operations, Maintenance, Procurement and Finance to ensure value delivery.

You will develop estimates, budgets and funding submissions, maintain cost control frameworks and provide timely insight to leadership.

Qualifications

• Experience in turnaround, shutdown or major projects cost engineering.
• Proven ability to develop estimates, budgets and forecasts end-to-end.
• Experience with cost control, accruals and cash flow reporting.
• Ability to challenge commercial assumptions and drive value.
• Professional accreditation preferred (ACostE/MRICS/CIPS).
• Strong stakeholder management across ops, finance, procurement and contractors.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of turnaround estimates, budgets and funding submissions.
• Establish cost control frameworks and baseline baselines for turnarounds.
• Forecast commitments, accruals, costs and EAC throughout planning and execution.
• Identify risks/opportunities and provide timely leadership insights.
• Challenge proposals, delivery strategies and commercial models for value.
• Shape sourcing/contracting strategies with procurement and owners.
• Manage change control and assess commercial impacts.
• Provide commercial assurance for tenders, contracts and invoices.
• Identify cost-saving opportunities and recovery strategies.
• Produce and present cost/performance reports to governance forums.
• Support benchmarking and continuous improvement across future events.
• Provide functional leadership to turnaround teams.

Skills

Turnaround cost engineering

Budgeting & forecasting

Cost control & reporting

Commercial acumen

Stakeholder management

Cost data interpretation

Negotiation & challenge

Leadership & coaching

Risk & opportunity analysis

Change control

Education

Engineering degree

Quantity Surveying

Cost Engineering

Commercial Management

ACostE / MRICS / CIPS

Tools

SAP

Cost management systems

Reporting tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

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Location: Stanlow Manufacturing Complex, Ellesmere Port

Employment Type: Site Based Full Time Role 5 days per week Monday-Friday

• 25 days holiday, increasing with service
• Private medical insurance
• Additional flex benefits, including holiday purchase
• Access to Employee Assistance Programme with exclusive access to a range of Discounts
• Free secure on-site car parking

About the Company

EET (Essar Energy Transition) vision is to be the leading producer of low carbon fuels and establish a blueprint energy transition hub in the North West. EET plays a major role in supplying the Northwest and the wider UK with essential fuels. We produce over 16% of the UK’s road transport fuels, supply key feedstocks to the petrochemical industry, and are investing heavily in low‑carbon energy solutions.

We work with major retail fuel brands, supermarkets, Manchester Airport, leading airlines, and regional transport operators. We are also a key partner in the HyNet project, helping to deliver the region’s low‑carbon future.

With over 900 skilled colleagues, we offer a strong safety culture, technically challenging work, and some of the best training in the energy sector.

As the Cost and Commercial Lead - Turnaround, you will be responsible for providing specialist leadership across estimating, budgeting, forecasting, cost control and commercial value delivery for EET's turnaround portfolio. Working at the heart of major turnaround events, you will ensure robust cost management throughout the turnaround lifecycle, from early planning and funding approval through to execution and close-out. Partnering closely with Operations, Maintenance, Procurement, Finance and contractor organisations, you will provide clear commercial insight, challenge cost assumptions and drive value-focused decision-making to ensure turnarounds are delivered safely, efficiently and within approved funding.

You will:

• Lead the development of turnaround estimates, budgets and funding submissions, ensuring alignment with scope maturity and assurance requirements.
• Establish and maintain cost control frameworks, reporting structures, forecasting processes and budget baselines across turnaround events.
• Drive accurate forecasting of commitments, accruals, actual costs, cash flow and estimate-at-completion throughout planning and execution phases.
• Analyse cost performance, identify risks and opportunities, and provide timely insight and corrective actions to leadership teams.
• Challenge contractor proposals, productivity assumptions, delivery strategies and commercial models to maximise value and cost competitiveness.
• Work with Procurement and contract owners to shape sourcing, contracting and delivery strategies that optimise turnaround outcomes.
• Lead robust change control processes, ensuring scope changes, variations and commercial impacts are accurately assessed and managed.
• Provide commercial assurance for tenders, contract awards, contractor applications, invoices and final accounts.
• Identify cost-saving opportunities, commercial improvements and recovery strategies to enhance turnaround value delivery.
• Produce and present cost and commercial performance reports to turnaround governance and leadership forums.
• Support benchmarking, assurance reviews and continuous improvement initiatives to strengthen cost management performance across future events.
• Provide functional leadership and coaching to turnaround teams, promoting best practice in estimating, forecasting, cost control and commercial assurance.

About You

To succeed in this role, you'll have:

• Significant experience in turnaround, shutdown or major-project cost engineering within refining, petrochemical, oil & gas, energy, heavy manufacturing or another high-hazard industry.
• A strong track record of developing estimates, control budgets and forecasts from project definition through to execution and close-out.
• Extensive experience in cost control, forecasting, accruals, commitments, cash flow analysis and financial reporting.
• Experience managing commercial risk, contract cost assurance, contractor applications and change control processes.
• Strong commercial acumen with the ability to challenge constructively and drive value-focused decision-making.
• The ability to interpret complex cost and commercial data and translate it into clear management insight and recommendations.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, with experience working across operations, maintenance, finance, procurement and contractor organisations.
• Strong negotiation and communication skills, with the confidence to engage and challenge senior stakeholders where required.
• High levels of competence in SAP, cost management systems, reporting tools and Microsoft Office applications.
• A commitment to safety, governance, continuous improvement and delivering high-quality business outcomes.

It would be advantageous if you have:

• A degree in Engineering, Quantity Surveying, Cost Engineering, Commercial Management or a related discipline.
• Professional accreditation such as ACostE, APM, MRICS, CIPS or equivalent.
• Experience supporting benchmarking exercises, assurance reviews and cost management improvement programmes.
• Experience providing functional leadership across multidisciplinary teams in a turnaround or major projects environment.

Application Process

This vacancy will be advertised for a minimum period of two weeks and will remain open to applications until an offer has been made and accepted. Therefore, the vacancy may close at any time after Monday, 16 November 2026, and we encourage interested candidates to apply as early as possible.