Director, Development Cost & Capital Planning

Nscale Ltd.; East Ham; Hybrid; GBP 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Nscale Ltd. is seeking a Director, Development Cost & Capital Planning to own the Total Development Cost (TDC) across the EMEA development portfolio, from Gate 0 to Gate 2, ensuring cost certainty and governance.

You will develop estimates and cost models, drive risk planning and deliver investment-grade business cases to support site selection and approvals. You will lead the early-stage budgeting, benchmark costs and cross-functional cost management, with a view to building a high-performing

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in quantity surveying, cost management, estimating, commercial management or capital planning.
• Experience in hyperscale data centres, mission critical facilities, major infrastructure, energy or industrial developments.
• Ability to build cost plans and budgets with limited information.
• Strong understanding of the data centre development lifecycle from site origination to construction mobilisation.
• Experience preparing the cost basis for investment-grade business cases and underwriting budgets.

Responsibilities

• Own L0, L1 and L2 estimates for the EMEA portfolio and maintain Total Development Cost (TDC) through Gate 2.
• Prepare estimates, cost models, risk registers and investment-grade business cases; establish governance for future growth.
• Develop to manage a high-performing team supporting Development across the EMEA region.
• Development Cost Planning & Estimating across the EMEA portfolio; maintain TDC, proforma, and development cost baseline through Gate 2.
• Investment underwriting: provide CAPEX, contingency, cash flow inputs for acquisitions and Investment Committee approvals.
• Risk management & contingency planning: maintain risk registers and governance.
• Site selection support: assist in due diligence and cost/risk assessments for acquisitions.
• Power, utilities & infrastructure assessment: integrate costs into the development budget.
• Procurement & supply chain integration: align with procurement on capacity and long-lead items.
• Cost benchmarking: maintain EMEA benchmarks and escalation assumptions.
• Contract/lease support: assist land/power acquisition and leasing with cost annexes.
• Market intelligence: retain benchmark costs and reintegrate as-built costs.
• Portfolio planning & forecasting: lead CAPEX forecasting and cashflow planning.
• Governance & gateway approvals: own cost deliverables for Gate 0-2.
• Global WBS alignment and handover into Delivery: structure estimates for handover at Gate 2.
• Lessons learned and estimating accuracy improvement.
• Functional leadership: lead development cost planning across EMEA and build the team.

Skills

Cost management

Estimating

Capital planning

Quantity surveying

Commercial management

Budgeting

Education

Degree in Quantity Surveying, Construction Economics, Commercial Management, Engineering or related discipline

MRICS, CICES, ACostE or equivalent accreditation

Tools

Excel

Cost modelling tools

Job description

The Director, Development Cost & Capital Planning is accountable for establishing cost certainty, capital planning, development risk and commercial viability across Nscale's EMEA Development portfolio from site identification (Gate 0) through due diligence (Gate 1) to development sanction and 'shovel-ready' transition into Delivery (Gate 2). The role owns L0 Indicative Estimates, L1 Estimated Budgets and L2 Schematic Design Budget for every EMEA opportunity, consolidating the development, energy, design, construction, procurement and AI infrastructure workstream budgets into a single Total Development Cost (TDC) providing the commercial and financial foundation for site selection, land and lease acquisitions, Colocation leases, underwriting business cases, investment committee approvals and project approvals. Operating as an individual contributor at first, the role will personally prepare estimates, cost models, risk registers, benchmarking and investment-grade business cases while establishing the systems, governance and processes required for future growth. The role will develop to manage a high performing team supporting the Development function as it expands across the EMEA region.

• Development Cost Planning & Estimating - Own L0, L1 and L2 estimates across the EMEA portfolio, maintaining the Total Development Cost (TDC), proforma and development cost baseline through Gate 2. Where early stage budgets have missing elements, propose and agree estimates and placeholders with the project team.
• Investment Underwriting & Business Case Development - Provide CAPEX, contingency, cash flow and cost-risk inputs to support acquisitions, business cases and Investment Committee approvals.
• Development Risk Management and Contingency Planning - Maintain project risk registers and govern contingency in accordance with Nscale policy.
• Site Selection & Land Acquisition Support - Support site screening, due diligence and acquisition decisions through cost, risk and abnormality assessments.
• Power, Utilities & Infrastructure Assessment - Integrate power, utility and enabling infrastructure costs and schedules into the overall development budget.
• Procurement & Strategic Supply Chain Integration - Work with Procurement and Strategic Sourcing to incorporate market capacity, procurement strategy, long-lead items and supply chain risks into estimates.
• Cost Benchmarking - Maintain EMEA cost benchmarks, escalation assumptions and market intelligence across key jurisdictions.
• Contract / Lease Support - Support the Development team in all areas of land / power acquisition and Colocation leasing and contracting, providing cost annexes in the agreed contract form.
• Market Intelligence - Retain current market benchmark costs and reintegrate as-built costs of developments into pre-development modelling and estimates.
• Portfolio Capital Planning & Forecasting - Lead portfolio CAPEX forecasting, cashflow planning and variance reporting for all pre-sanction opportunities.
• Development Governance & Gateway Approvals - Own cost deliverables, assurance and reporting for Gate 0-2 approvals.
• Global WBS Alignment and Handover into Delivery - Structure all estimates to the Global WBS and lead commercial transition to Delivery at Gate 2.
• Lessons Learned and Estimating Accuracy Improvement - Improve estimate accuracy, benchmarking and contingency calibration through estimate-to-outturn analysis.
• Functional Leadership and Future Team Development - Act as EMEA lead for development cost planning, establishing standards, tools and governance with responsibility for building and leading the team as the portfolio scales.
  10+ years of experience in quantity surveying, cost management, estimating, commercial management or capital planning.
• Proven experience within hyperscale data centres, mission critical facilities, major infrastructure, energy or industrial developments.
• The ability to build experienced based cost plans and budgets when limited information exists.
• Strong understanding of the full data centre development lifecycle from site origination, early stage development, planning, permitting through construction mobilisation.
• Experience preparing the cost basis for investment-grade business cases and underwriting budgets.
• Experience developing risk registers, contingency models and portfolio capital plans.
• Strong understanding of contractor markets, procurement strategies and supply chain dynamics.
• Experience working with developers, investors, lenders, consultants and contractors.
• Demonstrated ability to present to Executive Committees, Investment Committees and Board stakeholders.
• Fluency in data centre cost benchmarking (€/MW, €/m², cost per IT load) and the development cost drivers of power, cooling and AI-ready infrastructure.
• Working knowledge of EMEA contract forms and procurement routes (e.g. FIDIC, NEC and local equivalents) and their cost and risk implications.
• Proficiency with estimating and cost management tools and advanced Excel-based cost and cash flow modelling.
• Right to work [UK / EU] and willingness to travel across EMEA.

Preferred:

• Degree in Quantity Surveying, Construction Economics, Commercial Management, Engineering or related discipline.
• MRICS, CICES, ACostE or equivalent professional accreditation preferred but not essential.
• Experience across multiple EMEA jurisdictions.
• Experience supporting large-scale AI, cloud, hyperscale or mission-critical developments.

At Nscale, we are building the infrastructure for Europe's AI revolution. Nscale is developing cutting-edge sovereign generative AI solutions, powered by a new generation of high-performance, sustainable data centres and GPUs built specifically for AI workloads. The growth of artificial intelligence is driving unprecedented global demand for compute and GPU infrastructure. Nscale is positioned at the heart of this transformation - building the platforms that will enable the next decade of innovation. Nscale is working closely with the world's most advanced AI technology providers, integrating next-gen compute hardware and GPU clusters in both partner and Nscale built facilities. This is a unique opportunity to join Nscale's journey, play a key role in delivering transformative AI infrastructure, and help shape a company scaling globally with a key focus in the EMEA region.