Quantity Surveyor Defence Full-Time

Turner & Townsend; West of England; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

Turner & Townsend in the UK Defence sector is seeking a Quantity Surveyor to join our Defence team, delivering cost control and estimating on high-profile programmes.

You will work across South East, South West and Midlands, spending about 60% on client sites and Turner offices, with hybrid arrangements. A relevant estimating/QS qualification is essential, and UK MoD Security Clearance is required.

Qualifications

• Essential: Estimating, Quantity Surveying or Cost Engineering qualification.
• Experience in Infrastructure sector (Rail, air, power, highways).
• Strong MS Office skills and client-facing experience.

Responsibilities

• Establish relationships with clients and project teams.
• Administer contracts in line with project objectives and policies.
• Provide cost monitoring, forecasting and reporting to budget.
• Monitor cost variance and contract cash flow; ensure timely applications.
• Collaborate with client and contractor teams to deliver KPIs and value engineering.
• Manage contract change within governance and best practices.
• Support Estimating good practice within Turner & Townsend.
• Assist in achieving departmental objectives.
• Stay updated on developments in own technical area to advise.

Skills

Client-facing

Cost control

Forecasting

Teamwork

Communication

Education

Degree in Estimating/QS/Cost Eng

Tools

MS Excel

Estimating software

Job description

Company Description

Important: Before applying, due to the sensitive nature of these projects, you must be a SOLE UK National who is able to achieve and maintain UK MoD Security Clearance (SC). See Security Clearance Section.

Already holding SC Clearance is desirable however we advise that if you feel you would be a great candidate for this role, please apply.

At Turner & Townsend, we’re passionate about making the difference. That means delivering better outcomes for our clients, helping our people to realise their potential, and doing our part to create a prosperous society. Every day, we help our major global clients deliver ambitious and highly technical projects in over 110 offices worldwide.

Turner & Townsend within the UK has a wide range of key clients in various sectors, including Health, Local Authorities, Higher Education, Highways, Utilities, Rail, and Defence. Our diverse portfolio of clients provides our team members with unique and rewarding opportunities to gain experience across a broad range of major programmes and projects.

Turner & Townsend are a key Tier 1 supplier of project and programme management services to the Ministry of Defence and strategic Defence suppliers in the UK. We play a crucial role in supporting the defence of the United Kingdom, whilst ensuring our clients achieve better outcomes

Join a Team Where Your Perspective Matters

At Turner & Townsend, you’ll benefit from strong professional development and international exposure, as well as comprehensive health and well‑being support. Employees also frequently highlight our positive work‑life balance and the flexibility offered through hybrid working opportunities.

We know that diverse teams deliver better outcomes — and we actively welcome people of all identities, backgrounds, and career journeys. If you’re looking for a place where your voice is valued, your potential is supported, and your work has real impact, we’d love to meet you.

Our Cost Centre, Programme Performance, combines practical transformation delivery with project insight to help organisations make better decisions, manage uncertainty, and deliver consistent programme performance. Our service offerings span across Defence, including in the regulated environment.

We are actively looking to expand the team due to client requirements and have talented individuals join us who will support our broad client portfolio, whilst further developing their career, working on a range of complex and challenging commissions.

Job Description

Turner & Townsend is one of the leading consultancy providers to the Infrastructure and Defence sectors and we have a thriving UK QS team making the difference for a large number of clients both in the UK and Overseas. We are now looking for talented Quantity Surveyors with proven experience to work with a number of our key Defence sector clients across the South East, South West and Midlands in a wide variety of exciting projects/programmes.

Main Purpose of the Role

You will be a Quantity Surveyor within our Defence business working on a variety of client and Turner & Townsend projects and initiatives.

Key Accountabilities

• Establishing friendly, professional and appropriate relationships with clients, colleagues and other parties involved in the projects and programmes we support.
• Support in administering a variety of contracts in accordance with project objectives and policies.
• Providing accurate project cost monitoring, forecasting and reporting to completion in line with budget.
• Assist in pro-actively monitoring and managing cost variance and contract cash flow and ensuring that applications are made correctly and in a timely manner.
• Collaborating with client and contractor teams to manage the delivery of project deliverables, KPIs, and objectives, including programme performance, cost control, and value engineering.
• Managing contract change effectively, ensuring that projects remain within governance and adopt best practice.
• Proactively providing sound commercial knowledge and support to all stakeholders.
• Support the negotiation and agreement of final accounts.
• Able to work as part of a team or as an individual with limited supervision.
• Supporting development and promotion of estimating good practice within Turner & Townsend.
• Supporting estimating good practice as a representative of Turner & Townsend within our client organisations.
• Assisting in the achievement of departmental objectives.
• Staying abreast of developments within own technical area of expertise to be able to give best practice advice in line with business objectives.

Qualifications

Essential:

• Qualification in Estimating, Quantity Surveying or Cost Engineering
• Experience of working in the Infrastructure (Rail, air, power, highways) sector
• Demonstrable and proven experience in:
• Compilation, assurance and delivery of complex estimates and cost models
• Working within an integrated Project Controls team
• Single-sourced, non-competed public procurement
• Excellent and flexible skills in Microsoft Office Suite (MS Excel, Work, PowerPoint)
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with experience of working in a client‑facing environment

Preferred:

• Membership of a relevant professional body with chartered status and/or educated to degree level
• Experience in early-stage estimating in complex / major Defence Infrastructure programmes
• Familiarity with industry-standard estimating software packages

Additional Information

Working in teams/ Office & Site attendance

Turner & Townsend recognises the importance of helping its employees harmonise their work and home life by offering hybrid working, that enable them to balance their working life with other priorities. At the same time T&T recognises that employee office and site attendance must always remain in line with the demands of the business and clients. Currently, we anticipate you being on client sites or Turner & Townsend offices 60% of your time, but this may flex depending on client and business requirements. The office is not the only place work gets done, but it is increasingly important for teams to be stronger together by learning, collaborating, and creating amazing work together

Security Clearance

Important: Before applying, due to the sensitive nature of these projects, you must be a SOLE UK National who is able to achieve and maintain UK MoD Security Clearance (SC).
Many of the clients and projects we support are subject to MoD security clearance and Trade Control restrictions. This means that your eligibility for certain roles may be affected by your place of birth, nationality, time out of country, current or former citizenship, and any residency you hold or have held. Further details are available at United Kingdom Security Vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Person focus

Turner & Townsend is looking for the right people to join our team- if you do not fulfil 100% of the advert but think you can add value to our teams and clients please apply or reach out to the recruiter for a discussion.

Values & Behaviours

• The successful candidate will demonstrate behaviours that are consistent with the T&T Value and Behaviours Model

Love a challenge

• We love a challenge and we work hard to make change happen and see things through. We don’t stand still, challenging ourselves and others to do better every day. And we are trusted to do the right thing, raising standards all the time.

Stronger together

• We’re stronger together by connecting people in diverse teams, so that we can all collaborate to deliver our best work. We focus on what matters and use our influence to build a better world for everyone.

Bring out the best in everyone

• 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.

SOX control responsibilities may be part of this role, which are to be adhered to where applicable.