Senior Quantity Surveyor - Portsmouth

Balfour Beatty; Portsmouth; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading construction firm in the UK is seeking a Senior Quantity Surveyor to manage the commercial aspects of its Living Places contracts. This role involves ensuring compliance with contract requirements, managing subcontractors, and engaging collaboratively with clients to deliver effective solutions. The successful candidate will have strong commercial experience, ideally within infrastructure or public realm environments, and will support strategic decision-making while promoting company values.

Benefits

Professional development pathways

Hybrid working environment

Collaborative team culture

Qualifications

• Proven track record in commercial and contractual management in infrastructure projects.
• Thorough understanding of NEC4 and its application in projects.
• Experience in financial reporting and cost control management.
• Strong stakeholder engagement capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Manage commercial aspects of Living Places contracts.
• Support strategic decision-making for contract success.
• Engage effectively with client partners and stakeholders.
• Contribute to contract risk management and financial robustness.

Skills

Strong commercial and contractual experience

Detailed understanding of NEC4 or equivalent forms of contract

Experience managing subcontractors

Excellent planning, organisational and communication skills

Ability to influence stakeholders

Chartered or working towards RICS/ICES

Strong IT skills (MS Office)

Education

Chartered or working towards RICS/ICES

Tools

MS Office

Job description

Senior Quantity Surveyor

Location: Southampton Office (Hybrid – 2 days in the office including Mondays)

Project Type: Highways | Civils | Ports | Local Authority Services – Living Places

Company: Balfour Beatty Group

Balfour Beatty Living Places delivers essential highways, civils, public realm and port infrastructure services across Southampton and Portsmouth. Through long‑term partnerships with local authorities we maintain, improve and transform the places where communities live, work and travel.

About the role

Reporting to the Commercial Manager you will manage the commercial aspects of our Living Places contracts, support strategic decision‑making and ensure effective financial control. You will work collaboratively across the business, client partners and supply chain to deliver commercially sound solutions that support the long‑term success of the contract.

What you’ll be doing

Commercial & Contract Management

• Understand contract requirements, NEC4 provisions and tender strategies, ensuring compliance with all commercial processes.
• Manage subcontractors effectively, including engagement, variations, cost control and final accounts.
• Support commercial reporting including WIP valuation, accruals, open‑book reporting and month‑end activities.
• Assist in developing and implementing the commercial strategy for the contract.

Client & Stakeholder Engagement

• Attend and influence client meetings, representing Balfour Beatty professionally and positively.
• Promote company values and objectives in all client discussions.
• Support the identification, pricing and presentation of change (EWs & CEs) in line with NEC4 processes.

Risk, Finance & Performance

• Contribute to the management of the contract risk register, helping track both risks and opportunities.
• Support Operations and Finance teams to ensure solutions are financially robust and deliver best value.
• Provide commercial documentation in the event of disputes and ensure accurate audit trails.

Supply Chain & Procurement

• Work with procurement teams on the set‑up, administration and performance management of subcontract agreements.
• Promote strong supply‑chain relationships to benefit the contract and wider Living Places business.

Who we’re looking for

What you need

• Strong commercial and contractual experience, ideally within highways, civils, infrastructure or public realm environments.
• Detailed understanding of NEC4 or equivalent forms of contract.
• Experience of managing subcontractors, variations, cost control and change management.
• Excellent planning, organisational and communication skills.
• Ability to influence stakeholders and support commercial decision‑making.
• Chartered or working towards RICS/ICES (preferred).
• Strong IT skills (MS Office; commercial/costing systems).
• Commitment to integrity, teamwork and excellence.

Why join us?

• Long‑term, stable portfolio with meaningful community impact.
• Significant repeat business and strong local authority relationships.
• Hybrid working with a collaborative, supportive team culture.
• Professional development pathways, including chartership support.
• Opportunity to shape commercial performance on a major local contract.

Professional and personal development

The size and scale of Balfour Beatty coupled with our strong pipeline of work provides incredible opportunities, regardless of what stage you are at in your career. We encourage and empower our employees to take control of their career and explore which part of the business they want to work in and what role is right for them. We actively encourage our managers and employees to have open communication throughout the year about wellbeing, development and career opportunities.

We’re proud of the Balfour Beatty Academy. Whether it’s sharpening your technical expertise, improving your personal skills or seeking support to become professionally qualified, our 70:20:10* approach to development means we have a learning approach that suits everyone.

*70% learning on the job, 20% learning from those around you, and 10% formal training courses and learning events.

Why work for us

Day in, day out, our teams deliver some of the UK's most ambitious, exciting and meaningful projects; developing, building and maintaining the vital infrastructure that supports national economies and strengthens communities.

Diversity and inclusion

At Balfour Beatty we believe that diversity and inclusion are essential components of any successful, happy workplace. Through our Value Everyone Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan, we are growing our diverse workforce and developing our inclusive culture where everyone is able to thrive and reach their full potential, regardless of their identity or background. To find out how we are making this a reality, visit www.balfourbeatty.com/diversityandinclusion

To help and support us with our desired commitment to create an inclusive culture we are members of WISE, enei, Business Disability Forum and the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers (AFBE). In 2020, we signed the Audeliss and Involve Open Letter to demonstrate our commitment to taking key long‑term and sustainable actions on Black Inclusion. Balfour Beatty is also a Gold Award holder in the Ministry of Defence ‘Employer Recognition Scheme’ and actively encourage applications from Armed Forces personnel, veterans and reservists.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we are committed to working with people who have disabilities and long‑term health conditions to remove barriers for them in obtaining employment. We are also committed to offering applicants with a disability an interview if they meet the minimum requirements for the role. For more info, visit https://disabilityconfident.campaign.gov.uk/

We are looking to continually improve our resourcing process and ensure that it is fair and inclusive for all. If you have any feedback on the process, please share this with us at [e-mail]