Senior Manager, Capital Project Controls

Zerra DC; Mumbai; On-site; INR 6,000,000 - 9,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Zerra seeks a Senior Manager, Capital Project Controls to own cost planning, forecasting, and procurement governance for its India projects, starting with the Mumbai campus. You will drive budget integrity, contract administration, and risk visibility, coordinating with Group Finance and APAC Strategy to deliver on-time, on-budget outcomes.

The role requires 10+ years in capital project controls within construction, strong cost management and procurement experience in India, and proven

Qualifications

• 10+ years in capital project controls, cost management, or commercial management in construction.
• Experience delivering cost and commercial on large-scale USD 100M+ projects in India, including Mumbai/Maharashtra.
• Experience standing up cost reporting and governance frameworks on greenfield/first-in-market projects.
• Team leadership experience including coaching and development.

Responsibilities

• Own cost planning, forecasting, and financial reporting for India projects with transparent tracking.
• Maintain master cost reports: forecast-to-completion, commitments, contingencies, variances.
• Prepare budgets and cash flow profiles for investment papers and board approvals.
• Enforce cost control procedures and change order governance across Mumbai packages.
• Establish Mumbai cost benchmarking database for civil, MEP, structural, fit-out.
• Lead procurement and contract administration per APAC strategy; ensure alignment with policy.
• Manage procurement-to-pay processes in compliance with group controls and audits.
• Maintain risk registers and quantify cost risk at each stage gate.
• Coordinate with PMO and Finance for portfolio-level reporting and governance.

Skills

Capital project controls

Cost management

Procurement

Contract administration

Excel modelling

CostX/Buildsoft

Regulatory awareness (GST, India)

Leadership

Education

Degree in Quantity Surveying / Construction Management / Engineering

Postgraduate qualification in Project Management or Finance

Professional membership (RICS / CIOB / PMI / AIPM)

Sustainability accreditation (LEED AP / BREEAM)

Tools

CostX

Buildsoft

Excel

Job description

Zerra develops and operates hyperscale data centre campuses across Australia, Japan and India, delivering capacity at scale into markets driven by the growth of cloud and AI. Our flexible campus developments support hyperscale and neocloud organisations, enabling some of the world's fastest-scaling technology businesses to grow with certainty and ambition.
At Zerra, we empower exceptional people to challenge convention, drive innovation and make a real impact in digital infrastructure. Our culture fuses entrepreneurial agility with global expertise, enabling our teams to deliver results that matter.
Zerra is part of AGP, an independently owned investor and asset manager that develops and operates real assets across the energy, digital and real estate sectors.

Job Description

The Senior Manager, Capital Project Controls owns the cost, commercial, and procurement discipline for Zerra's India projects ensuring every rupee of capital is planned, committed, and reported with rigour from site acquisition through to facility handover.
Group procurement policy and APAC-level strategy sit with the Capital Project Controls Director; this role owns the on-the-ground application of those policies for India — budget integrity, contract administration, and procurement execution — alongside the local cost intelligence, supply chain relationships, and regulatory understanding that Zerra does not yet have in-market. The Mumbai campus is Zerra’s India market entry, a hyperscale development in one of the world’s fastest-growing digital infrastructure markets.
Success is defined by budget performance (forecast-to-completion accuracy), contract governance (no unmanaged claims exposure), procurement delivery (lead times met for critical-path packages), and the quality of commercial reporting to the CPC Director India project leadership. Beyond the projects themselves, this role is expected to establish the commercial practices and supply chain knowledge that will underpin Zerra’s broader India programme as it scales.

Responsibilities Cost Planning & Project Controls

Owns cost planning, forecasting, and financial reporting for the India projects — delivering the accuracy and transparency capital decisions depend on.

• Produce and maintain Cost Plans at each E2E stage, reflecting current design, procurement, and risk intelligence.
• Own the master cost report — forecast-to-completion, committed costs, contingency drawdown, variance — delivered monthly to the CPC Director and project leadership.
• Prepare and maintain budgets and cash flow profiles for investment papers, capital raises, and board approvals — to the standards set by the CPC Director and Group Finance.
• Implement and enforce cost control procedures across all Mumbai project packages, with clear change order governance and budget reforecast triggers.
• Establish a Mumbai construction cost benchmarking database (civil, MEP, structural, and fit-out) — a critical deliverable given Zerra’s limited prior India data.
• Identify and elevate cost risks and opportunities early, with quantified impact and recommended mitigations to the CPC Director and project team.
• Support Value Engineering exercises in coordination with Design and Construction teams to optimise whole-of-life cost outcomes for the Mumbai campus.

Procurement & Contract Management

Executes procurement and contract administration in alignment with the APAC Development Strategy and the framework set by the CPC Director — translating group policy into delivery, not setting independent direction.

• Execute procurement strategies (GC, OSE vendors, civil/MEP subcontractors, consultants) strictly within the framework, packaging strategy, and vendor direction set by the CPC Director.
• Run tendering end-to-end (documentation, evaluation, negotiation, execution) per Zerra’s DOA framework and APAC HQ standards; seek CPC Director alignment before any deviation.
• Administer contracts through delivery (variations, claims, EOTs, milestone payments) within approved terms; elevate any position requiring a decision above project level to the CPC Director before commitment.
• Build and maintain a Mumbai vendor qualification and performance register; provide structured feedback and results to the CPC Director to inform APAC-wide supply chain strategy and future India procurement decisions.
• Manage procurement-to-pay processes for the Mumbai project in full compliance with Group procurement policies, internal controls, and audit requirements — no local workarounds or informal arrangements.
• Ensure all contracts are properly documented, executed, and filed in accordance with APAC HQ standards — zero tolerance for undocumented commitments or locally negotiated terms that sit outside the approved framework.
• Feed Mumbai/Maharashtra supply chain intelligence (pricing, lead times, vendor capability, market constraints) to the CPC Director regularly; this role informs strategy, it does not set it.

Project Risk, Issues & Analytical Insights

Runs the commercial risk management process within the framework set by the CPC Director — ensuring risks are identified early, quantified accurately, and escalated before they affect delivery or investment assumptions.

• Own and maintain the Mumbai project commercial risk register, with regular updates to reflect procurement outcomes, market conditions, and construction delivery progress.
• Quantify cost risk at each stage gate using appropriate methodologies calibrated to project maturity and the specific uncertainties of a first-in-market development.
• Analyse India market intelligence (construction cost inflation, labour availability, OSE import duties, utility connection timelines) and feed into cost plans and risk assessments.
• Conduct post-contract lessons-learned reviews and feed findings to the CPC Director, whose remit determines how they shape APAC strategy and future India standards.
• Provide the CPC Director with actionable commercial insights specific to Mumbai and the Maharashtra market, particularly as Zerra evaluates further India expansion.

Stakeholder Engagement

Manages Zerra’s commercial relationships with contractors, consultants, and vendors — driving outcomes through accountability, transparency, and mutual interest.

• Serve as the primary commercial counterpart for Zerra's Mumbai general contractor and major subcontractors from contract award through practical completion.
• Manage cost consultant relationships for the Mumbai project — briefing, reviewing outputs, and holding consultants accountable to scope, quality, and turnaround standards.
• Work with Group Legal to manage contractual disputes, claims, and any formal dispute resolution processes arising from Mumbai contracts.
• Coordinate with OSE vendors on lead times, payment milestones, and site logistics to protect the programme schedule — within terms and relationships established or approved by the CPC Director.
• Maintain relationships with Maharashtra regulatory bodies and utility providers as they relate to permit-linked commercial obligations and connection cost estimates.
• Support the Mumbai project lead in managing customer and partner commercial interfaces where capital delivery commitments are relevant.

Portfolio Coordination & PMO Interface

Integrates India cost and commercial data into portfolio governance — ensuring the PMO and Investment teams have accurate, timely information for decisions.

• Coordinate with the PMO to align Mumbai cost reporting with programme schedule, ensuring cost-to-complete reflects current programme logic and delivery assumptions.
• Provide commercial inputs to stage gate submissions, investment papers, and business case updates for the Mumbai campus.
• Support capital planning and annual budget processes with accurate Mumbai project cost data and forward-looking expenditure profiles.
• Maintain cost reporting formats consistent with Group standards to enable portfolio-level aggregation by the CPC Director and Group Finance.
• Flag schedule-cost interdependencies early and elevate to the PMO and project leadership where commercial commitments may affect Mumbai critical path.

ESG & Sustainability

This role ensures ESG and sustainability commitments are embedded in Mumbai procurement and commercial decisions — treated as delivery standards, not cost overheads.

• Apply Zerra’s sustainability procurement criteria to vendor qualification and contracts, including embodied carbon targets and responsible sourcing.
• Work with Design and Construction to identify and cost low-carbon construction and fitout options, with quantified cost-benefit analysis.

People & Culture

Builds and leads the India project controls team in line with the people strategy and operating model defined by the CPC Director — delivering a team that executes with rigour and contributes to Zerra’s broader India programme capability.

• Recruit, onboard, and develop the India project controls team, with clear role expectations, performance standards, and development pathways.
• Coach team members in cost management, procurement, and contract administration calibrated to the Indian market context.

AI, Digital & Productivity Enablement

This role actively applies digital tools and emerging technologies to improve the speed, accuracy, and scalability of cost controls on the Mumbai project.

• Drive adoption of approved project controls, cost management, and reporting tools to APAC HQ standards.
• Ensure cost and commercial data is captured in structured, queryable formats to support Group-level analytics.

Safety Leadership (Injury & Incident Free)

This role carries personal accountability for maintaining an Injury & Incident Free (IIF) environment across all activities, teams, and sites it influences.

• Embed EH&S requirements in procurement and contract documentation, with clear accountabilities for contractor safety performance.
• Assess vendor and contractor safety records as part of qualification and selection; manage poor performers through contract mechanisms.

Experience, Skills and Competencies

Experience

• 10+ years of experience in capital project controls, quantity surveying, cost management, or commercial management in construction, infrastructure, or mission-critical real estate.
• Demonstrated experience managing cost and commercial delivery on large-scale (USD 100M+) construction projects in India, with direct exposure to Mumbai/Maharashtra contracting, GST, and procurement regulations.
• Data centre, advanced manufacturing, or high-spec industrial/commercial experience strongly preferred; candidates from healthcare, airports, or other MEP-intensive programmes considered.
• Proven track record in contract administration — including variation management, claims assessment, and EOT resolution — in an owner or developer capacity.
• Experience standing up cost reporting and governance frameworks from scratch — ideally on a greenfield market entry or first-in-country project — working across design, construction, finance and legal.
• Team leadership experience, including performance management, coaching, and building capability in junior commercial staff.

Skills

• Proficiency in cost management software (e.g. CostX, Buildsoft, or equivalent) and advanced Excel modelling for cost planning, cash flow, and risk quantification.
• Strong command of construction contracting and procurement methodology — competitive tendering, negotiated procurement, sole-source justification, and DOA frameworks.
• Working knowledge of the Indian regulatory environment relevant to construction and procurement in Maharashtra: GST applicability, import duty on equipment, FEMA for cross-border contracts, and local labour law.
• Analytical capability to build and interpret cost-risk models, contingency frameworks, and range estimates calibrated to project maturity.
• Clear written and verbal communication — able to produce concise, decision-quality cost reports for senior non-technical stakeholders.
• Competencies
• Commercial rigour and delivery ownership — owns the cost position end-to-end, closes loops, escalates early, never lets ambiguity in contract or budget status persist.
• Builds rigour from the ground up — creates the systems, benchmarks, and supplier relationships that don’t yet exist in-market; comfortable where Zerra has no playbook.
• Trusted commercial partner — holds Zerra’s contractual position without apology while earning the confidence of contractors, consultants, and internal stakeholders.
• Collaborative without silos — shares commercial intelligence openly across project team, CPC Director, Finance, Legal, and PMO.
• Transparency and integrity — reports honestly even when the news is difficult; surfaces risks and overruns early.

Desirable Qualifications / Professional Certifications

• Degree in Quantity Surveying, Construction Management, or Engineering; postgraduate qualification in Project Management or Finance is advantageous. Professional membership — RICS, CIOB, or PMI/AIPM — and a sustainability accreditation (LEED AP, BREEAM, or equivalent) are both desirable.
• Working familiarity with Maharashtra’s regulatory and utility environment: BMC approvals, MoEF clearances, and BEST/MSEDCL connection processes.

Commercial Rigour & Delivery Ownership — Owns the Mumbai cost position end-to-end. Closes loops, enforces governance, escalates early, and never lets ambiguity in contract or budget status persist — critical on a first-in-market project with no precedent.

Builds Rigour from the Ground Up —Converts raw cost, contract, and market data into decision-ready analysis showing where the project is heading. Creates the systems, benchmarks, and supplier relationships that don’t yet exist in-market — comfortable where Zerra has no playbook.

Trusted Commercial Partner — Earns the confidence of contractors, consultants, and internal stakeholders through consistency, fairness, and follow-through — while holding Zerra’s contractual position without apology. The person both sides of a negotiation respect.

Collaborative Without Silos —Shares commercial intelligence openly across project team, CPC Director, Finance, Legal, and PMO. Treats cost and procurement knowledge as a project asset, not personal leverage.