Senior Cost Controls Lead — Mega Projects & Closeouts

Jacobs; Riyadh; On-site; SAR 420,000 - 660,000; Full time

Job summary

Jacobs is seeking a Lead Cost Engineer in Saudi Arabia to own cost reporting across the portfolio, manage budgets, accruals, and forecasts, and provide a clear view of final costs to senior stakeholders.

The role requires deep project controls and cost management experience on megaprojects, with emphasis on budgets, funding, and closeout activities across multi-contract programs in the GCC.

Qualifications

• Minimum 20 years of project controls and cost management experience.
• Minimum 10 years of experience on major projects in Saudi Arabia and/or the GCC.
• Experience managing cost control on mega-projects or mixed-use programs with multi-billion SAR portfolios and a high volume of contracts.
• Substantial experience in budgets, accruals, forecasts, commitments, cash flow, funding, and cost reconciliation.
• Experience supporting contract termination, demobilization, preservation, final account, or closeout activities.
• Bachelor degree in Engineering, Construction Management, Quantity Surveying, Project Management, Business, Finance, or a related discipline.
• PMP, CCP, RICS, AACE, or a comparable credential is preferred.
• Owner, IPMT, PMC, or major program experience is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own cost reporting across the portfolio and set the monthly cost control cycle, data requirements, and review timetable.
• Manage approved budgets, allocations, transfers, and cost coding across multiple contracts and workstreams.
• Develop and maintain detailed forecasts, forecast-at-completion positions, and closeout cost projections.
• Manage the monthly accrual process, including validation, reconciliation, aging review, and clearing of unsupported or duplicate accruals.
• Track commitments, actual costs, pending liabilities, settlements, and remaining exposure through contract closure.
• Prepare cash flow forecasts and funding requirements for termination, demobilization, preservation, settlement, and closeout.
• Reconcile SAP, Oracle Unifier, commercial records, and project reporting data, and resolve material differences.
• Lead cost inputs to weekly reports, monthly portfolio reports, closeout reports, preservation cost reports, dashboards, and presentations.
• Provide cost substantiation and supporting records for claims, disputes, settlement discussions, and final account reviews.
• Set cost reporting templates, controls, and data checks, with a clear audit trail for assumptions and forecast changes.
• Explain movements in budgets, commitments, accruals, actuals, cash flow, and forecasts.
• Support the Project Controls Manager in portfolio reviews and senior stakeholder discussions.

Skills

Cost management

Project controls

Budgeting

Forecasting

Data analysis

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree (Engineering/Construction/PM/Finance)

Tools

SAP

Oracle Unifier

Job description

Jacobs is seeking a Lead Cost Engineer in Saudi Arabia to own cost reporting across the portfolio, manage budgets, accruals, and forecasts, and provide a clear view of final costs to senior stakeholders.

The role requires deep project controls and cost management experience on megaprojects, with emphasis on budgets, funding, and closeout activities across multi-contract programs in the GCC.