Cost Manager / Quantity Surveyor - Data Center Construction

Turner & Townsend; Indianapolis (IN); On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Turner & Townsend seeks a Cost Manager / Quantity Surveyor to join a large-scale data center program near Indianapolis. You will lead cost management across multiple phases, handle change management, and oversee vendor prequalification and bid assessments in a fast-paced environment.

The role emphasizes detailed cost reporting, risk assessment, and collaboration with clients to protect project budgets. On-site presence is required, with flexibility as needs evolve.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in construction management, cost management, engineering, or related field.
• 3–5 years of experience in a cost management role within the construction industry.
• Experience supporting change management, change orders, and cost control processes.
• RICS accreditation or working toward certification is valuable.
• Experience on medium to large-scale data center, industrial, or campus projects.

Responsibilities

• Advise clients on commercial strategies, including change management and change control processes.
• Manage prequalification of vendors, assess proposals, bids, and bid levelling documents, and chair interviews.
• Support and manage change orders, reviewing and negotiating changes to align with scope and budget.
• Maintain change logs, contingency tracking, and commitment registers showing cost impacts.
• Develop project estimates (construction, fees, direct work, and other costs) and review estimates from juniors.
• Establish cost reporting schedules, review cost reports and forecasts, and track budgets.
• Provide cost analysis and recommendations related to change events for decision-making.
• Support cost control by reviewing payments, entitlements, and change orders.
• Assist in cost impact assessments from scope changes and design development.
• Monitor invoicing process and post-contract closeouts.

Skills

Cost management

Change management

Budgeting

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree in construction management, cost management, engineering, or related field

Tools

Cost Estimating Software

Take-off Software

Bid Analysis Sheets

Job description

Cost Manager / Quantity Surveyor - Data Center Construction

• Full-time

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Turner & Townsend is a global professional services company with over 22,000 people in more than 60 countries.

Working with our clients across real estate, infrastructure, energy and natural resources, we transform together delivering outcomes that improve people’s lives. Working in partnership makes it possible to deliver the world’s most impactful projects and programs as we turn challenge into opportunity and complexity into success.

Our capabilities include program, project, cost, asset and commercial management, controls and performance, procurement and supply chain, net zero and digital solutions.

We are majority-owned by CBRE Group, Inc., the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm, with our partners holding a significant minority interest. Turner & Townsend and CBRE work together to provide clients with the premier program, project and cost management offering in markets around the world.

Turner & Townsend are looking for a Cost Manager to join our team and support construction cost services on a large-scale data center program located in Jefferson, approximately 40 miles from the Indianapolis metropolitan area.

This role will support the delivery of a multi-phase, multi-building campus, including ground-up facilities and site infrastructure, within a fast-paced construction environment. There is a strong emphasis on change management, ensuring project changes are effectively tracked, evaluated, and managed throughout the lifecycle. The ideal candidate will be driven and promote our Turner & Townsend purpose and values.

Responsibilities

• Advise clients on commercial strategies, including establishing and managing change management and change control processes across the project.
• Manage prequalification of vendors, assess proposals, bids, and bid levelling documents, make final recommendations to the client, attend and chair bid interviews, and manage the appointment process.
• Support and manage change order processes, including reviewing, evaluating, and negotiating changes to ensure alignment with project scope and budget.
• Maintain change logs, contingency tracking, and commitment registers, ensuring transparency of cost impacts across the program.
• Manage estimating services by developing project estimates (construction, fees, direct work, and other costs), reviewing estimates prepared by junior team members, presenting findings to clients, and supporting value engineering and risk assessment efforts.
• Manage cost reporting by establishing reporting schedules, reviewing and presenting cost reports and forecasts, tracking project budgets, maintaining commercial risk registers, and supporting regular cost meetings.
• Provide detailed cost analysis and recommendations related to change events to support client decision-making.
• Support cost control processes by reviewing payment applications, evaluating contractor entitlements, reviewing change orders, and providing recommendations to the client.
• Assist in cost impact assessments related to scope changes, design development, and field-driven modifications.
• Manage and monitor the invoicing process.
• Benchmark performance against comparable projects and commissions.
• Support final accounting activities, including post-contract audits and account closeouts, ensuring all changes are captured and reconciled.
• Participate in post-contract reviews to capture lessons learned, particularly related to change management, and support continuous improvement.
• Develop and support procedures governing project handover and closeout.
• Perform duties through the use of Bid Analysis Sheets, Change Control Forms, Cost Estimating Software, and Take-off Software.
• SOX control responsibilities may be part of this role, which must be adhered to where applicable.
• Bachelor’s degree in construction management, cost management, engineering, or a related field.
• Minimum 3–5 years of experience in a cost management role within the construction industry.
• Demonstrated experience supporting change management, change order review, and cost control processes.
• RICS accreditation or working toward certification is valuable.
• Experience supporting cost management on medium to large-scale construction projects, preferably within data center, industrial, or large campus environments.
• Construction consultancy experience is strongly preferred.
• Solid understanding of construction industry technical matters, including procurement routes, value management, and value engineering.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.

*On-site presence and requirements may change depending on our client's needs.

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.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.