Senior Cost Manager / Quantity Surveyor - Data Center Construction (Anticipated Opening)

Turner & Townsend; Indianapolis (IN); On-site; USD 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Turner & Townsend is seeking a Senior Cost Manager to act as the key day-to-day client interface for a large-scale data center program near Indianapolis. This role focuses on change management, cost control, and governance across complex projects, with leadership responsibilities and strong stakeholder engagement.

Applicants should have extensive cost management experience in construction, including change orders and cost reporting.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Cost Management, Engineering, or related field.
• Minimum 5–7 years of experience in cost management within the construction industry.
• Demonstrated experience with change management, change order negotiation, and cost control processes on complex projects.
• Experience leading cost management on medium to large construction projects of moderate to high complexity.
• Experience working on data center, industrial, or large campus-style developments is preferred.
• Strong knowledge of commercial management, procurement routes, and value engineering practices.
• Proven ability to manage high volumes of change in fast-paced project environments.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage change management processes across the program, ensuring all changes are properly identified, evaluated, documented, and approved.
• Review, evaluate, and negotiate change orders throughout the construction lifecycle, ensuring commercial alignment and cost transparency.
• Maintain and manage change logs, contingency tracking, and commitment registers, providing clear visibility into cost impacts.
• Establish and enforce change control procedures and governance frameworks across multiple projects within the campus.
• Provide detailed cost analysis and recommendations to support client decision-making on change events.
• Support dispute avoidance and resolution through strong commercial oversight and documentation of changes.
• Provide cost planning and estimating, including producing and presenting final cost plans.
• Review and participate with the design team and general contractor in developing cost estimates.
• Reconcile changes and validate contractor cost data to ensure accuracy and completeness.
• Communicate with the general contractor and project team to gather updates and support cost reporting.
• Prepare written comments on contractor submissions, including executive summaries.
• Coordinate cost inputs from subcontractors, suppliers, and design teams.
• Inform and help drive construction priorities based on cost and change impact.
• Work proactively to resolve cost, scope, and scheduling conflicts.
• Manage cost checks and carry out valuations on complex projects.
• Lead post-contract cost variance analysis and ensure adherence to change control processes.
• Prepare funding updates and support value engineering sessions, particularly in response to change drivers.
• Develop cost plans through design and provide updates at key milestones.
• Review contractor pricing and support negotiations to ensure fair and commercially sound outcomes.
• Ensure cost auditing, validation, and reporting processes are consistently applied.
• Produce monthly cost reports with clear visibility into change activity, risks, and forecast impacts.
• Support final account closeout, ensuring all changes are fully agreed and reconciled.
• Maintain cost benchmarking data and program records to support future forecasting and decision-making.
• Mentor team members and promote best practices in change management and cost control.
• Manage financial tracking, forecasting, and reporting for commissions.
• Support internal systems, governance processes, and company delivery methodologies.

Skills

Cost management

Change management

Negotiation

Client-facing

Leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Cost Management, Engineering, or related field

Job description

Senior Cost Manager / Quantity Surveyor - Data Center Construction (Anticipated Opening)

• Full-time

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 an experienced Senior Cost Manager to act as the key day-to-day client interface, delivering cost management services across a large-scale data center program located in Jefferson, approximately 40 miles from the Indianapolis metropolitan area.

This role will have a strong emphasis on change management, cost control, and commercial governance, ensuring that all project changes are effectively evaluated, managed, and communicated throughout the construction lifecycle within a fast-paced, high-volume program environment.

To be successful in this role you must have strong communication skills and be comfortable operating in a client-facing role. The ideal candidate will be self-motivated, detail-oriented, and experienced in managing complex change processes across multiple stakeholders. In this position, you will provide leadership and direction, embedding and promoting the purpose, values, and vision of Turner & Townsend.

Responsibilities:

• Lead and manage change management processes across the program, ensuring all changes are properly identified, evaluated, documented, and approved.
• Review, evaluate, and negotiate change orders throughout the construction lifecycle, ensuring commercial alignment and cost transparency.
• Maintain and manage change logs, contingency tracking, and commitment registers, providing clear visibility into cost impacts.
• Establish and enforce change control procedures and governance frameworks across multiple projects within the campus.
• Provide detailed cost analysis and recommendations to support client decision-making on change events.
• Support dispute avoidance and resolution through strong commercial oversight and documentation of changes.
• Provide cost planning and estimating, including producing and presenting final cost plans.
• Review and participate with the design team and general contractor in developing cost estimates.
• Reconcile changes and validate contractor cost data to ensure accuracy and completeness.
• Communicate with the general contractor and project team to gather updates and support cost reporting.
• Prepare written comments on contractor submissions, including executive summaries.
• Coordinate cost inputs from subcontractors, suppliers, and design teams.
• Inform and help drive construction priorities based on cost and change impact.
• Work proactively to resolve cost, scope, and scheduling conflicts.
• Manage cost checks and carry out valuations on complex projects.
• Lead post-contract cost variance analysis and ensure adherence to change control processes.
• Prepare funding updates and support value engineering sessions, particularly in response to change drivers.
• Develop cost plans through design and provide updates at key milestones.
• Review contractor pricing and support negotiations to ensure fair and commercially sound outcomes.
• Ensure cost auditing, validation, and reporting processes are consistently applied.
• Produce monthly cost reports with clear visibility into change activity, risks, and forecast impacts.
• Support final account closeout, ensuring all changes are fully agreed and reconciled.
• Maintain cost benchmarking data and program records to support future forecasting and decision-making.
• Mentor team members and promote best practices in change management and cost control.
• Manage financial tracking, forecasting, and reporting for commissions.
• Support internal systems, governance processes, and company delivery methodologies.
• SOX control responsibilities may be part of this role, which are to be adhered to where applicable.

• Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Cost Management, Engineering, or related field.
• Minimum 5–7 years of experience in cost management within the construction industry.
• Demonstrated experience with change management, change order negotiation, and cost control processes on complex projects.
• Experience leading cost management on medium to large construction projects of moderate to high complexity.
• Experience working on data center, industrial, or large campus-style developments is preferred.
• Construction consultancy experience is strongly preferred.
• Strong knowledge of commercial management, procurement routes, and value engineering practices.
• Proven ability to manage high volumes of change in fast-paced project environments.
• Excellent 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.

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