Senior Cost Specialist - Program

Senior Cost Specialist - Program

Reports to: Program Controls Manager

Department: Programs

Location: Santa Cruz Copper Project in Casa Grande, AZ

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide estimates and cost planning, including producing and presenting the final cost plan.
• Review and participate with the engineering and construction teams in the development of cost estimates (WBS / Cost Center coding and confirmation of work packages).
• Developing cost plans and estimates through the detailed design phase, delivering updated cost plans at appropriate design milestones.
• Recast the overall program budget into the Control budget for the Program to a level of detail required for appropriate forecasting and evaluation of performance of partners and contractors.
• Contribute to the procurement process by reviewing critical packages for a scope-to-scope review and alignment of the WBS / Code of accounts.
• Support the development of a process for active support of individual projects by the Trend and Change Control Committee at the program level by encouraging a scope review and an impact analysis before submitting a trend or change request.
• Work with the project team to review contingency drawdown requests and recommend mitigation measures for high-probability risks or trends.
• Ensure Project Cost analysts contribute to explaining variances during the period and submit reconciliation requests to the accounting and accounts payable teams.
• Lead estimating, cost controls, and change management activities throughout the project lifecycle.
• Carries out validation of trend/changes on a bi-weekly and monthly basis.
• Support procurement and construction teams in estimating to negotiate change orders throughout the program lifecycle.
• Liaise with the project managers to ensure the team gathers status information to prepare a forecast update in a timely fashion.
• Use of rules of credit to establish Earned Value Management methods to support forecasting or bottom-up estimating for forecasting.
• Ensuring that cost auditing, validation of accruals and evaluation of work in progress is managed effectively and that a robust process is in place.
• Preparation of Cost and incurred flows to ensure alignment with cash needs with the finance team.
• Develop and implement priority plans, including risk mitigation strategies, using internal tools and performance metrics (KPIs, critical success factors, and earned value frameworks).
• Support program-level capital planning and reporting.
• Produce monthly cost forecast reports and provide regular updates on project performance, including recommending solutions and securing leadership alignment.
• Participate in leadership meetings with the SVP, GM, Directors, and team members, and prepare/deliver presentations as required.

Skills and Experience Required:

• Excellent communication and presentation skills that combine sound analytical cost engineering principles with the ability to summarize and present budget strategy/cost plans to technical and non-technical team members.
• Initiative-taking, purposeful, and capable of thriving in a multi-partner project execution delivery team.
• Bachelor’s degree in construction management, cost management, estimating, engineering, or a field related to mining or construction.
• Minimum 10 years of relevant experience working in a cost management role in the construction or mining industry.
• Experience in leading cost management on major construction projects with a high degree of complexity.
• Good knowledge of various construction industry technical matters, such as different procurement processes for cost management, value engineering, accounting principles for accruals, and earned value management for forecasting.
• Good knowledge of SOX requirements for cost reporting and interfacing with accounting.
• Experienced at leading a small team and interfacing in a matrix functional environment.
• Demonstrated skill in establishing Project Controls activities and directing cost engineering functions, including cost estimating, cost control, and cost analysis.
• Skilled in providing direction, team management, and training of technical and non-technical personnel.
• Demonstrated skill in identifying, analyzing, and solving problems.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and experience with Power BI or equivalent tools for Cost Reporting preferred.

Work Pattern

• Site-based at Santa Cruz project office and site presence at the mine site on an as-required basis.

Diversity Statements:

Ivanhoe Electric is an equal opportunity employer that recognizes the value of a diverse workforce. All suitably qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment on the basis of objective criteria and without regard to the following (which is a non-exhaustive list): race, color, age, religion, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other characteristics in accordance with the relevant governing laws.

The Company offers a professional, entrepreneurial office environment and the opportunity to work alongside and grow with talented colleagues. The Company offers competitive compensation and an employee benefits package.