Associate Cost Manager

Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets.

We are more than 34,000 people, in over 30 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.

Role description:

Arcadis is seeking an experienced and commercially focused Associate Cost Manager to join our Places Cost Management team.

Our Places business delivers sustainable, resilient and people-focused environments where communities live, work, learn and thrive. We partner with public and private sector clients across commercial, residential, mixed-use, education, healthcare, science and technology, regeneration, defence, local government and public sector estates projects.

As an Associate Cost Manager, you will lead the delivery of major commissions and client accounts, acting as a trusted advisor on complex cost and commercial matters. You will provide strategic leadership across projects and programmes, develop long-term client relationships, mentor high-performing teams and contribute to the growth and success of the Places business.

This role requires a combination of technical excellence, commercial acumen, leadership capability and a passion for delivering better outcomes for clients and communities.

Role Accountabilities

Strategic Cost Leadership

• Lead the delivery of complex cost management commissions across major development and infrastructure programmes.
• Provide strategic cost, commercial and procurement advice from business case through to project completion.
• Oversee cost planning, benchmarking, estimating, risk management, value engineering, change control and final account resolution.
• Provide commercial leadership on large-scale and high-profile projects that require senior stakeholder engagement.
• Ensure the consistent delivery of high-quality, commercially focused advice that supports client decision-making

Client Relationship Management

• Act as the senior point of contact for key clients and strategic accounts.
• Build trusted relationships with senior client stakeholders, project sponsors and delivery partners.
• Identify opportunities to expand existing client relationships and generate new business opportunities.
• Support account planning and contribute to the growth of the Places portfolio.
• Represent Arcadis at industry events, client forums and networking activities.

Leadership & Team Development

• Provide leadership, direction and mentorship to Cost Consultants and Quantity Surveyors across the business.
• Take line management responsibility for team members, supporting career development and performance management.
• Foster an inclusive, collaborative and high-performing team culture.
• Promote knowledge sharing and technical excellence across regional and national teams.
• Support recruitment, succession planning and capability growth initiatives within the Places business

Commercial & Business Growth

• Lead the preparation of fee proposals, commercial bids and strategic pursuits.
• Take responsibility for commission performance, including revenue, profitability and utilisation.
• Contribute to business planning and growth strategies across the Places market sectors.
• Support innovation and service development initiatives that enhance client value and operational efficiency.
• Actively contribute to achieving regional and national business performance targets.

Quality, Risk & Governance

• Provide oversight and assurance of project deliverables across multiple commissions.
• Ensure compliance with Arcadis governance procedures and professional standards.
• Lead commercial risk identification and mitigation strategies.
• Review and approve key project outputs before submission to clients.
• Drive continuous improvement of cost management processes, systems and best practice methodologies.

Qualifications & Experience

• Degree in Quantity Surveying, Cost Management or a related built environment discipline.
• MRICS or equivalent professional accreditation.
• Significant consultancy experience delivering cost management services within the built environment sector.
• Proven experience leading large and complex programmes, developments or portfolios.
• Strong understanding of construction procurement, contracts, risk management and commercial strategy.
• Demonstrable experience managing senior client relationships and strategic accounts.
• Experience leading, mentoring and developing multidisciplinary teams.
• Excellent communication, presentation and stakeholder management skills.

Desirable

• Experience across multiple Places sectors including commercial development, residential, education, healthcare, public sector estates, regeneration and mixed-use developments.
• Existing market profile and professional network within the UK property and construction sector.
• Experience leading framework commissions and key account programmes.
• Involvement in business development, client account leadership and strategic growth planning.

Why Arcadis?

We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It’s why we are pioneering a skills-based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.

You’ll do meaningful work, and no matter what role, you’ll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark, on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.

Together, we can create a lasting legacy.

Join Arcadis. Create a Legacy.

Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We believe that by working together diverse people with different experiences develop the most innovative ideas. Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of how we improve quality of life and we work closely with our people across six ED&I Workstreams: Age, Disability, Faith, Gender, LGBT+ and Race. A diverse and skilled workforce is essential to our success.

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