Cost & Budget Lead

Site Name: USA - Pennsylvania - King of Prussia, Belgium-Wavre, Field Worker - SWE, France - Evreux, UK – London – New Oxford Street, UK - North Ayrshire - Irvine, USA - Pennsylvania - Marietta

Posted Date: Feb 6 2026

The Cost & Budget Lead in Capital Projects is responsible for designing, implementing, and overseeing cost control and budgeting frameworks across large-scale capital project portfolios. This role ensures financial accuracy, thorough forecasting, strategic risk management, and informed decision-making throughout the project life cycle—from planning through execution and closure. This includes oversight of both Capex and Opex budgets within the GCP portfolio, ensuring financial accuracy, proactive forecasting, and strategic cost governance throughout the project lifecycle.

The role reports to the Director Cost & Risk Management within the Project Controls Department, Global Capital Projects.

• Global Capital Project Budget Management:
  Lead the development and consolidation of budgets for all GCP initiatives. Ensure alignment of project budgets with corporate financial objectives and governance standards.
• Opex Budget Oversight:
  Manage operational expenditure budgets related to GCP activities (e.g., maintenance, sustaining capital, project support costs). Track and report Opex performance against forecasts, identifying optimization opportunities.
• Cost Control & Forecasting:
  Implement cost control systems and processes for global projects. Prepare monthly forecasts, variance analysis, and financial reports for Capex and Opex.
• Develop and implement cost control systems:
  Create and maintain cost control tools, procedures, and documentation to support robust budget management across projects.
• Budget planning and estimates:
  Lead the creation of initial cost estimates and project budgets, including building detailed WBS breakdowns.
• Monitor and forecast:
  Track actuals versus budget, drive accruals and periodic forecast updates, prepare monthly/weekly forecasts, and report variances.
• Change Control &
  
  Risk Management:
  
  Maintain cost risk registers and manage change requests impacting budgets. Support contingency planning and scenario analysis for global projects.
• Stakeholder Engagement:
  Collaborate with project managers, finance, procurement, and regional teams to ensure accurate reporting and compliance. Present cost performance updates to senior leadership and governance boards.
• Tools & Systems:
  Cost control & forecasting software (e.g., SAP, Oracle);
  Advanced Excel (pivot tables, macros, data modeling); ERP and procurement systems (Ariba, Coupa, etc.).

• Basic Qualifications & Skills:
  
  Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Engineering, Project Management or related field. 8+ years of experience in Cost Controlling, with at least 3 years in a leadership role within pharmaceutical or life sciences (or related industries such as Oil & Gas, Power/Energy). Experience as Finance controller or Business Controller for budgeting and OPEX tracking. Experience in cost control & forecasting software (e.g., SAP, Oracle).
  
  Advanced Excel (pivot tables, macros, data modeling). Senior stakeholder management and project reporting experience.
• Preferred
  
  Qualifications & Skills:
  
  MSc or other Chartered / Professional Qualification. Good pharma background or capital projects experience. Knowledge of GSK project processes, user requirement management, quality and compliance requirements, site project completion, pre-start processes, and how these impact engineering, construction, commissioning, and qualification contracts. Familiarity with the GCP Project Management Framework (PMF), engineering standards and compliance, and Quality Management Systems. PMP / CCP / PMI-SP or Lean Six Sigma or similar credentials.

Please visit the GSK US Benefits Summary to learn more about the comprehensive benefits program for US employees.

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