Cost Engineer - Project Cost Control

Cost Engineer
- Project Cost Control Job Snapshot

Role:
Cost Engineer
- Project Cost Control

Location:

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Industry: Construction

Function:
Budgeting/Cost Control

Experience:

Minimum 5 years

Job Type: Full-time

Country:
Saudi Arabia

City:
Riyadh

Industry: Construction

Function:
Budgeting/Cost Control

Salary:

Estimated salary range based on similar jobs in the job city; please confirm the final offer with the employer. ([Gulf Talent][1])

Gender: Any

Candidate Nationality:
Saudi Arabian

Job Type: Full-time

The Cost Engineer provides the project management team with reliable control over budgets, commitments, actual expenditure, accruals, variations, forecasts, and emerging commercial exposure. Working across Commercial, Contracts, Planning, Procurement, Engineering, Construction, Finance, Project Controls, contractors, and client representatives, the position converts complex cost information into clear financial intelligence. Effective performance in this role helps management detect potential overruns early, evaluate changes accurately, strengthen forecasting, and make informed decisions throughout the project lifecycle.

• Monitor project expenditure against approved budgets, control accounts, and established cost baselines.
• Maintain accurate project cost reports, registers, dashboards, and supporting cost control systems.
• Track actual costs, committed expenditure, accruals, remaining costs, forecast values, contingency usage, and potential changes.
• Maintain the Project Cost Breakdown Structure and ensure costs are correctly allocated by package, discipline, workstream, and project area.
• Prepare weekly and monthly cost reports for project management and senior stakeholders.
• Analyse cost performance and investigate significant movements between approved budgets, actual expenditure, and forecasts.
• Produce clear variance analysis with supporting management commentary and recommended actions.
• Monitor budget transfers and approved movements while maintaining traceability between cost records and authorisations.
• Identify developing cost trends, financial risks, and potential overruns before they materially affect project performance.
• Provide early warnings when changes, procurement decisions, productivity issues, claims, or delays may affect the approved budget.

Maintain comprehensive control of variations and project changes throughout their commercial lifecycle.

• Manage the cost-related elements of the project Variation and Change Registers.
• Assess financial impacts arising from client instructions, design modifications, scope changes, and construction requirements.
• Develop or support cost estimates for proposed variations and commercial changes.
• Review contractor variation submissions and examine quantities, rates, labour, resources, and supporting documentation.
• Coordinate variation assessments with Contracts, Commercial, Quantity Surveying, Engineering, and project teams.
• Track proposed, submitted, under-review, approved, rejected, and client-pending variations.
• Ensure approved changes are incorporated correctly into current budgets and project forecasts.
• Monitor potential exposure from changes that have not yet received final commercial approval.

Forecasting responsibilities require a forward-looking assessment of project financial performance rather than reliance only on historical expenditure.

• Prepare monthly cost forecasts and maintain the Estimate at Completion.
• Update and analyse the Estimate to Complete throughout the reporting cycle.
• Explain forecast movements and identify the underlying operational or commercial drivers.
• Quantify potential exposure associated with outstanding claims, variations, procurement changes, and unresolved scope matters.
• Align cost forecasts with Planning and Commercial teams so projected expenditure reflects current schedule and progress information.
• Support development of mitigation or recovery measures when cost pressure is identified.
• Provide management with realistic forward-looking cost scenarios for decision-making.

Contractor and subcontractor cost administration will form an important part of the position.

• Review contractor and subcontractor…