Vice President, Cost and Commercial

Vice President, Cost, Commercial & Pre-Construction

The Vice President, Cost, Commercial & Pre-Construction is accountable for defining and executing Vantage's end-to-end cost and commercial strategy, from early-stage development and estimating through to construction delivery and close-out.
This role ensures that Vantage's rapid growth is underpinned by robust cost planning, disciplined estimating, strong contractual frameworks, and consistent commercial governance, enabling the business to scale without compromising cost certainty, financial control, legal protection, or long-term asset value.
The Vice President acts as the ultimate authority on cost, estimating, and commercial strategy, shaping how Vantage develops budgets, prices risk, structures contracts, and manages value across the full lifecycle of development.
The Vice President, Cost, Commercial & Pre-Construction leads all cost planning, estimating, and commercial management activities across the Development & Delivery portfolio. This role sets the strategic direction for how Vantage:
Develops early-stage cost models and benchmarks
Produces and validates estimates across design maturity stages
Structures contracts and procurement strategies
Allocates risk and manages change
Ensures contractual compliance
Maintains accurate and timely cost reporting practices
Protects enterprise value from concept through delivery
This role goes well beyond project oversight. It owns the integrated cost and commercial operating model, ensuring consistency across regions, partners, and project phases, while guiding senior leaders through complex decisions involving cost certainty, affordability, risk exposure, and investment trade-offs.
The Vice President is a key member of the Delivery leadership team and a trusted advisor to Executive leadership, Finance, Legal, Development, and Design Engineering.
Core Accountabilities
Cost Strategy, Pre-Construction & Estimating (Expanded)
(Primary upstream focus)
Define and lead Vantage's pre-construction, cost planning and estimating strategy across all sites and regions.
Establish a tiered estimating approach aligned to design maturity (concept, schematic, detailed design, IFC), ensuring progressive cost certainty.
Own the development and maintenance of:
Cost benchmarks and regional cost intelligence
Standardised estimating methodologies and assumptions
Portfolio-wide cost databases and escalation models
Ensure robust cost planning and validation during development, investment approvals, and stage-gate processes.
Partner with Development and Design Engineering to drive:
Value engineering and cost optimisation at early stages
Design-to-budget discipline
Alignment between design decisions and cost/commercial outcomes
Provide executive oversight and challenge on:
Business cases and capital expenditure plans
Contractor pricing and tender returns
Affordability and cost-risk trade-offs
Ensure strong integration between estimating, procurement strategy, and contracting approach
Commercial & Contractual Strategy
(Integrated with pre-construction)
Define and own Vantage's commercial and contractual strategy, ensuring alignment with estimating assumptions and risk pricing.
Establish contract frameworks that:
Reflect accurate cost and risk positions established during pre-construction
Appropriately allocate risk
Enable controlled flexibility
Protect long-term commercial and operational interests
Ensure that commercial strategies are informed by early-stage cost certainty and market intelligence
Act as executive sponsor for major procurement and tendering strategies, including contractor engagement models.
Lead complex negotiations with General Contractors, consultants, and key suppliers.
Contractual Governance & Change Control
Hold ultimate accountability for contractual compliance and commercial governance across the portfolio.
Ensure alignment between:
Baseline estimates
Approved budgets
Contract values and change control
Own the change control philosophy, ensuring:
Impacts are measured against original estimates and business case assumptions
Cost and time implications are fully quantified and transparent
Provide executive oversight of claims, disputes, and commercial escalations, ensuring alignment with original risk and pricing strategy.
Portfolio Cost Control, Forecasting & Cashflow
Accountable for the integrity of cost data from estimate through to final account, ensuring a clear golden thread across:
Initial estimates
Approved budgets
Forecasts and outturn costs
Ensure robust portfolio-level visibility of:
Cost performance vs estimate
Contingency usage and risk drawdown
Cashflow and funding alignment
Partner with Finance to ensure alignment between project-level cost positions and enterprise financial reporting
Commercial & Cost Operating Model, Systems & Standards
Develop and continuously evolve an integrated cost, estimating, and commercial operating model
Ensure consistent application of:
Estimating standards and tools
Cost management processes
Commercial governance frameworks
Sponsor development of digital cost tools, data platforms, and analytics capabilities
Drive data-driven decision making, leveraging cost intelligence across regions and projects
Ensure strong integration between Delivery, Finance, Legal, Development, Procurement, and Design Engineering
Continuous Improvement & Cost Intelligence
Lead portfolio-level reviews of:
Estimate accuracy vs outturn
Cost performance trends
Commercial outcomes and dispute drivers
Embed lessons learned from estimating through delivery into future cost plans, procurement strategies, and contract models
Sponsor continuous improvement initiatives focused on:
Cost certainty
Speed of decision making
Reduction in commercial risk and variability
Build a culture of proactive cost intelligence rather than reactive cost control
Senior Leadership & Influence
Act as the enterprise leader for cost, estimating, and commercial strategy
Guide executive stakeholders on:
Investment decisions
Cost-risk trade-offs
Market conditions and pricing dynamics
Set expectations for cost discipline and commercial rigour across all project stages
Build strong relationships with internal leaders and external partners
Champion Vantage's values, while providing independent challenge and judgement
Leadership Expectations & Ways of Working
The Vice President is expected to:
Lead with strategic clarity across the full project lifecycle (concept to delivery)
Balance cost certainty, risk management, and delivery pragmatism
Drive early intervention rather than late-stage correction
Enable and empower teams across pre-construction and delivery
Coach and develop senior estimating and commercial talent
Foster a culture where cost and commercial discipline enables better outcomes
Experience & Qualifications
Degree in Quantity Surveying, Commercial Management, Engineering, or similar (or equivalent senior-level experience)
12+ years' experience in senior cost, estimating, and commercial leadership roles
Proven track record of:
Leading pre-construction, estimating, and cost planning functions at scale
Managing contractual risk across large, complex capital programmes
Designing integrated cost and commercial governance frameworks
Experience operating at portfolio or enterprise level in a fast-growth environment
Strong understanding of market pricing, contractor behaviour, and procurement strategies
Willingness to travel internationally as required (typically

Strategic Value of the Role (Exec Lens)
This role:
Embeds cost certainty from concept stage, not just cost control during delivery