Decima International is a professional services company, providing project management and controls services to clients in the United States and the Middle East. Our mission is to become the premier professional services provider across all industry sectors we are engaged in. To accomplish this, Decima International’s founders established a simple yet powerful formula:
Approach each client engagement as a partnership, create an environment that attracts the most talented professionals and allows them to flourish, and regulate growth to maintain excellence in our service standards.
We are seeking a highly experienced, hands-on Senior Cost Engineer - Change Management and Forecasting to support practical construction change management and cost forecasting across large-scale data center and mission-critical projects, with transferable experience from infrastructure, EPC, industrial, advanced manufacturing, semiconductor, or other large capital project environments. The Senior Cost Engineer - Change Management and Forecasting provides hands-on evaluation of project changes and develops the forward-looking cost exposure used in the campus forecast. The role owns change pricing, trend management, contingency recommendations, risk-weighted exposure and change-related EAC movement, but does not own the full monthly project cost report.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Evaluate and forecast potential, pending, approved, and disputed changes, including PCOs, change orders, construction change directives, contractor proposals, trends, and emerging cost events.
- Review scope, quantities, labor rates, materials, equipment, subcontractor quotations, markups, productivity assumptions, and supporting documentation; identify scope gaps, duplicate or unsupported costs, inaccurate quantities, excessive markups, unreasonable assumptions, and incomplete backup.
- Develop independent cost assessments, comparisons, and recommendations to support change negotiations, project leadership, and the Contracts team.
- Track changes from identification through evaluation, approval, forecast incorporation, and resolution; maintain auditable change-order, trend, contingency, allowance, exposure, and forecast records.
- Develop approved and risk-adjusted inputs for project budgets, commitments, cash flow, contingency, and EAC, including pending changes, unresolved scope, construction risk, procurement exposure, escalation, and anticipated costs.
- Apply probability, value, timing, and financial impact to unresolved exposure; analyze change-related EAC movement and explain key drivers, assumptions, risks, and recommended actions.
- Monitor contingency utilization, recommend event-specific drawdowns, and confirm contractor forecasts appropriately reflect changes, remaining scope, schedule impacts, and unresolved exposure.
- Assess cost impacts from design development, scope clarification, field conditions, sequencing, delays, acceleration, disruption, and procurement; coordinate with scheduling and project controls on duration-related costs and extended general conditions.
- Provide controlled change and forecast inputs to the Senior Cost Engineer, Cost Control and Reporting; prepare management reports and presentations and escalate material exposure, forecast movement, documentation gaps, and unresolved issues.
- Coordinate with project management, construction, engineering, design, procurement, contracts, scheduling, finance, project controls, and contractors; support claims, allowance reconciliation, unresolved changes, final account closeout, and other assigned duties.
QUALIFICATIONS
Required Qualifications
- 8+ years of progressive experience in construction cost engineering, change management, forecasting, cost control, project controls, commercial cost management, quantity surveying, or a related discipline.
- Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Civil Engineering, Quantity Surveying, Engineering, Finance, Accounting, Engineering Management, or a related technical field.
- Hands-on experience evaluating construction changes and maintaining forecasts on large capital projects, including reviewing scope, quantities, labor, materials, equipment, quotations, productivity assumptions, markups, and supporting documentation.
- Strong knowledge of change, trend, and contingency management; cost forecasting; variance analysis; and EAC development.
- Ability to independently evaluate contractor submissions and identify scope gaps, unsupported or duplicated costs, incomplete documentation, and commercially unreasonable assumptions.
- Experience maintaining change-order, trend, contingency, allowance, exposure, and forecast records and incorporating risk-weighted pending or unresolved changes into forecasts.
- Understanding of how design development, field conditions, procurement, schedule movement, sequencing, and risk affect project costs and forecasts.
- Strong commercial judgment, communication, analysis, organization, documentation, and problem-solving skills.
- Advanced Microsoft Excel skills and experience with SAP, Oracle, EcoSys, Unifier, Power BI, or similar platforms.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with hyperscale data centers, mission-critical facilities, or MEP-intensive programs in an owner’s representative, consultancy, general contractor, EPC, quantity surveying, or major capital-program environment.
- Experience evaluating changes under GMP, lump-sum, design-build, CMAR, cost-plus, or EPC delivery models.
- Experience assessing schedule-related costs, extended general conditions, acceleration, disruption, productivity impacts, and claims.
- Experience with EVM, integrated cost-schedule-risk analysis, cash flow, probabilistic forecasting, claims, allowances, contingency drawdown, retention release, final account negotiation, and unresolved changes.
- AACE Certified Cost Professional, RICS, PMP, or equivalent certification.
POSITION DETAILS
- Primary Locations (On-site):
- Corsicana, TX
- Sweetwater, TX
- Position: Senior Cost Engineer - Change Management and Forecasting
- Position Classification: Salary-based full-time hours
- Current US work permit required. This position does not offer sponsorship for employment, including H-1B visa sponsorship or transfer.
PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office Suite
- SAP or similar ERP/cost management systems
- Power BI
- Primavera P6
Decima International is an Equal Opportunity Employer that is committed to the safety and well-being of all. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding), age, medical condition, marital or domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression and transgender status, mental disability or physical disability, genetic information, military or veteran status, citizenship, low-income status or any other status or characteristic protected by applicable law.
