Engineering Cost Manager

Req ID:457927 

At Alstom, we understand transport networks and what moves people. From high-speed trains, metros, monorails, and trams, to turnkey systems, services, infrastructure, signalling and digital mobility, we offer our diverse customers the broadest portfolio in the industry. Every day, more than 80 000 colleagues lead the way to greener and smarter mobility worldwide, connecting cities as we reduce carbon and replace cars.

Cost Manager, Hennigsdorf, Germany

Have you ever wondered how much it costs to develop a train? Join us as an Cost Manager and you will find out.

This is a unique opportunity to balance technical and business aspects and connect the dots between technical activities, development processes and their associated costs.

Developing a train is a complex endeavor involving multiple Development disciplines, such as Carbody Design, Aerodynamics, Weight Performance, Human Factors, Eco Design, System and Software Development, Electrical Circuits, RAMS, Testing, Certification and Authorization, Change and Configuration Management and several others.

Your future role

As an Cost Manager, you will be operating in an international multi-site environment and collaborate with stakeholders from multiple Development disciplines as also Finance, Project Management and Procurement to ensure the costs remain on track in Rolling Stock train projects and/or tenders.

You will also be jointly looking for cost optimization possibilities and presenting project performance data in a user-friendly and visually appealing way for different stakeholders.

The successful candidate will become part of the Cost Management team on site: a multicultural passionate team driving change and establishing itself as one of the pillars of Engineering. You will report to the department manager Luciana Mara de Carvalho Alvite.

Main responsibilities:

• Animate pro-active cost culture on projects and the site. You will be the active “voice” of Cost Management in the Project/Tender team and different departments.

• Drive modernization and contribute to improvement in the organization by questioning the status quo and developing innovative alternative solutions. 
• Coordinate cost management activities along one or more projects/tenders to meet the agreed objectives.
• Autonomously ensure traceability and transparency of cost development versus baseline and define activities on savings, opportunities, and mitigations.
• Actively and autonomously search for and lead cost optimization activities and value adding opportunities, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, documenting results diligently.
• Autonomously provide Cost Management deliverables on time according to stakeholder needs and plan.
• Contribute to development of Project Performance Dashboards to visualize cost and project KPIs in an effective and user friendly way to support business decisions.
• Create process documents and provide guidance to other colleagues on department way of working and processes (advanced level), in alignment with department manager.

Based on Project and Cost Management processes, guidelines, templates, and expertise:

• Define and maintain a structure for strong cost management, for example:
  • Define the cost structure for the project in EPR system, based on agreed blueprint
  • Create resource plan in booking system aligned with Cost Plan
  • Set-up data to perform Earned Value Analysis
• Autonomously build and maintain the Financial Cockpit for all work packages in a tender or project, documenting changes
• Create and rigorously maintain cost baselines for all Work Packages autonomously.
• Drive regular handshakes with WP owners for Cost Plan updates
• Actively question cost estimations, jointly search for and define cost effective alternatives
• Drive execution of Work Package Reviews (WPR):
  • Prepare indicators and assess performance of all work packages using Project and Cost Management principles and tools, such as Earned Value Analysis, Baseline x FC x Actuals comparison, Workload Charts, etc
  • Actively exercise critical thinking during reporting, ask questions and speak up in case of deviation from expected state to understand root causes.
• Autonomously manage the costs of changes to product and scope:
  • Verify and document parameters for cost commitment (scope, number of interactions, etc)
  • Validate cost estimations for Change Requests, actively look for potential gaps and optimizations
  • Regularly consolidate costs for CRs, Commercial Requests and mitigation actions and prepare suitable visualizations
• Risk management: contribute to estimation of risk value and mitigation actions, with particular focus on costs.
• Cost control:
  • Autonomously check consistency, budget, approve/reject and keep track of Purchase Requests
  • Actively identify and raise Early Warnings to department manager and Chief of Development
• Provide self-servicing capabilities & on-line access to project performance data:
  • Create dashboards integrating data from various sources to present KPIs in a user-friendly way using Power BI
  • Develop modern user interfaces, incorporate user feedback and comply to corporate visual identity guidelines.
• Contribute to improvement of Cost Management processes, actively suggest improvements to department manager.

Performance measurement:

• Quality of data and adherence to standard structure and way of working.
• Volume of secured savings, cost avoidances and opportunities.
• Reliability of time commitments & review cycles requirements.
• Stakeholder feedback on Dashboard utility, user friendliness and adherence to corporate visual identity.

All about you

We value passion and attitude over experience. That’s why we don’t expect you to have every single skill. Instead, we’ve listed some that we think will help you succeed and grow in this role: 

Education:

• Degree in Engineering, Project Management, Business Administration or similar experience/qualification
• Project Management knowledge
• Fluent in English and/or German
• Certified cost professional (desirable)

Experience:

• Knowledge of Development/Engineering way of working
• Experience with cost estimations
• Experience consolidating data from differences sources and presenting in a visually appealing way
• Advanced practical experience with Excel Tables, Pivots, PowerQuery

Competencies & Skills

Technical:

• Commercial and financial acumen
• Knowledge of Work/Cost Breakdown Structures, Matrix organization, forecasting, schedules, interdependencies between activities
• Ability to understand development/engineering operational flows and derive product costs
• Knowledge of physical progress methodologies, such as Earned Value Management
• Knowledge in SAP ERP and SAP Business Warehouse (highly desired)
• Knowledge of Primavera P6 (desired)
• Knowledge in data visualization tools such as Power BI (desired)
• Knowledge of railway industry or willing to learn quickly

Behavioral:

• Data driven. You love to speak with data, and are able to maintain large numbers of data in a reliable, structured and detailed way. You investigate and solve issues autonomously to provide very high-quality level of data and visualizations.
• You steadily and autonomously seek out information from varied sources and engage with stakeholders to select the best approach to deliver more cost-effective solutions.
• Able to connect the dots, evaluate project activities vs costs and find gaps and inconsistencies
• Confident and empathetic to assess stakeholders’ commitments, as also speak up in case of discrepancies and gaps identified
• You enjoy diverse teams and contributing to create an environment where all differences are embraced and respected
• Very good communication, collaboration, and intercultural skills
• Agile: excited to operate in a fast paced, changing environment. You anticipate and show a pro-active and positive attitude.
• Ability to handle confidential information using discretion, while maintaining independence and objectivity
• You're open minded, user oriented, ready to listen and understand stakeholder needs and able to translate it into data driven solutions
• Even if you don’t know everything, you are curious, have an appetite for learning and is ready to support others on your strongest competencies

You don’t need to be a train enthusiast to thrive with us. We guarantee that when you step onto one of our trains with your friends or family, you’ll be proud. If you’re up for the challenge, we’d love to hear from you

Important to note

As a global business, we’re an equal-opportunity employer that celebrates diversity across the 63  countries we operate in. We’re committed to creating an inclusive workplace for everyone.