Lead Quantity Surveyor

Role Overview

This position offers a distinctive opportunity for an experienced Lead Quantity Surveyor to play a pivotal role in sustainable development projects across the Horn of Africa. It involves applying specialized expertise in cost management and quantity surveying to major infrastructure initiatives, operating in a dynamic international context within a prominent UN agency committed to enhancing lives.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct multi-site technical evaluations and establish suitable approaches and methodologies.
• Provide expert advice interpreting design drawings, surveys, specifications, and geotechnical data to guide project design and cost decision-making.
• Formulate and apply methodologies for quantity measurement and cost estimation for intricate infrastructure projects.
• Identify and proactively manage technical, constructability, and financial risks, proposing mitigation strategies and alternative solutions.
• Collaborate in cross-disciplinary technical coordination and resolve complex project issues.
• Lead and verify complex, high-value cost estimates and deliver definitive cost advice.
• Advise management on quantities, estimates, specs, pricing assumptions, and Bills of Quantities.
• Develop detailed cost breakdowns based on current market labor and material prices.
• Review and challenge estimates prepared by teams or consultants to ensure accuracy, competitiveness, and value.
• Standardize measurement methodologies, item descriptions, units, and quantity take-off procedures across projects.
• Guarantee coherence and technical accuracy among drawings, specs, design changes, BoQs, and cost estimates.
• Provide guidance on resolving discrepancies between design documents, specifications, quantities, and costs.
• Implement quality control and improve reliability of BoQs and quantity assessments.
• Offer authoritative advice on tender documents, including BoQs and specifications, throughout procurement and bid evaluations.
• Respond to bidder queries and advise on cost competitiveness, compliance, risks, and value considerations.
• Evaluate contractual rates and commercial assumptions, outlining their technical and financial effects.
• Offer guidance on cost variation analyses, contractors’ claims, and new rate reviews during project execution.
• Validate proposed rate adjustments and cost changes in line with contracts and market conditions.
• Advise on disputed quantities, changes, claims, and cost modifications to support decision-making.
• Oversee preparation and validation of as-built quantity assessments aligned with project designs and site measurements.
• Support certification and acceptance of completed works with professional advice.
• Establish and manage quality assurance processes for engineering estimates, BoQs, quantity measurements, and related documents.
• Develop and maintain standards, procedures, templates, and tools for quantity surveying and cost management.
• Maintain databases of costs, benchmarks, historic pricing, and lessons learned for future projects.
• Prepare comprehensive cost management reports highlighting trends, risks, variances, and project impacts.
• Advise senior management on project costs, commercial risks, and technical issues.
• Foster knowledge sharing and mentor project teams and junior staff in estimating, surveying, measurement, and cost control techniques.

Qualifications

• Essential: Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in Civil Engineering, Construction Technology and Management, or related field plus a minimum of 5 years relevant experience.
• Alternatively, a Bachelor’s degree in the same fields with at least 7 years of relevant experience may be accepted.
• Preferable: Additional certifications in quantity surveying, cost estimation, or construction management.

Experience

• At least 5 years of relevant experience in civil engineering, quantity surveying, cost estimation, and project support.
• Proven experience in preparing engineering cost estimates, Bills of Quantities, quantity take-offs, and cost analyses for not less than 5 years.
• Significant experience in site measurement, as-built quantity verification, and executed work assessments.
• Holds a valid professional Construction Management license.
• Desirable experience includes knowledge of construction methods, materials, regional market prices, labor rates, and supplier/service costs.