Senior Manager - Cost Planning - Residential (RES7)

We’re looking for a Senior Manager of Cost Planning who understands how to lead cost planning from the client side. Someone who can review cost advice, challenge assumptions and ensure consistent methodology across multiple projects.

This role is about owning the cost planning position, not producing the measurement yourself.

This is a Development cost planning role.

• Not project controls.
• Not procurement.
• And not about measuring bills of quantities.

Qiddiya is building a new city focused on entertainment, sport and culture. The projects are ambitious, complex and fast moving. In this role you will help ensure the numbers behind those projects are clear, credible and aligned with design from the earliest stages.

You’ll work closely with development teams, design consultants and external cost managers to ensure design-to-budget thinking is embedded from day one.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Lead the cost planning position across residential projects and own the credibility of the numbers being presented to the business.
• Manage external cost consultants delivering cost plans and ensure outputs align with Qiddiya’s cost planning methodology and technical guidelines.
• Interrogate cost plans in detail, challenge assumptions and ensure advice is robust, consistent and commercially realistic.
• Ensure budgets actively guide design decisions rather than react to them.
• Track design development and understand the cost impact of change.
• Use benchmarking and historical data to test and validate cost positions.
• Produce clear cost summaries to support internal decision making and Stage Gate approvals.
• Communicate cost positions clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

WHAT YOU’LL BRING

• Experience managing or reviewing work produced by external cost consultants.
• The ability to break a cost plan down, understand the logic behind it and challenge assumptions where needed.
• Strong understanding of feasibility studies, benchmarking and value management.
• Confidence to challenge design decisions when cost and value are not aligned.
• The ability to step back from detail and assess whether the numbers genuinely make sense.
• Clear communication and the ability to explain complex cost matters in a practical way.
• Professional accreditation such as RICS or AIQS preferred.