Cost Trend Manager – Data Center Construction

About the Role

• Develop and maintain cost‑trend models for labor, materials, equipment, commodities and subcontractor markets. • Track historical cost data and produce accurate escalation forecasts. • Identify emerging cost risks and opportunities through market analysis and vendor input. • Create and update dashboards and reporting tools for executive leadership. • Partner with estimating teams during conceptual and schematic design to set cost benchmarks. • Lead cost trending during early design iterations and communicate cost deltas. • Validate project budgets at each design milestone using trend data and historical performance. • Provide cost‑trend insights to inform procurement strategies and bid negotiations. • Research construction market conditions, including labor rates, material indices and supply‑chain constraints. • Maintain up‑to‑date commodity indexes and regional cost databases for data‑center builds. • Own monthly/quarterly cost‑trend reports and present findings to finance, development and program management. • Ensure consistent and accurate cost‑trend methodologies across projects and regions. • Support risk and contingency evaluations at the program level. • Collaborate with design, engineering, sourcing and construction teams to identify cost‑impacting changes early. • Guide value‑engineering exercises to optimize design without compromising performance. • Adhere to relevant SOX control responsibilities when applicable.

Key Responsibilities

• ▸cost modeling
• ▸trend forecasting
• ▸market analysis
• ▸dashboard reporting
• ▸budget validation
• ▸value engineering

What You Bring

The company is hiring an experienced Cost Trend Manager to analyze, manage, and forecast cost trends for large‑scale data‑center construction programs. The role works at the intersection of pre‑construction, estimating, market intelligence and program controls, providing early visibility into cost drivers to support strategic budgeting decisions. It is a hybrid position based roughly 20 miles west of Phoenix. • Require 7+ years of pre‑construction, cost management or project controls experience in large‑scale or mission‑critical construction. • Demonstrate strong background in conceptual estimating, benchmarking and cost modeling. • Possess experience with data‑center or heavy MEP‑intensive projects and knowledge of construction economics. • Be proficient with estimating software and data‑analysis tools such as CostX, WinEst, RSMeans, Power BI and Excel. • Hold a degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Economics or a related field.

Requirements

• ▸7+ years
• ▸costx
• ▸winest
• ▸power bi
• ▸excel
• ▸construction degree

Work Environment

Onsite