The Vice President, Cost & Commercial is accountable for defining and executing Vantage’s enterprise‑wide cost and commercial strategy across the construction portfolio, with particular emphasis on contractual risk, change governance, and value protection across sites.
This role exists to ensure that Vantage’s rapid growth is underpinned by robust contractual frameworks, disciplined commercial governance, and consistent decision‑making, enabling the business to scale without compromising financial control, legal protection, or long‑term operational value.
The Vice President acts as the ultimate commercial authority for construction delivery, shaping how Vantage contracts, manages, and governs its sites globally.
Executive Role Summary
The Vice President, Cost & Commercial leads all cost and commercial management activities across the construction portfolio, setting the strategic direction for how Vantage structures contracts, manages change, allocates risk, and protects enterprise value throughout the full lifecycle of site delivery.
This role goes well beyond individual project oversight. It owns the commercial operating model for construction, ensuring consistency across regions and partners, while guiding senior leaders through complex commercial decisions involving cost, schedule, risk, and contractual exposure.
The Vice President is a key member of the Construction leadership team and a trusted advisor to executive stakeholders, Finance, Legal, Development, and Design Engineering.
Core Accountabilities
Enterprise Commercial & Contractual Strategy
- Define and own Vantage’s construction commercial and contractual strategy across all sites, regions, and delivery models.
- Establish contract frameworks that:
- Appropriately allocate risk
- Enable controlled flexibility
- Protect Vantage’s long‑term commercial and operational interests
- Ensure contracts, amendments, and commercial positions are consistent, defensible, and aligned with corporate risk appetite.
- Ensure that appropriate notices are issued across projects to customers and suppliers.
- Act as executive sponsor for complex commercial negotiations with General Contractors, consultants, and key suppliers.
Contractual Governance, Risk & Change Control
- Hold ultimate accountability for contractual compliance and commercial governance across the construction portfolio.
- Ensure all construction contracts and practices comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements (e.g. HGCRA 1996 or equivalent local legislation).
- Own the change control philosophy and governance for construction, ensuring:
- Changes are rigorously evaluated
- Cost and time impacts are clearly quantified
- Decisions are made at the right level with full visibility of risk
- Provide executive oversight of disputes, claims, and escalations, setting strategy and approving resolution approaches.
Portfolio Cost Control & Cashflow Stewardship
- Accountable for the integrity and quality of cost management outputs across all sites.
- Ensure forecasting, cashflow, and liability assessments are based on sound commercial and scheduling principles, including:
- Change impacts
- Delay and disruption exposure
- Contractual entitlements
- Partner with Finance to ensure alignment between project‑level commercial positions and enterprise financial reporting.
Commercial Operating Model, Systems & Standards
- Define and continuously evolve Vantage’s commercial operating model for construction.
- Ensure consistent use of approved systems, tools, templates, and documentation across all projects.
- Sponsor the development and adoption of DEC tools and commercial policies, ensuring they are fit for scale and complexity.
- Ensure strong integration between Construction, Finance, Legal, and Development & Engineering.
Continuous Improvement & Strategic Change
- Lead portfolio‑level audits and quality reviews of commercial management practices, focusing on:
- Compliance
- Consistency
- Risk mitigation
- Sponsor targeted improvement programmes as agreed with the SVP Delivery and executive leadership.
- Ensure lessons learned from site delivery and disputes are embedded into future contracting and governance approaches.
Senior Leadership & Influence
- Act as a senior commercial authority and thought partner within the Construction leadership team.
- Set expectations for commercial rigour and contractual discipline at pre‑start and executive governance forums.
- Build strong, trust‑based relationships with internal leaders and external partners.
- Champion Vantage’s values of no ego, no arrogance, while bringing appropriate challenge and independent judgement to executive discussions.
Leadership Expectations & Ways of Working
The Vice President is expected to:
- Lead with clarity, confidence, and commercial judgement
- Balance risk management with delivery pragmatism
- Enable leaders rather than over‑control programmes
- Coach and develop senior commercial talent
- Create a culture where contractual discipline is seen as an enabler, not a blocker
Experience & Qualifications
- Degree in Quantity Surveying, Commercial Management, Law, Engineering, or similar, or equivalent senior‑level experience
- 10+ years’ experience in senior commercial leadership roles within complex construction or infrastructure environments
- Proven track record of:
- Managing contractual risk at scale
- Leading dispute strategy and resolution
- Designing and implementing commercial governance frameworks
- Experience operating at portfolio or enterprise level in a fast‑growth environment
- Willingness to travel internationally as required (typically <20%)
Strategic Value of the Role
This role:
- Protects hundreds of millions in capital investment
- Enables scalable growth across multiple sites
- Reduces contractual volatility and dispute risk
- Creates consistency, confidence, and speed in executive decision‑making