Associate Cost Manager - Utilities - Pre Contract Lead

Department: Utilities

Location: London

Description Title: Associate (Pre-Construction)

Discipline: Cost Management (Utilities)

Location: London (With Hybrid Working)

Reporting to: Senior Associate / Delivery Lead

Why RLB? At RLB, we live by four simple ideas: Truth, Trust, Together, Tomorrow. Four values that live at the heart of RLB. A place where People Make Progress.

We value your skills, talents and unique perspectives – we think they are priceless.

Bring them to RLB and you’ll be empowered to shape our future and your career in new and meaningful ways.

We’ll give you opportunities to work on some of the most ambitious and exciting projects currently being designed and developed in the built environment sector.

You’ll continue to learn and advance as everyone who works for us is provided with a tailored training programme. Our mentoring and reverse mentoring schemes will enable you to share your expertise while gaining fresh insights.

What makes RLB unique is our inclusive culture. As an independent, employee-owned business, teamwork and collaboration lies at the heart of everything we do. Hybrid and flexible working arrangements and family-friendly policies are just some of the ways we invest in employee wellbeing.

Join us and you will thrive personally as well as professionally.

About Our Utilities & Energy Team Rider Levett Bucknall’s Utilities & Energy team is one of the UK’s leading independent multi-disciplinary utilities consultancies, supporting clients in the successful planning, procurement, delivery and operation of critical utility infrastructure across some of the country’s most complex development and infrastructure programmes.

Our team works across the full project lifecycle, providing specialist expertise in electricity, water, wastewater, gas, telecommunications, distributed heat network, emerging utilities and infrastructure for hyperscale data centres, advanced manufacturing, logistics, renewable energy, commercial, residential and nationally significant infrastructure projects.

What sets us apart is our genuinely integrated approach. Rather than operating as individual disciplines, our professionals work collaboratively across three complementary service pillars to provide clients with seamless support throughout every stage of a project.

Commercial Management – Providing strategic commercial advice, procurement, contract administration, cost estimating/planning, cost management, change management, commercial assurance and financial governance from early project development through to final account.

Technical & Regulatory Advisory – Delivering specialist utility engineering, network strategy, regulatory guidance, statutory approvals, utility procurement, connections strategy and technical assurance to de-risk projects from inception.

Project & Programme Management – Leading the planning, governance and delivery of complex utility infrastructure programmes, providing project management, PMO, programme controls, stakeholder management and client-side delivery oversight through construction, commissioning and energisation.

These three pillars operate as one integrated team, enabling us to provide clients with a truly holistic service that combines technical excellence, commercial rigour and delivery expertise. This collaborative approach allows us to solve complex challenges quickly, share knowledge across disciplines and provide resilient support throughout every stage of project delivery.

As our team continues to grow, we remain committed to fostering an inclusive, supportive and collaborative culture where individuals are encouraged to learn from one another, develop new skills and work across disciplines. Whether supporting a colleague on a technical challenge, assisting with commercial strategy or helping deliver a critical programme milestone, we operate as one team with a shared objective of delivering exceptional outcomes for our clients.

Joining RLB’s Utilities & Energy team means becoming part of a high-performing, ambitious and supportive business that is helping shape the future of the UK’s critical infrastructure while offering genuine opportunities for professional development, career progression and exposure to some of the industry’s most exciting and technically challenging projects.

**Role Overvi…