At Alstom, we understand transport networks and what moves people. From high-speed trains, metros, monorails, and trams, to turnkey systems, services, infrastructure, signalling and digital mobility, we offer our diverse customers the broadest portfolio in the industry. Every day, more than 80 000 colleagues lead the way to greener and smarter mobility worldwide, connecting cities as we reduce carbon and replace cars.

Engineering Cost Manager VIE, Hennigsdorf, Germany

Have you ever wondered how much it costs to develop a train? Join us as an Engineering Cost Manager VIE and you will find out.

Developing a train is a complex endeavor involving multiple Engineering disciplines, such as Carbody Design, Aerodynamics, Weight Performance, Human Factors, Eco Design, System and Software Development, Electrical Circuits, RAMS, Testing, Certification and Authorization, Change and Configuration Management and several others.

This is a unique opportunity to balance technical and business aspects and connect the dots between technical activities, development processes and their associated costs.

Your future role

As an Engineering Cost Manager VIE , you will be operating in an international multi-site environment and collaborate with stakeholders from multiple Engineering disciplines as also Finance, Project Management and Procurement to ensure the costs remain on track in Rolling Stock train projects or tenders.

You will also be jointly looking for cost optimization possibilities and presenting project performance data in a user friendly and visually appealing way for different stakeholders.

The successful candidate will become part of the Cost Management team on site: a multicultural passionate team driving change and establishing itself as one of the pillars of Engineering. You will report to the domain lead Luciana Mara de Carvalho Alvite, Project Engineering Manager Cost Management .

Main responsibilities:

Animate pro-active cost culture on projects and the site. You will be the “voice” of Cost Management in the Project/Tender team and towards Engineering departments.
Drive modernization and contribute to improvement in the organization by questioning the status quo and developing innovative alternative solutions.
Coordinate cost management activities along one or more projects/tenders to meet the agreed objectives.
Ensure traceability and transparency of cost development versus baseline and define activities on savings, opportunities and mitigations.
Actively search for and participate in cost optimization activities and value adding opportunities, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, documenting results diligently.
Provide Cost Management deliverables on time according to stakeholder needs and plan.

Based on Project and Cost Management processes, guidelines, templates, and expertise:

Build and maintain the Financial Cockpit for all work packages in a tender or project , documenting changes
Create and rigorously maintain cost baselines for all Work Packages
Drive regular handshakes with WP owners for forecast updates and resource nomination.
- Actively question cost estimations, jointly search for and define cost effective alternatives
Drive execution of Work Package Reviews (WPR) with métiers:
- Prepare indicators and assess performance of all work packages using Project and Cost Management principles and tools, such as Earned Value Analysis, Baseline x FC x Actuals comparison, Workload Charts, etc
- Actively exercise critical thinking during reporting, ask questions and speak up in case of deviation from expected state to understand root causes.
Manage the costs of changes to product and scope:
- Validate cost estimations for Change Requests, actively look for potential gaps and optimizations
- Regularly consolidate costs for CRs, Commercial Requests and mitigation actions and prepare suitable visualizations
Risk management: contribute to estimation of risk value and mitigation actions, with particular focus on costs.
Cost control:
- Check consistency, budget, approve/reject and keep track of Purchase Requests
- Actively identify and raise Early Warnings to Domain Lead and Chief of Development
Provide self-servicing capabilities & on-line access to project performance data:
- Create dashboards integrating data from various sources to present KPIs in a user-friendly way using Power BI
- Develop modern user interfaces, incorporate user feedback and comply to corporate visual identity guidelines
Contribute to improvement of Cost Management processes , actively suggest improvements to PrEM Cost Management

All about you

We value passion and attitude over experience. That's why we don't expect you to have every single skill. Instead, we've listed some that we think will help you succeed and grow in this role:

Education:

Studying or recent graduate in Engineering, Project Management, Business Administration or similar qualification
Fluent in English or German
Project Management knowledge (desirable)

Experience:

Basic knowledge on Engineering way of working
Experience consolidating data from differences sources and presenting in a visually appealing way
Experience creating Power-Point presentations
Practical experience with Excel Tables, Pivots, PowerQuery (highly desirable) or curious to learn quickly

Competencies & Skills:

Technical:

Commercial and financial acumen
Knowledge in data visualization tools such as Power BI/Qlik Sense or curious to learn
Knowledge of Work/Cost Breakdown Structures, Matrix organization, forecasting, schedules, interdependencies between activities
Ability to understand engineering operational flows and derive product costs (desired)
Knowledge of physical progress methodologies, such as Earned Value Management (desired)
Knowledge in SAP ERP and SAP Business Warehouse (desired)
Knowledge of railway industry (desired)

Behavioral:

Data driven. You love to speak with data, and are able to maintain large numbers of data in a reliable, structured and detailed way. You investigate and solve issues to provide very high-quality level of data and visualizations
You steadily seek out information from varied sources and engage with stakeholders to select the best approach to deliver more cost-effective solutions
Able to connect the dots, evaluate Engineering activities vs costs and find gaps and inconsistencies
Confident and empathetic to assess stakeholders’ commitments, as also speak up in case of discrepancies and gaps identified
You enjoy diverse teams and contributing to create an environment where all differences are embraced and respected
Very good communication, collaboration, and intercultural skills
Agile: excited to operate in a fast paced, changing environment. You anticipate and show a pro-active and positive attitude.
Ability to handle confidential information using discretion, while maintaining independence and objectivity
You are curious, have an appetite for learning and is ready to support others on your strongest competencies
You're open minded, user oriented, ready to listen and understand stakeholder needs and able to translate it into data driven solutions
Even if you don’t know everything, you are curious, have an appetite for learning and is ready to support others on your strongest competencies

You don’t need to be a train enthusiast to thrive with us. We guarantee that when you step onto one of our trains with your friends or family, you’ll be proud. If you’re up for the challenge, we’d love to hear from you!

Important to note

As a global business, we’re an equal-opportunity employer that celebrates diversity across the 63 countries we operate in. We’re committed to creating an inclusive workplace for everyone.