Senior Cost Specialist - Program in Casa Grande, Arizona at Ivanhoe Electric

Senior Cost Specialist - Program

Reports to: Program Controls Manager

Department: Programs

Location: Santa Cruz Copper Project in Santa Cruz, AZ

About Ivanhoe Electric Inc.

We are a United States-domiciled minerals exploration company with a focus on developing mines from mineral deposits principally located in the United States. We seek to support American supply chain independence by finding and delivering copper and other critical metals vital to advanced manufacturing, infrastructure development, technology, and national security. We use our powerful Typhoon™ geophysical surveying system, together with advanced data analytics provided by our 94.3%-owned subsidiary, Computational Geosciences Inc. (“CGI”), to accelerate and de-risk the mineral exploration process as we seek to discover new deposits of critical metals that may otherwise be undetectable using traditional exploration technologies. We believe the United States is significantly underexplored and has the potential to yield major new discoveries of critical metals. Our mineral exploration efforts focus on copper and other metals, including nickel, cobalt, platinum group elements, gold, and silver. By advancing our portfolio of critical metals exploration projects, headlined by the Santa Cruz Copper Project in Arizona, we intend to contribute to domestic supply by developing resources that support industrial and strategic sectors. We also operate a 50/50 joint venture with Saudi Arabian Mining Company ("Maaden") to explore for minerals on ~48,500 km2 of underexplored Arabian Shield in Saudi Arabia. Finally, in 2024, we established an exploration alliance with BHP Mineral Resources Inc. (“BHP”), a subsidiary of BHP Group Limited, to search for critical minerals in the United States.

Job Summary:

Ivanhoe Electric is advancing the Santa Cruz Copper Project into the execution phase using an Integrated Project Execution Team. At Ivanhoe Electric, we believe that Program Controls is the hub of our program's success, and we are currently seeking an experienced Program-Led Planner to join our Program Controls team for an on-site role in Casa Grande, providing cost engineering/management support for our major Capital Project. In this role, you will serve as the key day-to-day interface with the Director of Engineering and Construction to ensure that program-level costs are transparent and well understood, and that mitigation measures are developed and implemented to meet budget requirements at the program, project, and subproject levels.

The Senior Cost Specialist provides governance, leadership, tools, and guidance to the Underground and Surface Projects Cost analysts to support the control of the overall program budget through the execution phase. Cost Management recommendations and scenario analyses are to be submitted directly to the Program Engineering and Construction teams and the Director of Construction, who approves outcomes for incorporation into the project's overall cost report.

In general, you will support the program team in aligning the approved cost strategy, challenging forecast assumptions across projects/subprojects, supporting discussions on risk exposure and variances, and identifying solutions to funding requirements. You will be part of efforts to find innovative solutions to cost-engineering challenges and contribute to the program's success.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Program Execution and Safety Integration

• Embody and promote the ‘Zero Harm’ values of Ivanhoe Electric.
• Be a role model who promotes Ivanhoe Electric’s business culture and contributes positively to the program goals by striking the right balance among our teams, stakeholders, and community.
• Provide cost leadership to 2 cost analysts, responsible for their respective projects.
• Identify, coach, and mentor talent to realize their potential.
• Display excellence in leadership in cost management delivery in line with the conditions of the role.

Overall Budget Management

• Provide estimates and cost planning, including producing and presenting the final cost plan.
• Review and participate with the engineering and construction teams in the development of cost estimates (WBS / Cost Center coding and confirmation of work packages).
• Developing cost plans and estimates through the detailed design phase, delivering updated cost plans at appropriate design milestones.
• Recast the overall program budget into the Control budget for the Program to a level of detail required for appropriate forecasting and evaluation of performance of partners and contractors.
• Contribute to the procurement process by reviewing critical packages for a scope-to-scope review and alignment of the WBS / Code of accounts.
• Support the development of a process for active support of individual projects by the Trend and Change Control Committee at the program level by encouraging a scope review and an impact analysis before submitting a trend or change request.
• Work with the project team to review contingency drawdown requests and recommend mitigation measures for high-probability risks or trends.
• Ensure Project Cost analysts contribute to explaining variances during the period and submit reconciliation requests to the accounting and accounts payable teams.

Progress Measurement and Forecasting

• Lead estimating, cost controls, and change management activities throughout the project lifecycle.
• Carries out validation of trend/changes on a bi-weekly and monthly basis.
• Support procurement and construction teams in estimating to negotiate change orders throughout the program lifecycle.
• Liaise with the project managers to ensure the team gathers status information to prepare a forecast update in a timely fashion.
• Use of rules of credit to establish Earned Value Management methods to support forecasting or bottom-up estimating for forecasting.
• Ensuring that cost auditing, validation of accruals and evaluation of work in progress is managed effectively and that a robust process is in place.
• Preparation of Cost and incurred flows to ensure alignment with cash needs with the finance team.

Reporting

• Develop and implement priority plans, including risk mitigation strategies, using internal tools and performance metrics (KPIs, critical success factors, and earned value frameworks).
• Support program-level capital planning and reporting.
• Produce monthly cost forecast reports and provide regular updates on project performance, including recommending solutions and securing leadership alignment.
• Participate in leadership meetings with the SVP, GM, Directors, and team members, and prepare/deliver presentations as required.

Systems and Information Management

• Use of Project Controls tools compatible with Microsoft Dynamics or Business Central and internal tools to track earned value and forecast costs through financial reports.
• Implement and maintain internal Business Management Systems (including Power BI) and delivery methodologies to ensure consistent delivery of cost management services.
• Compiling as-built or actual cost data for benchmarking purposes.
• Drive knowledge management by capturing lessons learned and maintaining internal databases.

Skills and Experience Required:

• Excellent communication and presentation skills that combine sound analytical cost engineering principles with the ability to summarize and present budget strategy/cost plans to technical and non-technical team members.
• Initiative-taking, purposeful, and capable of thriving in a multi-partner project execution delivery team.
• Bachelor’s degree in construction management, cost management, estimating, engineering, or a field related to mining or construction.
• Minimum 10 + years of relevant experience working in a cost management role in the construction or mining industry.
• Experience in leading cost management on major construction projects with a high degree of complexity.
• Good knowledge of various construction industry technical matters, such as different procurement processes for cost management, value engineering, accounting principles for accruals, and earned value management for forecasting.
• Good knowledge of SOX requirements for cost reporting and interfacing with accounting.
• Experienced at leading a small team and interfacing in a matrix functional environment.
• Demonstrated skill in establishing Project Controls activities and directing cost engineering functions, including cost estimating, cost control, and cost analysis.
• Skilled in providing direction, team management, and training of technical and non-technical personnel.
• Demonstrated skill in identifying, analyzing, and solving problems.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and experience with Power BI or equivalent tools for Cost Reporting preferred.

Work Pattern

• Site-based at Santa Cruz project office and site presence at the mine site on an as-required basis.
• Partial local remote work may be considered upon request.

Diversity Statements:

Ivanhoe Electric is an equal opportunity employer that recognizes the value of a diverse workforce. All suitably qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment on the basis of objective criteria and without regard to the following (which is a non-exhaustive list): race, color, age, religion, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other characteristics in accordance with the relevant governing laws.

The Company offers a professional, entrepreneurial office environment and the opportunity to work alongside and grow with talented colleagues. The Company offers competitive compensation and an employee benefits package.