Director of Bids Cost Management

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.

Could you be the full-time Director of Bid Cost Management we’re looking for?

Location: Naperville, Illinois (USA) or Montreal, Quebec (Canada), or other Alstom locations may be considered.

PURPOSE OF THE JOB

Tender/Bid cost manager:

• To prepare, lead and manage all costing and pricing aspects of a tender within the tender team, with the support of Finance Tender Manager on all financial aspects (from Business Opportunity Review up to Tender Transfer Meeting)
• To support Bid manager or Bid Technical managers on target cost, cost consolidation and cost challenge per sub-system
• To support the Project team on costing aspects until CPR1 (Critical Project Review n°1)
• Responsible for a Team of 3 Bid Cost Managers, the Director of Bid Cost Management will ensure that all pricing and costing aspects of Service NAM bids are managed effectively. The team manage a number of opportunities simultaneously.

ORGANIZATION

Organization structure: NAM/Services

Reports directly to:

Head of Bids Services - NAM

Direct reports: Responsible for team of 3.

Network & Links

Internal

• Tender Team (Bid manager, Tender leader, Bid Technical Managers, Finance Tender Manager,
• Tender control
• Competitiveness managers, Ref Lib managers
• Other functions/ Métiers: Engineering, Finance, Industrial, Procurement, etc

External

• Customer (on demand)
• Partners (on demand)
• Suppliers (on demand)

Your future role

We’ll look to you for:

• Preparing quick costing during pre-tendering phase, based on product cost database and return of experience from project execution
• Supporting the Bid manager in the preparation of the IFQ (Instruction For Quotation), in accordance with pricing strategy
• Defining the cost structure for the bid according to RFP (terms and conditions, price form etc),
• Defining target cost per activities and/or sub system in coordination with Bid Technical managers, matching with winning price and identified gaps versus Reference Solution
• Leading cost estimation activities based on target cost approach with all relevant parties
• Leading cost improvement actions to reach tender cost /target price using all competitiveness levers, and challenge the contributors
• Leading a collaborative work with Finance Tender Manager to optimize Financial costs (bonds, financing, hedging, insurance, taxes, etc), and to improve overall competitiveness of the bid
• Consolidating tender costs commitment and selling price as per financial rules and in the consolidation tool (Mercury/Promenade/ or Ody.C)
• Controlling the level of robustness of the costing (consistency between scope of work, costing received and planning), and use the Costing robustness assessment grid
• Supporting proactively the Bid manager, Bid Technical Manager, Bid Procurement Manager and the Finance Tender Manager during the tender validation process
• Preparing the Costing package for TRM (Tender Review Meeting) (cost analysis/bridges, standard report, cash curve, etc), and support the Bid Manager on the preparation of the pricing sheet for the customer
• Leading cost estimation activities, in coordination with Bid sub-system manager, for changes discussed with the customer during negotiation phase and update the cost commitment
• Transfering tender costing data (with related assumptions) to Project (TTM / Tender Transfer Meeting) + variance analysis (from TRM/ Tender Review Meeting --> TTM/ Tender Transfer Meeting)
• Supporting on demand the Project team on costing for variation orders

PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENTS:

• Provide all costing and pricing deliverables on time
• Accuracy and robustness of costing
• For Tender/Bid cost manager: reliability of cost commitment between TTM and CPR0, out of change of scope/planning/global environment

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:

Educational Requirements

Mandatory: Engineering degree and/or Business School

Desirable: Certified Cost Professional

Experience

Mandatory:

• Minimum 5 years of experience in Industry

Desirable:

• Experience in Railway industry
• Knowledgeable of Costing, in similar industry

Competencies & Skills

Technical:

• Ability to recognize product and associated costs, and understand operational flows (engineering, manufacturing, industrial, etc)
• Ability to analyze and challenge contributor's commitments
• Ability to define cost impact of terms & conditions
• Sufficient awareness of financial rules and contractual aspects (bonds & guarantees, …)
• Experience in Value analysis, Product cost and Cost models
• Rigor and good analytical skills
• Fluent in English (knowledge of French desirable)

Behavioral:

• Results and data driven
• Curiosity for the product and its environment
• Ability to work in network (with Bid manager, Tender leader, Finance Tender Manager, other contributors…)
• Good communication skills (presentations, synthesis, relationship with contributors ...)
• Comfortable in an international and a multi-cultural environment
• Ability to deliver on-time
• Transparency, autonomy, anticipation, initiative, reactivity

Training to be performed: Tender costing, Alstom financial rules, Project risk & opportunity management, Mercury/Ody.C, Promenade (for Service), Design To Cost (for RSC)

Compensation and Benefits

• Salary Range: $115,500-$181,500 DOE
• Medical HSA/FSA, Dental, Vision and 401K
• Short term and Long Term Disability Benefits
• PTO

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.