Construction Cost Engineer

What You’ll Do

The Data Center Planning & Construction team at CoreWeave is responsible for delivering a rapidly growing portfolio of data centers and critical infrastructure projects that power our AI cloud platform. We own the full project lifecycle—from site due diligence and design through construction, commissioning, and turnover—while partnering closely with Finance, Operations, and Executive Leadership to scale our footprint responsibly.

The Construction Cost Engineer will be the owner-side commercial lead across a portfolio of complex, large-scale developments, with a focus on data centers and mission-critical infrastructure. You will build and maintain the financial “source of truth” for your projects, ensuring clarity, accountability, and control over every dollar from pre-construction through closeout.

About the role:

As a Construction Cost Engineer, you are responsible for the financial integrity of CoreWeave’s physical build-outs. You will manage capital expenditure (CAPEX) for large-scale data center projects, ensuring our ambitious AI infrastructure deployment timelines are met without budget overruns. You will act as the "financial conscience" for our Project Managers and General Contractors.

In this role, you will:

• Own portfolio-level cost planning, control, and forecasting across multiple concurrent projects.
• Serve as a strategic advisor to Construction, Real Estate, and Finance leadership on budget, risk, and commercial strategy.
• Implement scalable tools, processes, and reporting that support CoreWeave’s rapid growth and evolving data center program.
• Partner with internal and external teams to anticipate risk, drive value, and protect the company’s capital while enabling speed.=

Who You Are: 

• Cost Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting
• Develop and manage project and program-level budgets, cost plans, and capital forecasts for data center and infrastructure projects.
• Build and maintain cost models and benchmarks across markets, asset types, and delivery models.
• Own Anticipated Final Cost (AFC) and Estimate at Completion (EAC) forecasting; identify variances and risks early with clear mitigation plans.
• Cost Control & Financial Management
• Lead end-to-end cost control for multiple projects, including tracking commitments, accruals, and actuals.
• Monitor WIP, invoices, payment applications, and change events to ensure accuracy, compliance, and timeliness.
• Prepare and present monthly cost reports and dashboards covering budget, forecast, exposure, contingency, and cash flow.
• Implement and refine cost control systems, standards, and KPIs that can scale across the portfolio.
• Change Management & Risk Analysis
• Review and validate, and negotiate change orders, claims, and potential change events from GCs, subs, and vendors.
• Maintain contingency, exposure, and escalation tracking, including log management and drawdown strategy.
• Partner with Construction, Design, and Operations to identify cost risks, model impacts, and recommend mitigation paths.
• Lead or support post-mortem cost analyses, lessons learned, and audits to continuously improve cost performance.
• Vendor & Consultant Management
• Manage and direct third-party QS/cost consultants and other commercial partners; ensure deliverables are on time, accurate, and actionable.
• Review estimates, reconciliations, value engineering proposals, and cost reports for quality and alignment with CoreWeave standards.
• Hold vendors accountable for scope, budget, and reporting expectations, and escalate issues as needed.
• Data, Reporting & Continuous Improvement
• Build and maintain cost databases, historical benchmarks, and market intel to inform future projects and negotiations.
• Analyze trends to identify value-engineering and cost-optimization opportunities without compromising performance or reliability.
• Develop standardized tools, templates, and dashboards (e.g., for AFC