Associate Cost Engineer

HMRC run the biggest digital operation in Government supporting tax and benefits services for 45 million individuals and 4.9 million business customers.

We have a hugely complex IT Estate in HMRC ranging from digital API's to 40 year old systems. The breadth, variety and complexity of these systems and the business processes they support are on a scale rarely seen in other global organisations. The ambitious Digital programme that HMRC is embarking on and our vision of a paperless Tax Authority, is setting people's imaginations alight across government and encouraging innovation right across the Civil Service.

We are at the forefront of transforming our services becoming increasingly digital, enabling customers to do more for themselves on line, in real time. But with that comes the challenges of being a big, established organisation dealing with the staggering changes brought by digital technology. We are designing products and services making them as simple as possible for our customers to use. Our move to digital services and the way we use customer data, and data sent to us by other organisations, is critical. Additionally we are moving towards use modern technology & Agile methodologies to deliver these IT changes.

Working for the Cost Engineering Team (CET), within an IT environment, the Associate Cost Engineer will:

• Support preparation of IT cost estimates for proposed IT solution designs; including formulation and/or exploitation of cost intelligence information from a multitude of sources
• Ensure estimates are subjected to appropriate Governance procedures including presentation of costs at Architecture Review Board
• Undertake cost analysis of the effect of business change upon HMRC's IT systems, ensuring IT solution designs are cost efficient.
• Compare estimates against quotes or proposals provided by internal delivery groups and external suppliers to help assure Value for Money.

The key accountabilities are: -

• Analysis and estimation of the cost implications of proposed solution designs, catering for delivery, ongoing support and maintenance and risk/opportunity cost elements.
• Research, analysis and interpretation of new commercial information and drivers, including market rates and trends, to ensure that cost estimates are based on the best information available.
• Building strong relationships with stakeholders, managing expectations and providing constructive challenge to ensure emerging solutions are affordable and align with IT Blueprints.
• Actively contributing to staff engagement and communications events, working towards an environment that values the contribution of everyone;
• Engaging fully in continuous improvement of the organisation and its processes, products and people.

Person specification:

Essential Criteria

Applicants must: -
• Demonstrate an analytical, innovative approach to problem solving.
• Display experience of reading and interpreting documentation to extract relevant data
• Demonstrate strong capability of using excel spread sheets and writing reports.
• Be able to articulate findings to stakeholders at all levels

Desirable Criteria

Full training will be given to the successful applicant, but a background in some or all of the following would be useful:-
• Experience of estimating or forecasting the budgetary requirements for large Change Projects
• An understanding of IT Design, Build & Test processes or some experience of working in a complex IT environment
• Awareness or knowledge of software / hardware commercial cost models
• Experience or knowledge of software sizing metrics e.g. Function Points

For further information and application, please see -