Estimating And Benchmarking Specialist

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Job Description

Job Summary

Albemarle is looking for an experienced capital project practitioner with strong organizational, interpersonal, and executive presentation skills to fill an Estimating and Benchmarking Specialist position. The individual who is selected to fill this role shall possess an ability to collaborate across many organizations simultaneously and quickly synthesize technical, financial, and capital project information to identify the short and long-term opportunities. This position is part of the Lithium Sustaining Capital Projects Organization and reports to the Performance Manager, Capital Projects – Lithium Sustaining. The role will work closely with the Lithium Site Capital Project Managers as well as members of the Corporate Project Engineering and Design, Project Controls, and Capital Project Excellence and Assurance organizations. The overall focus of this role will be to support Lithium Americas / Europe Sustaining team in developing bottom-up estimates for Category 3 and Category 4 Projects (under $25M TIC) for strategically important projects as well as provide assurance to Contractor estimates for Category 2 projects (Above $25M but below $100M). A candidate needs to have an extensive experience in the petrochemical / chemical industry to perform Benchmarking of the projects across different Lithium sites engaging IPA, McKinsey etc. benchmarking community. Ability to do conceptual estimates with limited engineering information is a strong plus.

Subject Matter Expertise:

Support Lithium Americas / Europe team in developing bottom-up estimates for Category 3 and 4 Projects on as needed basis (currently in Excel and Cleopatra Cost Engineering tool, thereafter in the Estimating tool as advised by Albemarle Corporate Project Controls group)

Provide assurance of contractor estimates for Category 2 projects and as required for other projects upon business need

Act as a single point of contact for any estimate’s related questions

Create estimating database / metrics for projects across different Albemarle sites within Lithium Sustaining Portfolio for benchmarking purposes ($ per cubic feet of office space in South America vs US utilizing IHS Markit, Alpha Resources and similar industry known subscriptions)

Actively use IPA and other industry tools to assess health of the estimate of the project and benchmark to the industry standards

Improve Sustaining Change Management process and be a focal point for scope related changes for Sustaining sites

Become SME of Albemarle Project Process (APP) and represent Leadership team at PEER reviews and PEER assists on as needed basis

Provide trainings to site Project Managers on best estimating practices, estimating templates etc with the goal to improve estimating and forecasting predictability and KPIs.

Become SME and single point of contact for Albemarle estimating tools related queries (currently using Excel and Cleopatra, possible transition to Aspen Tech)

Closely collaborate with Corporate Estimating Director and his group to ensure knowledge sharing and alignment is taking place, help with corporate estimating improvement initiatives on as needed basis.

Qualifications:

Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering or Construction Management and/or applicable course of study or equivalent work experience

Experience:

10-20 years of experience in petrochemical/chemical or mining industries

Excellent understand of project lifecycles phases from FEL-0 to Operate.

Experience in producing conceptual estimates and estimates with accuracy from -/+ 50% to -/10% as part of Pre-FID deliverables

Experience with in-house benchmarking as well as managing contractor like IPA and/or McKinsey to provide consulting services with benchmarking

Skills:

Ability to effectively communicate with a high level of precision and integrity to internal and external stakeholders. (Cross functional collaboration at executive level is highly desirable but not required)

Technical skills including knowledge of Aspen Tech Capital Estimator, Cleopatra Cost Engineering tool and any other estimating tools to advance analytics and reporting of Lithium Sustaining portfolio to enable effective and timely decision making is a plus

Top-tier analytical skills used to identify gaps and develop/implement solutions

Location: Clearlake, TX / Hybrid / Min 25% Traveling

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