Whiteburn
Senior Commercial Manager / Senior Quantity Surveyor

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Senior Commercial Manager / Senior Quantity Surveyor
Location: Edinburgh, with travel to our developments across Scotland
Employment: Full-time, Permanent
Whiteburn is an award-winning Scottish housebuilder with an exciting pipeline of residential developments. As our business continues to grow, we are looking for an experienced Senior Commercial Manager / Senior Quantity Surveyor to join our team.
This is a senior, hands-on role with responsibility for the commercial management of our developments, working closely with our Construction, Technical, Sales and Finance teams.
The successful candidate will bring strong residential construction and quantity surveying experience, excellent commercial awareness and the ability to manage costs, procurement and commercial risk throughout the development lifecycle.
Key Responsibilities
- Take commercial responsibility for residential developments from pre-construction through to completion and final account.
- Prepare and manage development budgets, cost plans, forecasts and cash flows.
- Produce accurate monthly cost reporting and provide clear commercial information to the senior management team.
- Manage procurement strategies, tendering and the appointment of subcontractors and suppliers.
- Negotiate subcontractor and supplier terms and ensure orders are placed accurately and appropriately.
- Manage subcontractor valuations, variations, payments and final accounts.
- Monitor development costs against budgets and forecasts, identifying risks and opportunities at an early stage.
- Work closely with the Construction team to monitor project performance, programme and costs.
- Support value engineering and identify opportunities to improve value while maintaining quality and design standards.
- Provide commercial input into new development opportunities, land appraisals and feasibility assessments.
- Build and maintain strong relationships with subcontractors, suppliers, consultants and other project stakeholders.
- Ensure appropriate commercial and contractual controls are maintained across projects.
- Support, mentor and develop members of the Commercial team.
- Contribute to the continued development and improvement of Whiteburn's commercial processes, systems and reporting.
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These responsibilities closely reflect current housebuilding roles, where procurement, valuations, cost forecasting, margin management, land appraisal, final accounts and team leadership feature prominently.
About you
We are looking for someone who has:
- Significant Quantity Surveying and commercial management experience within residential construction, ideally within housebuilding.
- Experience operating at Senior Quantity Surveyor, Managing Quantity Surveyor or Commercial Manager level.
- A degree, HNC/HND or equivalent qualification in Quantity Surveying, Commercial Management or a related construction discipline.
- Strong knowledge of construction costs, procurement, subcontractor management and contractual matters.
- Experience managing multiple developments or projects simultaneously.
- Strong budgeting, forecasting and cost-reporting skills.
- Excellent negotiation and commercial decision-making skills.
- The ability to identify and manage commercial risk.
- Strong Excel and general IT skills, with experience using commercial or valuation systems.
- Excellent communication and relationship-building skills.
- A proactive, organised and collaborative approach.
- Experience supporting or mentoring junior members of a commercial team.
- A full UK driving licence.


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Sound Like You?
If you enjoy working in a fast-paced environment and have great attention to detail — we’d love to hear from you.
Apply now to be part of our small, dedicated team that makes a big difference.
Please send us your CV and a covering letter to office@whiteburn.co.uk
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