Costain Group PLC
Senior Construction Manager

How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Job Description
The Senior Construction Manager acts as the primary technical authority for construction and ensures on all site project construction activities are delivered to the approved designs. The Senior Construction Manager liaises with the Area Project Manager ensuring the activities are carried out as per the contractual model.
When acting as Principal Contractor all construction activities under the Contract are normally issued by the Senior Construction Manager.
Responsibilities
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Responsible for ensuring the competence of Construction resource (including subcontractors);
- Responsible for the development and/or application of processes to ensure the quality and configuration management of the Construction deliverables (including services/products provided by Subcontractors);
- Provide the data to support the Area Commercial Manager and Area Project Manager in Project reporting (progress) and Construction Management Assurance;
- Responsible for ensuring construction, quality, test and commissioning programme targets are met;
- Responsible for developing effective communications and mechanisms for resolving conflicts;
- Ensuring the Construction Team, liaise with the Contracts Manager, client, sub-contractors and other trades, coordinating all aspects of the works so that the project is completed in line with the requirements, within budget and on time.
- Ensuring Construction Team liaison with facility/area managers, Operational Safety Case (OSC) team as applicable and the relevant responsible design authorities. For Nuclear - Docking & Nuclear Services Authorisation Group (DNSAG).
- Work closely with all Integrated Project Team functions to plan the project effectively, by ensuring that the project requirements, specification, design drawings, health and safety proposals are all read, understood and agreed, and that an agreed project programme is in place.
- Lead in the overall planning of lay down areas, parking and accommodation facilities with the Principal Contractor and ensure materials, planning, plant and tools are organised to meet the timescales for the project.
- Lead all Integrated Programme Team functions to create project working enclaves, including all access and egress routes.
- Management and execution of all construction teams in accordance with established procedures and arrangements, monitoring and controlling input/output in CEMAR
- Programme development and maintenance of construction logic, and reporting of progress.
- Creation and approval for use of; Pre-Construction Information; Construction Phase Health & Safety Plan; Safe Systems of Work (SSOW); Waste Management/ Environmental Assessment Plans.
- Coordinate with all interfacing teams/departments and stakeholders that support construction.
- Supervise and manage all site Construction teams, overseeing all aspects of their work.
- In addition to the standard requirements of the SRP Senior Construction Manager – when acting as the Principal Contractor Senior Construction Manager the following additional duties are applicable as necessary:
- The SCM manages, schedules, supervises, organises and co-ordinates all trade contractors through his Construction Managers on a day-to-day basis.
- The SCM is the responsible person under the CDM regulations as well as having overall responsibility for the site management.
- The SCM co-ordinates the review of design information prepared by the trade contractors.
- The SCM performs the final assessment on any claims for extension of time or loss with advice where appropriate from the consultant team.
- The SCM ensure co-ordination of site inspections and issues instructions through Construction Managers as required.
- On large projects the SCM ensures all daily logistic meetings on site with trade contractor foremen to organise, schedule and co-ordinate on-site shared services such as deliveries and offloading, hoists and craneage, scaffolding and safety issues, rubbish clearance etc. take place
- The SCM ensures weekly checks on trade contractor earned value and acts if necessary
- Construction progress reports are prepared for the client (SRP SCM).
- The SCM holds regular construction progress meetings with the client and consultant team.
- The SCM initiates site activity investigations and assessments.
- Evaluates and assesses bids and project costs in the light of independent estimates and available data.
- Ensure preparation of vendor and subcontracting documents for multiple tasks and projects.
- Evaluates and assesses equipment and recommend designs for the project team integrating safety measures.
- Ensures programme designs are developed and initiate site-specific safety planning including an accident-free safe work environment.
- Lead, direct, assist and support construction teams to ensure deliverable processes on time
- Prepare detailed, accurate timely project reports including work schedules, implementations, deviations, change in subcontractors, customer issues and other related problems for the Head of Construction.
- Update and document all project schedules including implementation phases in a project and the management aspects.
Reasons to use Rodeo
I’m in my final year doing Economics and I don’t know whether to apply for grad schemes now or do a masters first. What do you think?
Honest answer — it depends on where you want to end up. A lot of top grad schemes (Big 4, civil service, banking) don’t need a masters. Let’s look at the ones you’d be competitive for now, and we can decide if a masters actually adds anything.
Also worth knowing: most autumn 2026 applications are open now. Timing matters more than you think.
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
Graduate Consultant — 2026 Scheme
Why you're a good match
StrongYour economics background and your summer at a regional bank line up with what PwC looks for on the consulting scheme. Applications close in four weeks.
See breakdownIt searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Why you're a good match
You’ve got the grades and the economics background, and your bank internship is exactly the experience this scheme looks for. Apply soon — deadlines close within the month.
Experience fit
Your summer at the bank plus your econometrics coursework map directly to the day-one responsibilities on this scheme — client modelling, market briefings, and deal support.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Essential


Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
Knowledge, Skills, and Experience
- Thorough working knowledge of NEC contracts acting as both the primary named person and the NEC Supervisor
- Thorough knowledge and understanding of the Construction Design Management (CDM) regulations
About Us
Costain helps to improve people’s lives with integrated, leading edge, smart infrastructure solutions across the UK’s energy, water, transportation and defence markets. We help our clients improve their business performance by increasing capacity, improving customer service, safeguarding security, enhancing resilience, decarbonising and delivering increased efficiency. Our vision is to be the UK’s leading smart infrastructure solutions company. We will achieve this by focusing on blue chip clients whose major spending plans are underpinned by strategic national needs, regulatory commitments, legislation or essential performance requirements. We offer our clients leading edge solutions that are digitally optimised through the following five services which cover the whole lifecycle of their assets: future-shaping strategic consultancy; consultancy and advisory; digital technology solutions; asset optimisation and complex programme delivery. Our culture and values underpin everything we do.
Costain appreciate the time and effort taken when applying for one of our positions but, due to the high volume of responses, we are unable to provide individual feedback on candidates at application phase.
We do share individual feedback following an interview.
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that disclose they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer.
It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people.
For more details please go to the Disability Confident website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/disability-confident-campaign
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills