Cost Engineer

CRA Energy is a Noida-based manufacturer of custom-engineered process and combustion equipment, including flare systems, thermal oxidizers, biogas compression and upgrading systems, gas processing skids, burners, and related packages. Our projects are engineer-to-order: every job is costed, engineered, procured, and built to a specific client requirement, in India and internationally.

CRA is creating a dedicated Cost Engineer position to own cost intelligence across the full project lifecycle, from the first budgetary estimate at proposal stage to the final profitability statement on completed projects. This is an end-to-end cost ownership role. The Cost Engineer is the custodian of what things cost, how confident we are in those numbers, and how our estimates compare to reality.

This role functions as an independent check on bid pricing. It is not a data-entry position; the Cost Engineer is expected to challenge assumptions, interrogate vendor quotes, and sign off on the cost basis of major bids.

• Build detailed costed BOMs for proposals, covering bought-out equipment, fabrication, engineering hours, site work, logistics, and contingencies.
  
• Send and track RFQs to vendors for bought-out items at proposal stage; evaluate received quotes for scope, exclusions, Incoterms, validity, and technical fit alongside the proposal engineers.
  
• Act as the cost sign-off gate for all quotations above a defined value threshold: no bid above the threshold is released without the Cost Engineer confirming that every major cost line traces to a valid vendor quote or a documented, flagged assumption.
  
• Flag stale pricing, missing scope, and margin risks to the COO before bid release.
  

• Build and maintain the central repository of vendor quotations: item taxonomy, supplier, rate, currency, Incoterms, validity date, and linked quote documents.
  
• Enforce quote freshness rules (no cost line priced off a quote past its validity or older than the defined age limit without an explicit flag).
  
• Proactively refresh pricing for high-frequency and price-volatile bought-out categories on a rolling calendar, independent of live bids.
  
• Develop and maintain the item taxonomy so that quotes accumulate against comparable specifications over time.
  

• Prepare and maintain costing sheets for running projects: budgeted cost (from the winning estimate) versus committed cost (POs placed) versus actual cost at completion.
  
• Track estimate-versus-actual variance for every project and publish a variance report per project at defined milestones and at closure.
  
• Produce a monthly profitability snapshot across active projects for the leadership
  
• Feed actual procurement prices back into the quote repository so future estimates improve.
  

• Maintain escalation and market intelligence on key input categories (steel, compressors, blowers, instrumentation, motors, freight).
  
• Support make-versus-buy and vendor selection decisions with cost data.
  
• Standardize costing templates and progressively build cost models for CRA's repeat product lines.
  
• Support ERP or costing tool implementation as the functional owner of costing data.
  

• Estimate-versus-actual cost variance per project (accuracy of proposal costing).
  
• Quote repository coverage: percentage of bid value priced from in-validity quotes.
  
• RFQ turnaround time at proposal stage.
  
• On-time delivery of project cost reports and monthly profitability snapshots.
  

Must have:

• 3 to 6 years in cost estimation, proposal engineering, procurement, or project cost control in a capital equipment, EPC, skid packaging, or engineer-to-order manufacturing environment.
  
• Ability to read and critically evaluate vendor quotations and technical datasheets: scope inclusions and exclusions, commercial terms, delivery terms, validity.
  
• Strong working knowledge of fabrication cost drivers (material weights, machining, welding, surface treatment) and bought-out equipment categories relevant to process skids.
  
• Advanced Excel skills, including building structured costing templates from scratch.
  
• The temperament to hold a position under deadline pressure. This role exists to enforce discipline, and the candidate must be comfortable telling a senior sales colleague that a number is not ready.
  
• Experience: 3 to 6 years
  
• Education: B.E. / B.Tech in Mechanical, Chemical, or Production Engineering
  

Good to have:

• Exposure to ERP systems (ERPNext, SAP, Oracle, or similar), particularly purchase and costing modules.
  
• Experience with international procurement (imports, currency, Incoterms, duties).
  
• Familiarity with combustion, gas handling, or rotating equipment packages.