Commercial Leader

Zerra develops and operates hyperscale data centre campuses across Australia, Japan and India, delivering capacity at scale into markets driven by the growth of cloud and AI. Zerra's flexible campus developments support hyperscale and neocloud organisations, enabling some of the world's fastest-scaling technology businesses to grow with certainty and ambition. 

At Zerra, we empower exceptional people to challenge convention, drive innovation and make a real impact in digital infrastructure. Our culture fuses entrepreneurial agility with global expertise, enabling our teams to deliver results that matter. 

We believe that diverse perspectives, inclusive leadership and equitable opportunities are essential to building stronger teams and better outcomes. We are committed to fostering a workplace where everyone feels respected, supported and empowered to thrive. 

Zerra is part of AGP, an independently owned investor and asset manager that develops and operates real assets across the energy, digital and real estate sectors. 

Western Downs Digital Park 
Western Downs Digital Park (WDDP) is a master-planned digital and energy precinct in regional Queensland, developed and operated by Zerra. Planned across multiple delivery phases, WDDP brings together AI-ready data centres, energy infrastructure and a purpose-built campus environment. 

Located close to major power infrastructure within the Western Downs Special Industry Area, WDDP represents a major investment in Queensland's digital future and an opportunity to help deliver the critical infrastructure supporting the continued growth of cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Experience 

• 10+ years of experience in cost management, quantity surveying, or capital project controls leadership within construction or infrastructure delivery.
• Direct experience owning a cost plan through multiple capex stage-phases on a large capital project, ideally across concurrent projects or phases.
• Data centre, mission-critical, or comparable complex infrastructure experience is highly regarded.
• Demonstrated experience with contract administration, progress claims, and variation management on GC and OSE contracts.
• Experience producing forecast-to-complete and variance reporting for leadership and ExCom audiences.
• Comfortable operating within a centrally governed cost control function, aligning local delivery with portfolio-wide standards.
• Experience designing a cost governance framework that scales as new phases or assets enter delivery.
• Australian construction cost management experience; Queensland-specific experience is an advantage.

Skills 

• Strong cost planning and elemental cost modelling skills, aligned to structured cost demarcation frameworks, at multi-asset scale.
• Contract administration expertise across GC and OSE contract forms, including variations and claims management.
• Proficiency in cost reporting and forecasting tools (e.g. cost management software, advanced Excel modelling).
• Working knowledge of procurement strategy and tender processes for major construction and equipment packages.
• Risk register consolidation specific to commercial and cost exposure across multiple buildings or phases.
• Clear financial reporting — able to translate cost detail into a leadership-ready variance narrative.
• Working familiarity with programme scheduling sufficient to align cost plan phasing with the master programme.
• Team leadership and coaching skills as the cost control function scales.

Desirable Qualifications and Professional Certification 

• Bachelor’s degree in Quantity Surveying, Construction Management, Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Professional membership with RICS, AIQS, or equivalent quantity surveying body.
• Postgraduate qualification in Construction Economics, Project Management, or Real Estate is advantageous.
• Working knowledge of Australian standard forms of contract (AS4000, AS4902, or equivalent).

Competencies 
Execution Mindset — Closes out variance analysis and reporting on a strict monthly cadence across every building, not when convenient. 
Analytical Thinking — Traces a cost variance back to its actual driver — scope change, market pricing, delay — rather than filing it as a rounding difference. 
Stakeholder Orientation — Negotiates firmly with contractors on variations while keeping the commercial relationship workable for the rest of the campus. 
Adaptability — Rebuilds cost forecasts quickly when scope, programme, or market pricing shifts on any building, without losing control of the underlying numbers. 
Integrity & Ethics — Reports cost risk honestly, including exposure the project would rather not surface at the next ExCom review. 
Leadership — Builds a cost governance culture that holds the same standard across the leased building and every future building as the function scales. 

The Commercial Leader – WDDP owns cost, commercial, and capital governance for the whole WDDP campus — both the leased building currently in construction and the pre-construction pipeline of remaining digital park infrastructure and future buildings. This role gives the Executive Project Director one coherent, trustworthy view of cost and commercial exposure across every stage the campus is simultaneously in. 

This role owns the campus-wide cost plan and commercial governance framework, contract and change management for construction-phase spend, and the consolidated cost and risk reporting that reaches the Executive Project Director. It does not own capital allocation or investment decisions for WDDP, which sit with Finance and ExCom, and it does not own delivery decisions for the leased building itself, which sit with the Construction Delivery Lead — reflecting the matrix reporting line into Capital Project Controls, APAC, that governs cost discipline consistently across Zerra’s portfolio. 

Scope spans the full campus lifecycle: cost and contract management for the leased building through construction and handover, and cost planning for the remaining digital park and future buildings through masterplanning, design, permitting, and procurement toward their own eventual financial close. The role is the primary cost and commercial interface for the Executive Project Director, the Planning Leader, Construction Delivery Lead, Legal, and Finance, and works daily with GC and OSE vendors on progress claims, variations, and contract administration for the leased building. 

Success is a campus where cost surprises don’t happen at the ExCom review — where variance is caught, explained, and escalated the month it occurs regardless of which building it comes from, where each future building’s cost plan is disciplined enough to support its own financial close, and where the cost plan remains a tool leadership can actually rely on rather than a document that gets revised after the fact. 

Responsibilities 
Safety Leadership (Injury & Incident Free) 
This role carries personal accountability for maintaining an Injury & Incident Free (IIF) environment across all activities, teams, and sites it influences. 

• Ensure cost and commercial pressure never becomes a reason to defer or dilute safety-related scope in contractor negotiations, on the leased building or on any future building.
• Support the project safety function by ensuring safety-related contract obligations (inductions, EHS reporting requirements) are captured and enforced through contract administration.
• Flag any contractor cost-cutting proposal that could compromise safety standards before it is considered.
• Model safety-first behaviour in all site visits and contractor meetings.
• Ensure safety incident costs, where they arise, are transparently reported rather than absorbed or hidden within general variance.

Development & Capital Integration 
This role owns the campus-wide cost and capital picture, translating construction delivery and pre-construction activity across every building into the numbers Finance and ExCom rely on for WDDP funding decisions. 

• Own and maintain the campus-wide cost plan across each capex stage-phase, covering the leased building’s construction spend and every future building’s pre-construction cost planning.
• Provide consolidated monthly cost reporting to the Executive Project Director and Finance, including forecast-to-complete and variance analysis against approved budgets across the campus.
• Translate programme milestones and sequencing (from the Planning Leader) into capital forecasting and funding drawdown timelines for both the leased building and future buildings.
• Flag emerging cost or commercial risk to Finance and leadership early — before it becomes a variance line at month-end, on any building.
• Support investment committee and ExCom processes with clear, current cost reporting on project readiness and financial exposure, building by building.
• Decide how the cost control and commercial function itself needs to scale — structure, resourcing, tooling — as additional future buildings enter the pre-construction pipeline.

Portfolio Coordination, Governance & Consultant Management 
This role owns the campus-wide cost governance architecture, directing cost consultants and ensuring cost reporting fits into the project’s wider governance cadence. 

• Direct cost consultants and quantity surveyors across the campus on cost plan development, benchmarking, and progress valuation.
• Feed cost and commercial status into the Planning Leader-run governance cadence — workstream syncs, PCG reporting, monthly risk reviews.
• Set and enforce standardised cost reporting templates and standards aligned with Capital Project Controls, APAC, so WDDP reporting is comparable across Zerra’s portfolio.
• Coordinate with the Planning Leader to ensure cost plan phasing and the master programme remain aligned as the campus schedule evolves.
• Chair the cost and commercial governance forum where cross-building cost issues, risks, and decisions are resolved.

Enterprise Risk, Issues & Analytical Insights 
This role owns commercial and cost risk reporting for the whole WDDP campus, turning contract and cost data across every building into insight leadership can act on. 

• Maintain the consolidated cost and commercial risk register across the leased building and the future buildings pipeline, ensuring every cost risk has a clear owner, exposure estimate, and mitigation.
• Review and control project costs including change orders, providing accurate, defensible cost reporting each month across the campus.
• Analyse cost trend and variance data across buildings and workstreams to identify systemic cost drivers, not just isolated line-item overruns.
• Collaborate with Legal to evaluate commercial and contractual risk on major contracts, including the HV network connection agreement and future building procurement.
• Provide clear, evidence-based cost risk reporting to the Executive Project Director, Finance, and Capital Project Controls, APAC.

Portfolio Programme Management & Delivery 
This role owns cost and contract administration for GC and OSE vendors delivering the leased building, and cost readiness for every future building moving toward mobilisation. 

• Own contract administration for GC and OSE vendor agreements on the leased building, including progress claim review, valuation, and payment certification.
• Review and negotiate variations and change orders, ensuring cost impact is assessed and approved before scope proceeds.
• Track committed, forecast, and actual cost against the cost plan by building and workstream, feeding accurate status to the master programme.
• Confirm each future building’s cost plan and procurement readiness ahead of its financial close, working with the PMO Manager, Pre-Construction.

Stakeholder, Vendor & Community Engagement 
This role owns the commercial relationship with contractors and vendors across the campus, and coordinates procurement strategy with Finance and Capital Controls. 

• Manage GC, OSE, and consultant commercial relationships across the campus, driving performance, governance, and long-term value creation.
• Ensure early engagement with Finance and Capital Controls, APAC, so procurement strategies and tender pathways align with portfolio-wide financial governance.
• Represent Zerra professionally in commercial discussions with contractors, vendors, and utility providers on cost-related matters.

People & Culture 
This role builds the cost and commercial function for WDDP as it scales beyond a single-building operation. 

• Lead and develop cost consultants and quantity surveying support, setting clear expectations for reporting discipline and commercial rigour.
• Plan resourcing and capability for the cost control function ahead of future buildings entering the pre-construction pipeline.
• Build a cost governance culture that operates consistently across the leased building and every future building, not building-by-building improvisation.