How To Become A Cost Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a cost engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Steve Hague

A cost engineer is hired to determine the amount of time, money, and resources a project will require. He/She prepares cost and expenses reports for the production process. He/She identifies and mitigates risks. Likewise, he/she develops and implements strategies to reduce the excessive financial loss for projects. Besides that, he/she conducts relevant analyses to measure time deliverables. Similarly, he/she conducts quality checks to ensure profitability and compliance with business objectives. Also, he/she researches high-quality products that would meet construction designs and client specifications and negotiates with suppliers and vendors. He/She may work with engineers, architects, clients, and contractors to prepare estimates.

Although some employers may provide on-the-job training, they require a bachelor's degree in a related discipline. Having relevant certifications is also a plus. Core skills include critical thinking, math, problem-solving, decision-making, communication, and time management skills. Cost engineers earn an average annual salary of $86,326. This ranges between $59,000 and $126,000.

What general advice would you give to a Cost Engineer?

Steve Hague

Professor, Cotton Breeder, Texas A&M University

Get as much education as you can. It also is essential that you gain practical experience in the field for two reasons. First, you find out if this is really what you want your career path to look like. Secondly, you need to develop experience points for your resume and build a network of connections. Many jobs are the result of personal recommendations. Internships are a great way to gain this practical experience. If a student is participating in training, they must always go the extra mile. You never know who is watching, and this is how someone can build a reputation that will last a life time. It's essential to be a go-getter.

ScoreCost EngineerUS Average

Salary

6.9

Avg. Salary $87,901

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

5.7

Growth Rate 3%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.18%

Asian 14.37%

Black or African American 4.87%

Hispanic or Latino 11.34%

Unknown 4.71%

White 64.52%

Gender

female 25.91%

male 74.09%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress Level

5.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.3

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

7.2

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a cost engineer

Explore cost engineer education requirements

Most common cost engineer degrees

Bachelor's

73.9 %

Master's

13.8 %

Associate

8.3 %

Start to develop specific cost engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Project Management	8.55%
Cost Analysis	7.04%
Construction Management	6.80%
Project Controls	6.53%
Cost Data	4.66%

Complete relevant cost engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New cost engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a cost engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real cost engineer resumes.

Research cost engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage and monitor SharePoint activities and update daily tasks to ensure information is documented, remains accurate and up-to-date.
Manage Jenkins security by providing specific access to authorize developers/testers using project base matrix authorization strategy.
Create BOM for each project assuring special procedures, materials requirements and reinforcements.
Research and analyze various commodities for function to price and price to cost evaluation.

Prepare your cost engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your cost engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a cost engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Cost Engineer Resume templates

Build a professional Cost Engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Cost Engineer resume.

Apply for cost engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a cost engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do cost engineers rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Cost Engineer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2019

Pros

Freedom, problem solving, finding solutions. As a project controls specialist, I don't have many people to answer too and several that look to me for answers. I provide the means and the materials for the projects to get done efficiently and under budget.

Cons

A small mistake or over site can be very costly in time and money. Any and all problems are life lessons to take to the next project.