Sr. Estimator — Civil Primary

High Light Electric•Colton, CA

About The Position

The Senior Estimator owns HLE’s bid development process from pursuit through preconstruction handoff — and maintains active involvement through project execution and closeout. This role produces accurate, competitive, and margin-conscious estimates across civil and electrical scopes, with civil estimating as the primary competency requirement for this seat. This is not a desk estimating role. The Senior Estimator brings real field experience into the estimating process — closing the gap between what a bid assumes and what the field can actually execute. They lead a small estimating team, develop junior estimators, and serve as the primary estimating resource within their assigned AOM business unit. As HLE transitions toward civil contractor leadership, this hire strengthens HLE’s civil estimating capacity and complements the existing electrical estimating structure — forming a two-senior model where civil and electrical expertise develop in parallel, with junior estimators cross-training under each lead.

Requirements

5–7 years of combined civil construction field and estimating experience — required
Proven experience estimating civil scopes (earthwork, grading, utilities, roadway) — required
Experience in California public works (prevailing wage, union labor, certified payroll) — required
Proficiency in Bluebeam, Excel (advanced), and equivalent takeoff platforms — required.
A valid driver’s license is required for this role due to travel to job sites and project locations.

Nice To Haves

Background in field operations (foreman, superintendent, or similar) — strongly preferred
Working familiarity with electrical estimating in a public works or infrastructure context — preferred.
Experience with preconstruction handoffs — preferred
Experience mentoring or leading estimators — preferred
Familiarity with Procore — preferred.
OSHA 10 or OSHA 30 — preferred.
Bilingual English/Spanish — preferred; not required for this role.

Responsibilities

Maintain a consistent bid submission rate that meets HLE’s pursuit calendar — on scope, on deadline, and within margin targets.
Own takeoff accuracy and productivity validation across all active bids
Attend and document pre-bid site walks and pre-bid meetings — site condition reports submitted prior to every bid submission.
Execute pre-bid and post-bid reviews on every pursuit — findings logged, go/no-go recommendations supported by data, and results applied to improve future pricing strategy and competitive positioning.
Deliver complete, assumption-transparent preconstruction handoffs to the AOM on every awarded project — and maintain post-award engagement through financial reviews, change order support, and job closeout analysis.
Participate in periodic project financial reviews with the Finance Director and AOM — validate actual costs and productivities against bid assumptions, support critical change order pricing, and attend job closeout reviews to extract and apply lessons learned.
Protect bid margin — variance between estimated and actual costs is tracked, reviewed, and used to drive continuous estimating improvement.
Lead junior estimator development — measurable progress tracked through 1-on-1 cadence, takeoff quality improvement, and readiness milestones as the team is built
Own estimating team scorecard metrics and quarterly Rocks within the ML10 structure