Senior Cost Estimator – Public Transit & Heavy Civil Infrastructure – New York, NY

Location: New York metropolitan area (full-time, 5 days a week on site)

Compensation: Up to $195,000 per year, commensurate with experience

Position type: Full-time

The Opportunity

HeatherDaniel International (HDi), a construction recruitment specialist, is seeking an experienced Senior Cost Estimator with a focus on regional public transit and heavy civil infrastructure projects to join a premier project-controls team in New York.

You will lead cost estimating, change-order evaluation, pricing and cost-control functions for large-scale transportation capital programmes. You will work closely with project managers, agency representatives, design teams and prime contractors to keep strict financial oversight from pre-construction through project closeout.

Key Responsibilities

• Estimate development and review: Prepare, review and finalise detailed, multi-trade cost estimates for large-scale public transit, civil infrastructure and agency capital-improvement projects across all design phases.
• Change orders: Perform independent cost evaluations, evaluate change-order requests, review scope changes and lead price negotiations to protect project budgets and schedules.
• Cost controls and pricing: Analyse market unit rates, labour-rate builds, equipment costs and material quotes to keep pricing accurate and cost-efficient.
• Collaboration: Interface with project-management teams, agency representatives, architects, engineers and trade subcontractors to resolve cost discrepancies and support audit requirements.
• Risk and lifecycle: Identify cost risks, conduct value-engineering assessments and present financial reports to key project stakeholders.

Requirements

• Industry experience: Minimum 7+ years of construction cost-estimating experience, with extensive direct experience on major public-transit and regional transportation-authority capital programmes.
• Specialised expertise: A direct track record in change-order negotiation, unit-rate pricing, labour-union rate structures and public-sector cost-control procedures.
• Technical skills: Advanced proficiency in industry-standard estimating software (for example On-Screen Takeoff, HeavyBid, Sage/Timberline) and advanced MS Excel cost modelling.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Construction Management, Civil Engineering, Architecture or a related technical discipline preferred.
• Work location: Ability to work full-time (5 days per week on site) in the New York metropolitan area.
• Competencies: A thorough understanding of public-agency procurement policies, change-management workflows and audit protocols; excellent analytical, negotiation and communication skills; and the ability to manage tight deadlines and lead complex pricing evaluations independently.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary: Up to $195,000 per year, commensurate with experience.

Next Step

Interviews are being arranged now.

Why candidates choose HDi

We start with you, not with a requisition to fill. The people we place today are often the clients who hire us tomorrow. That only works if we treat the first conversation with care.

We know what a Quantity Surveyor is. We work in verticals — cost, project advisory, claims and dispute, built-environment leadership, and data center and mission-critical programmes — not as a generalist shop that learns your job from a Wikipedia page.

We are honest about salary and fit, even when the answer is no. We do not mailshot your curriculum vitae. We do not share it without your consent. That promise is written in full on our Candidate Charter.

We stay with you from the first call through interview, offer, resignation and start.

A major statewide consultancy in the United States, headquartered in New York, has hired us on a retainer.

We are working with a major international consultancy and have placed nearly forty people with them this year.

Our Candidate Charter: You are a person, not a placement. We are honest on salary and fit. Your curriculum vitae is never shared without your consent. We reply, even when there is no update. We stay with you through the whole move.

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