Senior / Lead EstimatorPosition Type: Full-time, Exempt, Salary
Reports to: President - Solutions Business
Supervisory Responsibility: None
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Summary Objective
Stellar Energy Global Infrastructure (SEGI) is seeking a Senior/Lead Estimator to own the total project cost estimate for our proposals. As a member of the Project Development team, the Estimator works primarily with Business Developers and Technical Developers to compile accurate, defensible estimates. The Estimator develops equipment costs with vendors and labor costs with internal teams, including installation and construction costs with SEGI's Construction Estimator.
The Estimator serves as custodian of SEGI's estimating data, ensuring estimates are consistent across all proposals, and continuously feeds actual costs from ongoing projects back into the proposal stage. The role also continuously improves how SEGI estimates, including its tools and processes, to make us faster and more accurate. This is an analytical, decision-making role, not a data-entry role. The Estimator evaluates every input, decides what belongs in the estimate, knows when to seek guidance, and pushes back when numbers do not look correct.
Success is measured by estimates that leadership trusts, that are consistent from one proposal to the next, and that hold up when projects are executed. The Estimator presents and defends estimates to executive leadership with confidence and composure.
Essential Functions
- Partner with Business Developers and Technical Developers to compile accurate, defensible total project cost estimates, from preliminary budgetary pricing through detailed firm proposals.
- Own each estimate end to end, including its assumptions, inclusions, exclusions, and contingency.
- Solicit, evaluate, and level vendor quotations to confirm equipment scope is complete and comparable across bidders.
- Track and document the commercial basis of every quote, including warranty included/excluded, freight included/excluded, accessories and options purchased, spare parts, startup and commissioning support, quote validity, and escalation terms.
- Work with Engineering, Project Management, and other internal teams to develop labor costs.
- Integrate installation and construction costs provided by SEGI's Construction Estimator into the total project estimate.
- Critically evaluate all inputs before they are entered, applying judgment to determine the appropriate value rather than transferring data as received.
- Challenge engineering estimates, construction inputs, vendor quotations, and internal assumptions that are inconsistent with historical data, benchmarks, or sound reasoning.
- Know when to seek guidance from subject matter experts or leadership on values outside the role's expertise or authority.
- Serve as custodian of SEGI's estimating data, building and maintaining a central database of equipment pricing, vendor history, unit rates, labor data, and standard inclusions and exclusions.
- Establish and enforce standard estimating templates, methods, and assumptions to ensure consistency from one proposal to the next.
- Document the source, date, and basis of every data point, and update or retire data as new information becomes known.
- Gather actual costs from ongoing and completed projects and compare them to original estimates.
- Identify the causes of variances and feed lessons learned back into future proposals.
- Continuously improve SEGI's estimating tools, templates, and processes to make estimates faster and more accurate.
- Use AI and other digital tools to streamline workflows and aggregate and analyze cost data, while remaining fully accountable for the accuracy of results.
- Build Excel estimating workbooks that are easy to review visually, with clean, crisp formatting, balanced use of color and fonts, and a logical flow from inputs to summary.
- Present estimates to executive leadership, clearly explaining key cost drivers, risks, assumptions, and contingency.
- Defend estimated values with supporting data and sound reasoning, remaining composed and confident under questioning.
- Maintain proposal status information for outstanding quotations and proposals.
Competencies
- Total Project Cost Estimating
- Vendor Quote Evaluation and Leveling
- Critical Thinking and Sound Judgment
- Attention to Detail
- Estimating Data Management
- Advanced Excel and Visual Presentation of Data
- Continuous Improvement and Use of AI Tools
- Executive Presence and Communication
- Ownership and Accountability
- Cross-Functional Collaboration
Travel
- Travel is expected to be less than 5%, primarily for occasional supplier, job site, or project review visits.
Required Education and Experience
- Bachelor's degree from an accredited university.
- Minimum of five (5) years of cost estimating experience on power generation, energy, industrial, or similar capital projects, including total project cost estimates covering equipment and labor.
- Expert proficiency in Microsoft Excel, including complex formulas, lookups, pivot tables, and data validation, and the ability to build structured, auditable workbooks that are clean, well-organized, and easy for others to review.
- Exceptional attention to detail and a track record of producing accurate, well-documented work.
- Demonstrated executive presence and the ability to present to and defend positions before senior leadership.
Preferred Education and Experience
- Bachelor's degree in Engineering or another technical discipline, which typically demonstrates strong critical thinking and problem-solving ability.
- Experience supporting business development or proposal teams in a project development environment.
- Experience in power generation, LNG, data centers, district energy, or industrial infrastructure markets, including chilled water, thermal energy storage, or turbine inlet air chilling systems.
- Experience building or managing an estimating database or historical cost system.
- Demonstrated use of AI and automation tools to improve workflow and data analysis.
Work Authorization
Must be qualified to work in the United States.
Other Duties
Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.
