Role: Head of Estimating
Location: Home based or Hybrid, with UK travel
Salary: £120,000 plus package & £6,900 car allowance
About the Head of Estimating Role
As Head of Estimating, you will take ownership of developing robust, compliant and commercially competitive bids across a wide range of work streams, including Repairs & Maintenance (such as M&E and Planned Works), Central Government housing and support services, Decarbonisation and Net Zero programmes, and DLO support. You will shape the commercial strategy behind each opportunity, building cost models from first principles, driving value engineering, and ensuring risks and assumptions are clearly understood. Working closely with Business Development, Operations and Legal teams, you will influence strategic bid decisions and ensure our proposals support sustainable growth and margin protection. Your leadership will set the standard for commercial governance, pricing excellence and the continuous improvement of our estimating function.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the creation of high‑quality commercial proposals tailored to individual opportunities
- Develop cost models from first principles and drive pricing strategy and value engineering
- Provide senior leadership with clear commercial analysis, risk positions and recommendations
- Partner with internal teams to shape strategic bid decisions and contract risk assessments
Essential Experience
- Extensive experience in social housing estimating, including expert knowledge of NHF Schedule of Rates
- Proven ability to develop pricing strategies and deliver value engineering solutions
- Strong track record in post‑tender negotiations and contract award processes
- End‑to‑end tender lifecycle experience, from pricing to mobilisation
- Strong working knowledge of standard forms of contract
- Experience presenting commercial proposals at senior leadership level
- Ability to manage multiple bids under demanding deadlines
- Demonstrable leadership experience in building high‑performing teams
Desirable
- Experience at Head of / Senior Manager level within a large contracting or housing services organisation
- Familiarity with sector‑standard estimating systems and analytical tools
- Professional qualification in Quantity Surveying or Construction Management
Key Skills & Attributes
- Strategic commercial thinker with strong influencing capability
- Excellent communicator, able to simplify complex commercial reasoning
- High numerical accuracy and attention to detail
- Proactive problem solver committed to continuous improvement
- Collaborative leader with a passion for developing people
Benefits
- Family friendly policies, including enhanced maternity/paternity leave and much more
- 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
- 3 × life assurance
- Family private medical
- £6,900 car allowance
- Generous pension scheme and sick pay
- Employee assistance programme
- Company rewards – discount voucher scheme for a host of household name retailers, including supermarkets, offering savings on purchases
- Excellent training and development opportunities
- Company fun day – our annual fun day is organised as a massive thank you from the executive team for all the hard work!
- Volunteering leave – the company supports employees to undertake volunteering in the community for two days per year, in support of our social value commitment
Our company is an equal opportunities employer. All applications will be dealt with in the strictest confidence.
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