Senior Estimator in London

Costain Transportation division have a unique opportunity for a Senior Estimator with a background in railway projects to be responsible for the preparation of pricing for tenders/bids and other opportunities identified by the business, from receipt of documents through to presentation at tender review and final completion of submission documents. This role reports into the Divisional Head of Estimating or Lead / Managing Estimator.

Essential:

• Degree level qualified or equivalent in a Civil Engineering or Building related discipline.
• Produces an accurate key estimating requirements schedule and programme.
• Reviews a set of tender documents and produces an estimating strategy for all the key estimating deliverables.
• Creates a checklist of key requirements for later use in establishing compliance.
• Fully understands the scope of the project and customer's requirements.
• Contributes to a Supply Chain Gate 3 and Procurement Strategy and identifies key work packages and documents for inclusion in the supply chain enquiries.
• Maintains accurate and clear estimating notes, clarifications and assumptions.
• Understands and applies relevant professional standards to estimating any given project.
• Produces a Cash flow profile for a project and establishes the financial, contractual and time implications that drive the cashflow.
• Procures quantities for the project estimate either personally or via an external supplier.
• Establishes and agrees the required work breakdown structure for collating the estimate.
• Obtains and analyses fee proposals from suppliers to ensure we have a competitive price for undertaking this role if executed externally.
• Establishes methods for quantities checking and risk mitigation.
• Undertakes the pricing of temporary works in conjunction with the planner, temporary works engineer and technical lead.
• Prepares a marked-up schedule of temporary works packages and associated documentation for release to the supply chain.
• Identifies requirements, obtains fee proposals and makes provision within the bid for necessary design fees, statutory charges, and surveys to deliver the project.
• Prepares for and undertakes a site visit and produces a comprehensive site visit report that establishes a record of all relevant site constraints and conditions that may have an impact upon the pricing of the works.
• Updates the project risk register with any relevant risks identified during the site visit.
• Achieves the relevant safety training to access a live site to undertake site inspections and visits during the estimating stage for the project.
• Arranges for all External and Internal Supplier market testing to be undertaken during the estimating stage.
• Establishes a market testing programme and monitors progress of enquiries and chases up suppliers as necessary.
• Ensures amendments are issued to the suppliers during the bid period and any returned quotes are stored securely for future reference.
• Produces an entire Cost Estimate for the project, including the production of the pricing build-ups against each work item or service being priced.
• Selects and applies appropriate tools and techniques.
• Undertakes the pricing of consultancy rates for providing a specified level of service.
• Prepares a detailed analysis of all returned supplier quotations and ensures the work scope has been properly priced and included.
• Applies relevant methods of inflation risk pricing for a project.
• Provides all necessary checks and balances to reduce the risk of pricing errors in quantity and scope of the works.
• Ensures that no unpriced items remain un-reviewed and that the full scope of the work has been covered.
• Undertakes the pricing of the preliminaries workbook.
• Agrees the requirements for Staffing, Attendant Labour, Accommodation, Key Plant and equipment, Health and Safety requirements, IT setup, Insurances & Bonding requirements, Temporary Works, Fees and all other necessary on-costs for the project.
• Completes the Tender or Proposal summary in respect of any risk, inflationary allowances, opportunities pricing, fees, Profit, Overheads and any other necessary on-cost inclusions to conclude the tender total for the settlement meetings.
• Demonstrates a thorough understanding of governance, risk and control appropriate to the organisation and the project.
• Understands the principles and practice of risk management and the relevance and use of theories, processes and tools.
• Develops and implements methods of recording risks and opportunities for the project estimate and contributes to developing the strategies for mitigation.
• Prepares for and contributes to Risk and Opportunity Workshops from the estimating perspective.
• Identifies, analyses and evaluates the nature and impact of risks and opportunities on a project.
• Develops and implements communication structures and plans within the estimating team.
• Communicates the estimating requirements for the project at all kick-off and interim bid team meetings.
• Prepares for and presents clearly all aspects of the estimate at the sector, divisional and group settlement meetings.
• Communicates well both written and verbally at all workshops and meetings from the estimating perspective.
• Demonstrates good practice in respect of the storage and retrieval of historical estimating information and benchmarking information.
• Analyses historical data for use in benchmarking a current estimate proposal.
• Demonstrates good practice in respect of document control and the storage and retrieval of general estimating records.
• Understands the importance of good document control during the bid process and applies techniques to preserve data for the project.

Desirable:

• Extensive experience working in a Senior Estimating role.
• Experienced in pricing medium to large value civil engineering works in the rail or underground would be an advantage.
• Customer Focused, Open and Honest, Safe and Environmentally aware, Team Players, Accountable, Improving Continuously and so the Natural Choice.
• Must be commercially aware and a lateral thinker with a knowledge of various Forms of Contract.
• Good communication skills with other members of the team and with external contacts.
• Must be a good team player and always adopt a positive 'can-do' approach.

Full time

Posting Date: 2026-05-20