Senior Estimator

Senior CSA Estimator

Hill International is seeking an experienced Senior CSA (Civil, Structural, Architectural) Estimator to join our East Coast team. The Senior CSA Estimator will provide civil, structural, and architectural cost expertise across all phases of project design. They will produce accurate quantity take-offs and estimates calibrated to the level of design and specification completeness at each estimating stage — from conceptual/order-of-magnitude through fully detailed construction document estimates.

This role combines hands-on estimating, third-party estimate review, client and senior-management interaction, and mentorship of junior staff. A core expectation is the judgment to apply the appropriate level of detail, methodology, contingency, and documentation that each design stage warrants.

• Perform quantity take-offs and prepare estimates from conceptual/order-of-magnitude through fully detailed Construction Document (CD) estimates, applying the level of detail, methodology, and documentation appropriate to each design phase.
• Follow Hill's estimate workflow across intake and scope control, estimate type/structure/quantity development, direct cost and markup development, and Basis of Estimate, reporting, review, and close-out.
• Verify that progress drawings, specifications, and the estimate request package have actually reached the design maturity at which they are declared, and raise gaps in writing before estimating begins.
• Organize estimates in a Uniformat work breakdown structure (WBS) with defensible Location/System/Subsystem/Element coding, tree-level quantities, and supplemental coding fields (bid item, schedule item, client accounting, or agency-specific codes) as required by the project.
• Develop assemblies at the lowest WBS level with complete database references, labor hours, labor/material/equipment unit costs, and direct cost — never entering a unit price that cannot be decomposed on request.
• Develop burdened labor rates and composite crew rates in accordance with standard methodology, ensuring payroll taxes and insurances are applied correctly and never to fringe benefits or non-labor items.
• Develop and apply subcontractor and general contractor markups, General Conditions, and General Requirements as transparent, itemized, unit-of-measure-based line items — never as an unsupported percentage of direct cost.
• Build escalation forecasts from published cost index data (e.g., BLS series) mapped to the project schedule, rather than a single compounded opinion.
• Develop and maintain the project Risk Register across all applicable categories (external, management, operational, and design/estimating allowances), with Low-Mean-High values and assigned owners, and use it — not a flat percentage — to justify contingency.
• Prepare a defensible Basis of Estimate documenting scope inclusions/exclusions, assumptions, methodology, quality control performed, and reference documents used.
• Review third-party and Independent Cost Estimator (ICE) submissions for completeness, transparency, and uniformity; participate in quantity reconciliation between in-house and third-party estimates.
• Evaluate and level subcontractor and vendor quotes, bid information, and change orders; assist in evaluating large change orders and verifying entitlement.
• Develop, prepare, and review value analysis / value engineering estimates and alternatives.
• Participate in estimate review and reconciliation meetings, presenting and defending assumptions, methodology, and results to clients, design teams, and review bodies.
• Attend project meetings, kick-off meetings, and site investigations as assigned; assist in developing the project's estimate quality control plan (EQCP) and adhere to it on every deliverable.
• Coordinate with the broader Hill estimating team as a resource and reviewer for other estimators' take-offs and deliverables.
• Maintain proficiency with, and help maintain, Hill's estimating and quantity survey software platforms.
• Demonstrate effective leadership and mentor and develop Estimators and Junior Estimators.

• Prepare accurate quantification and unit costs for the civil, structural,…