Head of Estimating

Head of Estimating

Location: Homebased Remote with UK travel

Contract: Full-time Permanent

Hours: 40 per week Monday to Friday

Salary: Competitive plus 6900 car allowance

Mears Group is seeking an exceptional Head of Estimating to lead our commercial estimating and tendering function at a strategic level. This is a pivotal senior leadership role shaping how we price win and mobilise major contracts across the organisation. If you are commercially astute influential at senior levels and passionate about driving excellence in tendering this is an opportunity to make a significant impact on the future growth of our business.

About the Role

As Head of Estimating you will take ownership of developing robust compliant and commercially competitive bids across a wide range of workstreams 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

Commercial Leadership

• Lead the creation of highquality 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

Tender Governance & Risk Management

• Ensure all submissions are compliant welldocumented and commercially sound
• Lead competitive dialogue clarifications RFIs and posttender negotiations
• Oversee commercial review of contracts and legal documentation
• Enhance estimating methodologies tools templates and documentation standards

Stakeholder Engagement

• Present commercial proposals to Directors and the Senior Management Team
• Embed tender assumptions and methodologies into mobilisation and operational teams
• Engage with supply chain partners to secure competitive and deliverable pricing

Mobilisation & Continuous Improvement

• Play a key role in mobilisation of successful tenders challenging assumptions to drive profitability
• Translate estimating assumptions into operational cost monitoring
• Analyse outturn performance to inform future bids and build a commercial knowledge base

People Leadership

• Lead mentor and develop the Estimating Team fostering technical excellence and collaboration.
• Identify capability gaps and champion learning systems improvement and performance management

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 posttender negotiations and contract award processes.
• Endtoend 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 highperforming teams.

Desirable

• Experience at Head of / Senior Manager level within a large contracting or housing services organisation
• Familiarity with sectorstandard 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 x Life assurance
• Family private medical
• 6900 car allowance
• Generous Pension Scheme and sick pay
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mears Rewards discount voucher scheme for a host of household name retailers including supermarkets offering savings on purchases
• Excellent training and development opportunities
• Mears Fun Day - Our annual Fun Day is organised as a massive thank you from the Executive team for all the hard work! Previous years include Alton Towers Drayton Manor etc
• Volunteering Leave - Mears supports employees to undertake volunteering in the community for two days per year in support of our social value commitment

If youre ready to shape the future of estimating at Mears Group and lead a highperforming team in a role with real strategic influence wed love to hear from you.

All our roles require candidates to have the entitlement to work within the UK Mears does not currently offer visa sponsorship.

To drive a Mears vehicle you must be aged over 21 have held your licence over 3 months and have less than 9 points.

Candidates should be aware that all our roles are subject to relevant Background Identity & Security checks before commencement of employment.

Apply below or to discuss your application further; contact:

If you need any help with your application process we are here to support you. We will be accessible every step of the way.

At Mears Group we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can thrive we are a Disability Confident employer valuing individuality and ensuring equal opportunities for all.

We proudly support the Armed Forces Covenant and are honoured to have achieved the Gold Award in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) to coincide with this we hold an Endorser Award for the Career Transition Partnership recognising our commitment to veterans transitioning into civilian careers.

In our continued effort to promote social mobility we invite applicants to voluntarily share their background information during the application stages to help us better understand the diverse experiences of our candidates. This is to ensure we are committed to improving social mobility. We use the Social Mobility Index to assess and enhance opportunities for individuals from diverse backgrounds. These questions are optional and will not impact your ability to apply.