Senior or Principal Estimator

About the position

At PGE, our work involves dreaming about, planning for, and realizing a smarter, cleaner, more enduring Oregon neighborhood. Its core to our DNA and we haven't stopped since we started in 1888. We energize lives, strengthen communities and drive advancements in energy that promote social, economic and environmental progress. We're always on the lookout for people passionate about leading and being a part of teams that are advancing innovative clean energy solutions that are also affordable and accessible to all. As a Senior/Principal Estimator at PGE you will play a vital role in ensuring accurate and comprehensive budgets are developed for our capital construction projects. You will collaborate with various stakeholders, including engineers, project managers, and procurement teams, to assess and forecast the costs associated with infrastructure development, equipment installations, and system upgrades. Your expertise and attention to detail will contribute to informed decision-making, efficient resource allocation, and the successful completion of projects within budget. The capital construction projects you will primarily support are related to substation and transmission/distribution work. These projects involve the construction, expansion, and upgrade of electrical substations, as well as the installation and maintenance of transmission and distribution infrastructure. You may also support projects related to generation plants. This role combines construction knowledge with financial expertise-you'll have a deep understanding of financial principals, data analytics, cost engineering and construction processes to build detailed cost models, maintain estimating databases, and read/interpret technical drawings, blueprints and specifications.

Responsibilities

• Collaboration: Work with the project team during all phases of projects to gain deep understanding of the project goals, benefits, resources, risks, and overall scope to ensure alignment with cost estimates.
• Prepare Estimates: Review project plans, specifications, and scope of work to identify cost components, potential risks, and opportunities for cost optimization. Develop accurate and detailed cost estimates utilizing cost estimating software, cost databases and tools to produce material quantities takeoff, labor hours, equipment usage, and subcontractor costs.
• Data Analysis: Collect and analyze historical cost data, market trends, vendor quotes, and industry benchmarks, to support cost estimation.
• Budget Development: Prepare clear and concise cost estimation reports, documentation, and presentations to communicate cost estimates, clarifications, assumptions, and recommendations to stakeholders and management.
• Construction Bids: Work with Procurement and project team to prepare Request for Proposal (RFP). To support the bid evaluation efforts by providing insights related to costs, schedules, risks, and overall compliance to company standards.
• Financial Analysis and Control: Work with Project Controls analysts to monitor and track actual costs incurred during construction projects, compare to estimated costs, and provide timely updates and variance analysis to the project team and management.
• Process Improvement: The principal estimator will be responsible for the continuous improvement of the cost estimating program by developing and maintaining tools and processes to help with increasing efficiency, accuracy, and quality.

Requirements

• Expertise in construction, engineering, and/or cost estimating, preferably within the electric utility or energy industry.
• Strong understanding of the principles of cost engineering (preferred AACE certified, or any recognized certificates related to cost estimating/controls, or project management).
• Excellent analytical and quantitative skills, with attention to detail.
• Experience with cost estimation methods and tools such as parametric, analogous, and bottom-up estimating.
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple projects simultaneously, adhering to strict deadlines.
• Excellent communication and collaboration abilities.

Nice-to-haves

• Certifications: CCP, CEP, or PMP are a plus.

Benefits

• Total rewards package designed to reward contributions to the company and support well-being and professional development.
• Performance-based incentive bonus.