Senior Project Manager / Estimator

Austin / Round Rock, TX | On-Site & Field-Based

About the Company

This is an employee-owned (ESOP) specialty construction company approaching $300 million in annual revenue nationally. Their Texas operation — opened in 2018 — is on a strong growth trajectory, driven by the state's population boom and sustained demand for schools, parks, and community infrastructure.

They specialize in athletic facilities, artificial turf fields, playgrounds, and facility services for K-12 schools, universities, and municipalities. Their project sweet spot is $2–5 million, with bonding capacity well above that range.

The ESOP structure is a meaningful differentiator: every employee is an owner. Shares are allocated based on salary, grow with company valuation, and employees historically retire with significantly more wealth than their peers at non-ESOP firms.

The Role

This is not a siloed estimator role or a traditional PM handoff model.

You'll own projects from job walk and first budget all the way through closeout — one week a $250K playground, the next a multi-million dollar athletic complex. You'll price work without perfect information, protect margin when things get messy, and bring your own trusted subcontractor relationships to the table from day one.

A Project Coordinator and Assistant PM handle paperwork and admin, so your focus stays on subs and strategy. This is a relationship-driven, entrepreneurial role — not a process-following one.

Compensation

• Base Salary: Up to $135,000
• Bonus: Performance-based
• ESOP / Profit Sharing: Typically equivalent to ~15% of base salary annually, based on company performance — and a real long-term wealth-building vehicle

What You'll Do

• Lead full project lifecycle from preconstruction through closeout
• Develop independent estimates and manage scope with incomplete information
• Build and maintain subcontractor relationships across the Texas market
• Manage public sector and institutional projects with bonded procurement requirements
• Collaborate with school districts, municipalities, and university clients
• Operate within platforms like Procore and Building Connected
• Help build internal process — this company is still scaling its infrastructure

What We're Looking For

Must-Haves

• Proven estimating ability — can produce independently from day one, no hand-holding
• Established Texas subcontractor network — must be able to staff a $2–3M project immediately with trusted subs
• End-to-end project ownership: preconstruction through closeout
• Experience on commercial, public sector, or institutional projects (K-12, higher ed, municipalities, or general commercial)
• Deep Texas market knowledge and local roots
• Proficiency with Procore, Building Connected, or comparable platforms
• Entrepreneurial mindset — comfortable building process, not just following it

Strong Pluses

• JOC (Job Order Contract) experience
• Athletic field, artificial turf, playground, or specialty facility background
• Familiarity with bonding requirements and public sector procurement
• Experience at both GC and subcontractor level
• Projects in the $2–5M range with ambitions to scale larger

Who Thrives Here

You've run the whole kitchen, not just one station. You've taken a messy scope, turned it into a number, and still made margin. You're done with big-firm bureaucracy where you only see one slice of a project. You can hold your own with a school district administrator and a crew on a job site — and you're ready to build something.

What Won't Work

• No Texas market experience or subcontractor relationships
• Requires a fully staffed estimating team or handoff model to function
• Exclusively commercial high-rise or heavy civil background with no institutional exposure
• Needs rigid process and defined structure to operate
• Compensation expectations significantly above the stated range