Engineering, Architecture, & Planning
Senior Estimator
$86,749 to $105,134 a year
Requirements
License or certificate
Exam
Competitive title
A job title where you show you are right for it by passing a competitive exam: multiple-choice, practical, education and experience, or a mix. On our job pages this shows as "Civil service exam title".
Mostly for people already in city service. The posting says:
“Only candidates who are permanent in the Associate Project Manager title, reachable on DDC’s Promotional Exam #3573, or the Open Competitive Exam #3110 may apply.”
New to city jobs? Start with the ones open to anyone.
From ≈ $41.71 an hour · $3,337 every 2 weeks, before taxes (40-hour weeks).
NYC minimum wage is $17/hr. This beats it by $24.71/hr, with health insurance and a pension on top.
What you'd have made
$3,325 If you'd started this job 2 weeks ago, at this pay, before taxes.
An hour of this job pays for about 13.9 subway rides ($3 fare).
Price anything in hours of this job
Overtime added $4,102 on average that year, and it isn't guaranteed. Base salary of active employees paid a yearly rate, fiscal year 2025 (July 2024 to June 2025). Source: NYC's payroll data
Check yourself
What they actually ask for.
A license or certificate is part of the requirements
One year of full-time satisfactory experience in supervising employees performing project management work, such as planning, administering, managing, coordinating, or expediting, on engineering and/or architectural and/or landscape architectural projects, or supervising a construction project with a value of $1,000,000 or more, and either:
1. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university in engineering, engineering technology, architecture, landscape architecture, architectural technology, construction, construction management, construction technology,
Read the rest of the requirements
sustainable design, urban planning, urban studies, city planning, transportation planning, business administration, or public administration, and one year of full-time satisfactory experience in project management work, such as planning, administering, managing, coordinating, or expediting, for engineering and/or architectural and/or landscape architectural projects; or
2. A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent and five years of experience as described in "1" above; or
3. A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent plus any combination of college or university education and/or experience described in "1" above to make up the equivalent of five years of education and experience.
One year of experience credit will be given for: (a) each 30 semester credits of college or university education leading to a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in engineering, engineering technology, architecture, landscape architecture, architectural technology, construction, construction management, construction technology,
sustainable design, urban planning, urban studies, city planning, transportation planning, business administration, or public administration; (b) a Master’s degree from an accredited college or university in one of the disciplines described in "1" above; (c) a Juris Doctor degree, or (d) a valid New York State license as a Professional Engineer, Registered Architect or Registered Landscape Architect.
Where experience which is primarily of a design nature is not acceptable towards meeting the qualification requirements.
In addition to meeting the qualification requirements for Assignment Level I, candidates must have at least one additional year of experience as described in "1" above in a supervisory capacity or have served for at least one year as a project manager for a large and/or complex construction project.
In addition to meeting the qualification requirements for Assignment Level I, candidates must have at least two additional years of experience as described in "1" above in a supervisory capacity or have served for at least two additional years as a project manager for a large and/or complex construction project.
Quoted word for word from the official posting. The label above is ours, read from this text; if they disagree, this text wins.
The work
What the job is.
-
35 hrs a week
“Hours: Full-Time – 35 Hours”
Read from the posting. Tap one to see the line it came from.
- Hours
- Full-Time – 35 Hours
- Work Location
- 30-30 Thomson Avenue, LIC, NY 11101
Only candidates who are permanent in the Associate Project Manager title, reachable on DDC’s Promotional Exam #3573, or the Open Competitive Exam #3110 may apply. Please include a copy of your Notice of Results or indicate if you are permanent in the title.
Read the rest, from the posting
If you do not meet the previously mentioned civil service criteria, you will not be considered for an interview.
The Department of Design and Construction seeks a Senior Cost Estimator to be part of Front-End Planning (FEP), a team of experienced professionals engaged in guiding capital project scope development for the Public Buildings Division.
The goal of the unit is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the capital needs of each sponsor agency-initiated project to facilitate successful delivery in an expeditious and cost-effective manner while maintaining the highest degree of architectural, engineering and construction quality.
The selected candidate will work with the FEP Program Executives in the analysis of sponsor agency needs and existing conditions to develop pre-design phase cost estimates for budget planning purposes across a range of projects.
The candidate will be responsible for the overall development of cost analyses to confirm accuracy of funding provided by sponsor agencies. Duties also include joint scoping, field visits, site logistic analysis, reviewing current and archived construction documents, including technical data, drawings, and photos.
Authorization to work in the United States is required for this position. NYC Department of Design and Construction does not provide sponsorship for international employees for visa applications, extensions, or status changes, including STEM/OPT visas.
Applicants are responsible for ensuring that they meet all qualifying requirements for this position, at the time of application. All applicants, including City Employees:
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City of New York, go to Search for Open Jobs, and type in the Job ID # listed above. Submit job application as prompted. Do not apply via Employee Self-Service (ESS), e-mail, mail, or fax your resume to DDC directly.
Skills they'd like
Candidates must have excellent interpersonal, written, and oral skills, and current and up-to-date knowledge of the operations, design and construction of designated building types, means and methods, and standards.
All the skills they list
A minimum of 10-15 years of experience in commercial and institutional construction and cost estimating, and multi-discipline design and construction-related issue resolution. The candidate must be familiar with Timberline/Sage software, NYC Building Code, Microsoft Word, and Excel.
AutoCAD, Revit/BIM experience preferred.
Before you apply
The fine print.
Where you have to live
NYC residency not required
New York City Residency is not required for this position.
Sources
Straight from the city.
Updated every day from the city's job data (last city update September 21, 2026). You apply through the official posting.