Associate, Pre-Construction Estimator

About Dispatch Energy

Dispatch Energy is a private investment firm focused on distributed energy assets across the United States. We develop, own, and operate a diversified portfolio of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), fuel cells, solar PV, and hybrid distributed generation projects — targeting commercial, industrial, and institutional customers where behind-the-meter (BTM) energy solutions can deliver immediate, measurable value. Our current portfolio includes more than 450 MW of assets in operation, development, and under construction. We also acquire seasoned project opportunities from local developers.

Dispatch Energy maintains a disciplined investment and development operation that creates value at every stage of the project lifecycle.

About the Role

Dispatch Energy is seeking an Associate, Pre-Construction Estimator to build and own the cost estimating that underpins our distributed energy projects from first-look feasibility through Notice to Proceed (NTP). This is a high-impact internal role within our Engineering & Construction organization, providing the cost intelligence that supports our Origination, Development, and M&A teams and gives every project a defensible, well-benchmarked budget.

This is fundamentally an estimating role. Working from the designs, specifications, and scope set by Engineering and Development — and from vendor and subcontractor pricing — you will produce conceptual, preliminary, and detailed cost estimates across solar PV, battery energy storage, fuel cell, and balance-of-system scopes, and build the estimating models, databases, and benchmarks that make those estimates fast, consistent, and reliable.

You will partner closely with the Manager, Project Delivery, feeding the cost basis into project budgets, financial models, and Investment Committee packages. Your estimates will inform go / no-go decisions, EPC negotiations, and the budgets that projects carry into construction.

Accuracy and discipline matter. A key part of this role is maintaining a clear basis of estimate, appropriate contingency, and clean reconciliation between successive estimates and approved budgets, so that decisions rest on numbers the whole team can trust.

Travel expectation: 25%.

Key Responsibilities

Estimating & Cost Development

Own the cost estimating for Dispatch Energy's distributed energy projects — producing estimates that are accurate, well-documented, and appropriately staged to the maturity of each project.

• Prepare conceptual, preliminary, and detailed cost estimates across the following scopes:
• Solar PV systems
• Battery energy storage systems (BESS)
• Fuel cell systems
• Civil, structural, and electrical infrastructure
• Medium-voltage and interconnection scopes
• Develop labor, equipment, material, and subcontractor pricing assumptions grounded in current market data.
• Solicit and evaluate vendor, subcontractor, and EPC pricing to support estimates and inform EPC negotiations.
• Apply value-engineering and optimization analysis to improve project competitiveness and identify cost-down opportunities.
• Develop top-down estimates from prior guidance and benchmarks early, and refine to bottom-up detail as projects progress from feasibility through NTP.

Origination, Development & M&A Support

Serve as the cost-intelligence backbone for the Origination, Development, and M&A teams — giving every opportunity a defensible budget as it moves through the pre-NTP pipeline.

• Provide the cost basis that feeds project budgets, origination financial models, and Investment Committee packages.
• Support M&A diligence with independent cost estimates and budget reviews for acquisition targets.
• Partner with the Manager, Project Delivery to align each project's estimate with its scope baseline, schedule, and approved budget.
• Turn the deal and development teams' scope and design inputs into structured, staged cost estimates — without owning the commercial or development work those teams lead.

Estimating Systems & Benchmarks

Build and own the estimating infrastructure that makes Dispatch Energy's cost estimates fast, consistent, and reliable across a growing portfolio.

• Build and maintain estimating models, unit-pricing libraries, and historical cost benchmarks across technologies and scopes.
• Establish standardized estimate templates, basis-of-estimate formats, and cost-classification standards aligned with the project delivery framework.
• Maintain a benchmark database from closed estimates, awarded contracts, and actual project costs; feed lessons back into future estimates.
• Continuously improve estimating tools and methods; work with IT and the Manager, Project Delivery to integrate estimating into project tracking and reporting.

Cost Risk & Estimate Governance

Bring discipline and transparency to every estimate — so budgets carried into the Investment Committee and into construction are ones the whole team can trust.

• Document a clear basis of estimate for each project: scope covered, assumptions, exclusions, pricing sources, and confidence level.
• Set and track appropriate contingency by estimate class and project maturity; make cost risk visible rather than buried.
• Reconcile successive estimates against prior estimates and approved budgets; explain and flag material movements in line with the reapproval triggers in the IC Policy.
• Support the go/no-go and stage-gate process with clear, decision-ready cost inputs; ensure cost commitments requiring approval are surfaced to the Manager, Project Delivery and the Investment Committee.

Technical & Cross-Functional Coordination

Work closely with Engineering, Project Delivery, and Procurement to ground every estimate in the real design and the real market.

• Coordinate with Engineering to align estimates with system layouts, equipment selections, single-line diagrams, and quantity take-offs.
• Review geotechnical reports, site constraints, interconnection requirements, and utility specifications for their cost implications.
• Collaborate with procurement on equipment pricing for modules, inverters, transformers, switchgear, batteries, and balance-of-system components.
• Support the Manager, Project Delivery and the Development team with cost inputs for scope definition, budgeting, and schedule-linked cash flow.

Qualifications

Education & Experience

• 2 to 5 years of estimating, cost engineering, or pre-construction experience in renewable energy, distributed generation, or electrical/civil construction.
• Bachelor's degree in construction management, engineering, quantity surveying, renewable energy, or a related field; equivalent professional experience will be considered.
• Experience estimating solar PV, BESS, or fuel cell projects preferred; familiarity with balance-of-system, medium-voltage, and interconnection scopes strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience building or maintaining estimating models, unit-pricing libraries, or cost benchmarks.

Technical Knowledge

• Working knowledge of BTM DG technologies and their cost drivers: BESS, PV, fuel cells, and balance-of-system components.
• Ability to read and interpret electrical and civil drawings, single-line diagrams, site plans, and equipment specifications, and to develop quantity take-offs from them.
• Understanding of construction cost structures: labor, equipment, materials, subcontractor pricing, indirects, and contingency.
• Understanding of how project cost feeds investment decisions: budgets, financial models, and return metrics.

Estimating & Analytical Skills

• Strong quantitative and analytical skills, with fluency in building structured, auditable cost models.
• Comfort producing estimates at different classes of accuracy, from conceptual through detailed, and communicating the confidence and assumptions behind each.
• Experience soliciting and normalizing vendor and subcontractor pricing.
• Structured approach to basis of estimate, assumptions, exclusions, and contingency.
• Attention to detail and a habit of reconciling and stress-testing numbers.

Leadership & Communication

• Clear written and verbal communication: able to present a cost estimate, its basis, and its risks in a decision-ready format.
• Collaborative and self-directed; comfortable working across Engineering, Development, and Procurement to get the inputs an estimate needs.
• Organized and reliable, managing multiple concurrent estimates at different stages.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment and helping build a function from the ground up.

Tools & Systems

• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills for cost modeling and analysis.
• Experience with estimating or cost-database tools, and with Smartsheet or MS Project for schedule linkage.
• Experience with Quickbase / HubSpot or similar project tracking / CRM systems.
• Proficiency with AI tools, agents, and large language models (LLMs).

Why Dispatch Energy

• Own and build the estimating capability from day one: you will define how Dispatch Energy prices and budgets every project, and build the cost models and benchmarks the entire pipeline relies on.
• Join a team building something real: a growing platform of BTM BESS, fuel cell, and solar assets that directly reduce cost and improve resiliency for industrial customers.
• Work closely with a sharp, mission-driven team across Origination, Development, M&A, Construction, and Capital Markets.
• Competitive compensation, including base salary and performance-based incentives.
• Comprehensive benefits, including health, dental, vision, and 401(k) plans.
• Significant upside as the company scales its origination and development pipeline nationwide.

How to Apply

If you are a rigorous estimator or cost professional with a passion for distributed energy and a talent for building clean, defensible numbers, we would like to hear from you.

To apply, please submit your resume and a brief cover letter to View email address on click.appcast.io . Apply today and help Dispatch Energy deliver the BTM energy systems that industrial America needs.