Talent Right is partnering with a specialist construction contractor to recruit a Head of Pre-Construction.Our client has built this function deliberately: a senior commercial lead sitting between sales and delivery, making sure the business only chases work it can win, prices it properly, and can actually build it.If you have come up through estimating, commercial management or civil engineering, and you want to own a function rather than run a desk, this is worth reading.About the ClientOur client is a specialist contractor operating nationally across Australia from offices in several states, delivering a critical trade package into major construction and infrastructure projects.Their work sits at the complex end of the sector: data centres, defence, correctional facilities, airports and major infrastructure, delivered for tier one head contractors and government.
Projects typically run between $1 million and $20 million, and the business has moved away from the smaller local work that once filled the calendar.They have restructured from a state-based operation into a national one, with a leadership team of function heads reporting to the Managing Director.
Growth is quick, and that pace brings change.
The business is upfront about it.About the RoleReporting directly to the Managing Director, you own the pre-construction function nationally: from qualified opportunity through tender strategy, estimating, buildability, methodology, value engineering, procurement and commercial review, to the point the project is handed across to Delivery.You will lead five to eight people across estimating, pre-construction management, and drafting and engineering, with the long-term plan being one of each discipline in each office.
How you build that team is largely yours to decide, within budget.This is a process role as much as a commercial one.
By the time a tender reaches best and final offer, every assumption needs to have been tested, every risk visible and priced, and the margin on paper needs to be a margin that can actually be delivered.
Then you close the loop, taking what Delivery learns on site back into the rates, methodology and assumptions used on the next one.You sit between the client relations team on one side and Delivery on the other, and the Head of Delivery is in the same office by design.
The base is Sydney.
Travel is national and largely self-directed, but you will need to get in front of your teams in the other offices regularly.
The role is office-based to start,



with hybrid flexibility once you are established.Key ResponsibilitiesLead the functionLead and build the national pre-construction team, setting standards and accountabilitiesAllocate resources across tenders, and manage workload, performance and prioritiesCoach and develop estimators and pre-construction managers, and build succession capabilityTender strategy and commercial ownershipOwn pre-construction strategy on major and strategically key opportunitiesChallenge tender assumptions and make sure tenders sit within the business risk appetiteOwn margin and risk sign‐off, including qualifications, exclusions and red-line positionsParticipate in key tender interviews, negotiations and best and final offersBuildability and delivery strategyMake sure significant tenders are properly tested for buildabilityChallenge methodology, staging, productivity and resource assumptions, working with Delivery earlyTest programme achievability and identify critical path, access, interface and logistics constraintsDevelop preliminary execution and mobilisation strategiesEstimating standards and riskOwn the national estimating methodology, WBS, cost codes, rates, assumptions and exclusionsLead identification of commercial, contractual, operational and delivery risk, and make sure it is allowed forMaintain controls around contingency and risk allowancesEscalate material risk before submission, and keep it visible through to handoverValue engineering, procurement and commercial reviewLead value engineering across major tenders, including alternative methodologies, materials and sequencingSet national and project procurement strategy, and identify long‐lead and critical‐path itemsReview key subcontractor and supplier pricing, and align subcontract terms with head contract obligationsWork with Commercial on head contract review, contractual exposure and material obligationsHandover and feedback loopOwn the pre-construction to delivery handover process, and chair handover meetingsMake sure no project mobilises without scope, programme, budget, margin, procurement, risk and client expectations properly transferredEstablish a formal feedback process from Delivery,



comparing actual performance against tender assumptionsUse close‐out data to improve rates, productivity assumptions, exclusions and methodologyThe Ideal CandidateSenior experience in pre‐construction, estimating, commercial management or project management, within construction, civil or infrastructureA practical understanding of civil construction, not just the commercial side of itDemonstrated experience leading estimating or pre‐construction teamsExperience managing complex tenders, ideally across infrastructure, utilities, defence, transport or civilStrong commercial judgement, and comfortable owning margin and risk sign‐offSolid grasp of Australian Standard contracts, subcontract agreements and commercial termsProcess‐driven and disciplined, with the rigour to make a standard stick across five officesGenuinely comfortable with new technology, including AI tooling in contract review and tender workCurrent Australian driver licenceA tertiary qualification in construction management, engineering, quantity surveying, project management or commerce is preferred, and a civil engineering background suits the process discipline this role needs.
That said, our client has been clear that they would rather take the right attitude and train the skill than take the skill and inherit the wrong attitude.You do not need prior experience in our client's specific trade.
They are looking to construction, civil, and infrastructure for the commercial and process discipline this role needs, and will cover the technical side on the way through.One thing worth being straight about.
This business is scaling quickly, and the heads of function are still working out where the lines sit between them.
The person who does well here will sort that out in the room rather than dig in, and will be more interested in building something than in applying what worked somewhere else a decade ago.Why This Role?
A seat on a small leadership team of function heads, reporting directly to the Managing DirectorReal autonomy to build and run your team the way you think is rightShort-term incentive plan on top of base, with meaningful upside on company target achievementFully maintained vehicle and superannuationA relatively new function that you will shape rather than inheritA tender pipeline across data centres, defence, correctional facilities and major infrastructureSydney base, with hybrid flexibility once you are established
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📌 Head Of Pre-Construction (Sydney)
🏢 Talent Right
📍 Sydney