Founding Director - Estimation & Preconstruction

Location: New York City metro Reports to: CEO · Type: Full-time, with meaningful equity About PLAN0 PLAN0 is a construction cost intelligence platform automating cost estimation and value-engineering. It serves real estate developers, general contractors, lenders, and investors. It is a seed stage startup backed by Y Combinator and FCVC. The Role This is a senior, high-ownership role at an early-stage company. You'll be PLAN0's domain authority in the US market, responsible for leading product development and operating like a founder. Ideally you have been in the trenches at the precon department of a top-tier national or institutional general contractor. You'll own: Estimating & model calibration — Validate and calibrate PLAN0's cost models against real project data, unit rates, and historical benchmarks. Data integration & normalization — Own the ingestion, cleaning, and normalization of cost data feeds (budgets, change orders, actuals, unit rates). Product direction — Lead the roadmap for our value-engineering automation product line. This isn't a "give feedback to engineering" role - you'll help define what gets built. US market growth — Help lead PLAN0's US expansion, starting with NY/NJ, Florida, and Texas, informing everything from data partnerships to go-to-market. Experience across some or all of these markets is a strong plus. Client-facing credibility — Represent PLAN0 in pitches, demos, and validation conversations with GCs, developers, investors and cost consultants. What We're Looking For 5–10+ years in construction cost estimating or preconstruction at a top-tier national or institutional general contractor. Experience in residential (multifamily and condo) projects and in the NJ/NJ market is a must, and preferably experience with other commercial property types (industrial, office, hospitality, data centers, senior housing, student housing, etc.). Some experience in our other priority markets of Florida and Texas is a plus. Entrepreneurial instinct — you've either built something on the side, pushed for change inside a legacy organization, or you're simply done waiting for construction to catch up to how every other asset class uses data. You want ownership, not a lane. Technical fluency — you don't need to write code, but you're comfortable with data, modeling, and picking up new software fast. Prior experience with estimating software (Bluebeam, PlanSwift, On-Screen Takeoff, CostX, etc.) and a curiosity about how AI/ML applies to your domain is a strong plus. NYC-based or willing to relocate , with limited travel across our priority growth markets (NY/NJ, Florida, Texas). An MBA or equivalent business training is a plus — you can think in unit economics, not just unit rates, and you're comfortable in a room with investors and executives as much as with estimators. Why This Role This is a rare opportunity to own an entire function and shape a product line at a company solving a real, overdue problem in a massive, under-digitized industry. Compensation includes a competitive base plus a meaningful equity grant reflecting the seniority and impact of this role. J-18808-Ljbffr