Senior Manager, Labor Cost Estimating

Collins Aerospace; Cedar Rapids (IA); On-site; USD 132,000 - 252,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Vacation time

401(k) plan

Job summary

Collins Aerospace is hiring for a Senior Manager, Labor Cost Estimating in Mission Systems. This onsite role will lead a multi-site team delivering accurate labor estimates for proposals and programs.

You will drive standardization, collaborate with Pricing and Operations, and ensure compliant estimates across FAR/DFARS. The position supports on-site work at Cedar Rapids, IA or Melbourne, FL.

Qualifications

• Typically requires a University Degree and minimum 10 years prior relevant experience or an Advanced Degree in a related field and minimum 7 years of experience
• Experience leading teams, projects, or cross-functional initiatives.
• Experience with Microsoft Office products - Access, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word

Responsibilities

• Lead, develop, and provide day-to-day guidance to a multi-geographical team of labor cost estimating analysts.
• Manage team workload, proposal assignments, priorities, and resources to support business needs and proposal deadlines across multiple sites and portfolios.
• Build team capability through coaching, cross-training, knowledge sharing, and employee development while reducing single-point dependencies.
• Champion change management and lead the continued transformation and centralization of labor cost estimating processes across Mission Systems.
• Establish and maintain standardized estimating processes, tools, templates, roles, responsibilities, and work instructions that improve consistency, efficiency, and estimate quality.
• Partner with Pricing Managers and other functional leaders to promote early Cost Estimating involvement, clear proposal roles, effective kickoffs, and continuous communication throughout the proposal lifecycle.
• Influence proposal teams to ensure estimating inputs, assumptions, bases of estimate, and supporting documentation are current, accurate, complete, and received with sufficient time to support a quality proposal.
• Develop and maintain metrics that provide visibility into workload, cycle time, estimate quality, rework, and process performance; use those metrics to identify trends and drive continuous improvement.
• Promote the effective use and continued development of estimating systems, tools, and automation, including SAP, BMW, PARS, ProPricer, Microsoft Excel, and other digital solutions.
• Support alignment across sites while ensuring labor estimates comply with the Collins Aerospace Estimating Business System and applicable organizational requirements.
• Maintain strong working relationships with site leadership, program teams, pricing teams, and functional stakeholders to resolve issues and support successful proposal execution.
• Ensure compliance with internal policies and procedures, the Cost Estimating Manual, and applicable FAR and DFARS requirements.
• Support government and customer fact-finding, negotiations, audits, and requests for information, including interactions with DCMA, DCAA, and other external customers.
• Foster a team culture built on trust, accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and professional development.
• Travel and work onsite at supported locations as business needs require.
• Good verbal and written communication skills

Skills

Team leadership

Microsoft Office

Education

University Degree

Tools

SAP

BMW

PARS

ProPricer

Microsoft Excel

Job description

Location

US-IA-CEDAR RAPIDS-124 ~ 400 Collins Rd NE ~ BLDG 124

Date Posted

2026-09-15

Country

United States of America

Position Role Type

Onsite

U.S. Citizen, U.S. Person, or Immigration Status Requirements

U.S. citizenship is required, as only U.S. citizens are authorized to access certain necessary systems.

Security Clearance Type

None/Not Required

Security Clearance Status

Not Required

Collins Aerospace has an exciting opportunity to join the Mission Systems Pricing & Cost Estimating organization as a Senior Manager, Labor Cost Estimating. This position will lead the centralized Mission Systems Labor Cost Estimating team. The successful candidate will provide strategic and day-to-day leadership for a multi-site team responsible for developing accurate, compliant, and well-supported labor estimates across Mission Systems. This highly collaborative role will partner with Pricing, Operations and other proposal stakeholders while interacting with all levels of the organization, including senior leadership.

This position is an onsite opportunity and will sit at either the Cedar Rapids, IA or Melbourne, FL locations.

What You Will Do

• Lead, develop, and provide day-to-day guidance to a multi-geographical team of labor cost estimating analysts.
• Manage team workload, proposal assignments, priorities, and resources to support business needs and proposal deadlines across multiple sites and portfolios.
• Build team capability through coaching, cross-training, knowledge sharing, and employee development while reducing single-point dependencies.
• Champion change management and lead the continued transformation and centralization of labor cost estimating processes across Mission Systems.
• Establish and maintain standardized estimating processes, tools, templates, roles, responsibilities, and work instructions that improve consistency, efficiency, and estimate quality.
• Partner with Pricing Managers and other functional leaders to promote early Cost Estimating involvement, clear proposal roles, effective kickoffs, and continuous communication throughout the proposal lifecycle.
• Influence proposal teams to ensure estimating inputs, assumptions, bases of estimate, and supporting documentation are current, accurate, complete, and received with sufficient time to support a quality proposal.
• Develop and maintain metrics that provide visibility into workload, cycle time, estimate quality, rework, and process performance; use those metrics to identify trends and drive continuous improvement.
• Promote the effective use and continued development of estimating systems, tools, and automation, including SAP, BMW, PARS, ProPricer, Microsoft Excel, and other digital solutions.
• Support alignment across sites while ensuring labor estimates comply with the Collins Aerospace Estimating Business System and applicable organizational requirements.
• Maintain strong working relationships with site leadership, program teams, pricing teams, and functional stakeholders to resolve issues and support successful proposal execution.
• Ensure compliance with internal policies and procedures, the Cost Estimating Manual, and applicable FAR and DFARS requirements.
• Support government and customer fact-finding, negotiations, audits, and requests for information, including interactions with DCMA, DCAA, and other external customers.
• Foster a team culture built on trust, accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and professional development.
• Travel and work onsite at supported locations as business needs require.
• Good verbal and written communication skills

Qualifications You Must Have

• Typically requires a University Degree and minimum 10 years prior relevant experience or an Advanced Degree in a related field and minimum 7 years of experience
• Experience leading teams, projects, or cross-functional initiatives.
• Experience with Microsoft Office products - Access, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word

Qualifications We Prefer

• Experience developing labor estimates or supporting proposals for U.S. Government contracts.
• Working knowledge of estimating methodologies, bases of estimate, proposal development, and the Estimating Business System.
• Experience leading change management, process standardization, centralization, or continuous-improvement initiatives.
• Experience developing employees, building team capability, and leading geographically dispersed teams.
• Experience with SAP, BMW, PARS, Microsoft Excel, and estimating automation or digital tools.
• Experience developing and using operational metrics to manage workload, identify performance trends, and drive results.
• Prior involvement with government audits, fact-finding, or negotiations, including interaction with DCMA and DCAA.
• Knowledge of FAR, DFARS, Truthful Cost or Pricing Data requirements, and other U.S. Government proposal requirements.

What We Offer

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Three weeks of vacation for newly hired employees
• Generous 401(k) plan that includes employer matching funds and separate employerretirement contribution, including a Lifetime Income Strategy option
• Tuition reimbursement program
• Student Loan Repayment Program
• Life insurance and disability coverage
• Optional coverages you can buy pet insurance, home and auto insurance, additional lifeand accident insurance,critical illnessinsurance, group legal, ID theft protection
• Birth, adoption, parental leave benefits
• Ovia Health, fertility, and family planning
• Adoption Assistance
• Autism Benefit
• Employee Assistance Plan, including up to 10 free counseling sessions
• Healthy You Incentives, wellness rewards program
• Doctor on Demand, virtual doctor visits
• Bright Horizons, child and elder care services
• Teladoc Medical Experts, second opinion program
• And more!

Onsite: Employees who are working in Onsite roles will work primarily onsite. This includes all production and maintenance employees, as they are essential to the development of our products.

At Collins, the paths we pave together lead to limitless possibility. And the bonds we form – with our customers and with each other -- propel us all higher, again and again.

When you join our finance team, you’re joining a team whose impact stretches across the world, and even beyond. Our team supports 70,000 employees across the U.S. and around the globe. As an RTX subsidiary, we operate with our own business reporting structure, financial dashboards and earnings metrics. This reporting relationship allows finance team members to implement innovative tools for the aerospace market in a stand-alone business environment. At Collins Aerospace, you’ll be not only be advancing your career, you’ll be leaving your mark on the future of advanced technologies.

As part of our commitment to maintaining a secure hiring process, candidates may be asked to attend select steps of the interview process in-person at one of our office locations, regardless of whether the role is designated as on-site, hybrid or remote.

The salary range for this role is 132,400 USD - 251,600 USD. The salary range provided is a good faith estimate representative of all experience levels. RTX considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the role, function and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, location, education/training, and key skills.

Hired applicants may be eligible for benefits, including but not limited to, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short-term disability, long-term disability, 401(k) match, flexible spending accounts, flexible work schedules, employee assistance program, Employee Scholar Program, parental leave, paid time off, and holidays. Specific benefits are dependent upon the specific business unit as well as whether or not the position is covered by a collective-bargaining agreement.

Hired applicants may be eligible for annual short-term and/or long-term incentive compensation programs depending on the level of the position and whether or not it is covered by a collective-bargaining agreement. Payments under these annual programs are not guaranteed and are dependent upon a variety of factors including, but not limited to, individual performance, business unit performance, and/or the company’s performance.

This role is a U.S.-based role. If the successful candidate resides in a U.S. territory, the appropriate pay structure and benefits will apply.

RTX anticipates the application window closing approximately 40 days from the date the notice was posted. However, factors such as candidate flow and business necessity may require RTX to shorten or extend the application window.

RTX is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or veteran status, or any other applicable state or federal protected class. RTX provides affirmative action in employment for qualified Individuals with a Disability and Protected Veterans in compliance with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act.

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