Estimator in Residence HVAC Distribution - monaro.ai

About Monaro

Monaro.ai is an AI platform that automates mechanical quantity takeoffs for HVAC and plumbing distributors. What normally takes a project coordinator 4 to 8 hours per project, we get done in under 20 minutes.

The Role

We’re looking for a senior HVAC estimator who has lived the takeoff workflow inside a distributor and is excited to help shape the software the next generation of estimators will use.

This is not a sales role. We’re open to structuring it as part-time consulting, fractional, or full-time whatever fits your situation. Tell us what works and we’ll build around it.

You’ll split your time roughly 50/50 between two things. Half your week, you’re embedded with our product team pressure-testing how our AI reads mechanical drawings, comparing its takeoffs to how you’d do them by hand, and telling us where the logic is right, where it’s wrong, and what an experienced estimator would never miss.

The other half, you’re on the phone with distributors your former peers walking them through what Monaro does and why it matters, in a way nobody on our team can match.

You’ll have direct access to the founding team, real influence on the product roadmap, and a clear engagement with no quota and no SDR script.

Key Responsibilities

Estimating Advisory (~50%)

• Audit how Monaro’s AI interprets mechanical drawings (HVAC, plumbing) and flag where its takeoff logic diverges from how an experienced estimator works
• Walk our product team through the real day-to-day: schedule interrupritation, quantity takeoffs, drawing formats, submittles, cross's
• Validate Monaro’s quantity takeoff outputs against your own manual takeoffs on real project sets
• Surface edge cases (mechanical room schematics, riser diagrams, equipment schedules, ambiguous tags) where the model needs more training
• Help us bake estimator-grade quality controls and review workflows into the product

Industry Sales & Voice of the Customer (~50%)

• Get on demo and discovery calls with branch managers, project coordinators, and operations leads at HVAC distributors across the US and Canada
• Tell the story estimator-to-estimator, credibility we can’t fake
• Share candid post-call feedback: what landed, what didn’t, what objections came up, and where our pitch needs to evolve
• Help us sharpen our ICP, messaging, and positioning based on what you hear from the field
• Keep clean call notes and weekly pipeline updates with the founding team

Must-Have Skills

• 3+ years as an estimator at a mechanical distributor this is the single most important hiring criterion
• Hands-on experience reading mechanical drawings end-to-end, including HVAC and plumbing scope, with strong fluency in equipment schedules and spec books
• Comfortable on a customer call, you don’t need to be a closer, but you have to hold a credible technical conversation with branch managers and operations leads
• Self-directed and comfortable in a flexible engagement structure

Nice to Have

• Experience training new estimators, writing SOPs, or running an estimating department
• Familiarity with takeoff and quoting tools such as Trimble Accubid, FastEST, QuoteSoft, PlanSwift, or Bluebeam
• An existing network of relationships across independent HVAC and plumbing distributors
• Prior exposure to construction tech, SaaS, or wholesale distribution software

What We Offer

• Fully remote, anywhere in Canada
• Engagement structure is flexible: part-time consulting (~20 hrs/week, month-to-month) or full-time, depending on candidate fit
• A direct line to the founding team and real influence on the product roadmap
• A product that solves a genuine pain point with a strong reference customer from day one

Equal Opportunity

We are a proud equal opportunity employer, dedicated to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in our hiring practices and workplace culture, ensuring that all qualified applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.