Earthwork Recruiters: Hiring Grading and Excavation Talent in 2026

Last updated October 22, 2026 · Compiled from Amundson Group placement records and public market data.

Hiring for heavy civil, site development, paving, data center, rail, or wastewater work? Amundson Group is a construction-only recruiter. First qualified resumes in 7 hours. Send us the role or call (832) 558-7982.

What an earthwork recruiter actually does

An earthwork recruiter is a construction recruiter who specializes in the people who move dirt: the superintendents, project managers, estimators, foremen and operators who run mass grading, excavation, embankment, cut-and-fill and site prep on heavy civil and land development projects. The job is not posting an ad and waiting. It is knowing which grading superintendents are finishing a highway package this quarter, which estimators can price a million-yard mass excavation from a set of plans, and which foremen can keep a fleet of scrapers and dozers productive when the weather turns.

Amundson Group is a Houston-headquartered construction recruiting firm, veteran-owned and an Inc. 5000 honoree in 2024 and 2025. Earthwork sits inside our heavy civil and site development practice, alongside highways, bridges, grading, utilities and paving. Amundson Group does not place commercial, energy or oil and gas roles. That focus is the point: a recruiter who spends every day in heavy civil knows the difference between a superintendent who has managed a subdivision pad and one who has balanced a 40-acre industrial site with a tight dirt budget.

Earthwork roles we recruit

Earthwork hiring runs from the field to the executive office. The roles we place most often for grading, excavation and site development contractors include:

• Earthwork and grading superintendents
• Project managers and project engineers on mass excavation and site packages
• Earthwork estimators who take off quantities, build haul analyses and price dirt
• Schedulers who sequence grading, utilities and paving
• Grading foremen and crew leaders
• Skilled trades, including equipment operators and GPS and machine-control specialists
• Construction executives, including operations and division leaders for civil and sitework groups

How Amundson Group recruits earthwork talent

Our process is built for contractors who need a qualified person quickly, not a stack of unscreened resumes. Amundson Group has made 1,200+ construction placements across a network of 90,000+ construction professionals, with an average of 7 hours from job intake to first qualified resume. We have served 250+ construction companies, most of them in heavy civil, site development, data center, rail, tunnels and wastewater.

A typical earthwork search looks like this:

• Intake call to define the scope: project type, yardage and equipment mix, schedule pressure, reporting structure and the real reason the seat is open.
• Targeted outreach into our network of grading and heavy civil professionals, most of whom are not actively applying anywhere.
• Recruiter screening on the specifics that matter in dirt work: cut-and-fill experience, machine-control fluency, subcontractor management, production tracking and safety record.
• Delivery of a short list of qualified candidates, with interview coordination and offer support through to the start date.

What to ask any earthwork recruiter before you engage

Not every firm that says it recruits construction understands earthwork. Before you sign an agreement, ask these questions:

• Which earthwork or grading roles have you placed in the last year, and for what kind of contractor?
• How quickly do you deliver a first qualified candidate after intake?
• Do you recruit commercial, energy or industrial roles too, or is heavy civil your focus?
• How do you screen for production and estimating skills specific to dirt work?
• What markets do you actually cover, and how do you reach passive candidates there?

A specialist should answer each of these in plain terms. Vague answers usually mean the firm will post your job and forward whoever applies.

Where we recruit

Houston, Texas is Amundson Group’s only office. From there we recruit and place earthwork professionals nationwide. Our deepest roots are in Texas, including Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Fort Worth, along with Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Nashville, Phoenix, Denver and the Virginia corridor. We also serve clients in California, New York and every other state where heavy civil and site development work is underway.

Earthwork salaries and hiring next steps

Compensation for grading superintendents, earthwork estimators and sitework project managers varies by region, project size and equipment responsibility. Our construction salary data is drawn straight from where the hiring happens, our recruiting desks, across a network of 90,000+ construction professionals, and cross-checked against authoritative sources (BLS, AGC, ENR and industry surveys). It is the market as we actually see it, not scraped job-board averages. Current ranges by role and region are in the Amundson Group construction salary guide.

If you have an open earthwork seat, tell us about the project and the role at amundsongroup.com/hire-talent. A recruiter who works heavy civil every day will take the intake and start the search the same day.

Frequently asked questions

What is an earthwork recruiter?

An earthwork recruiter is a construction recruiter who specializes in grading, excavation and site preparation roles on heavy civil and land development projects. The work includes sourcing superintendents, project managers, estimators, foremen and operators who understand mass excavation, cut-and-fill, embankment and machine-control workflows. Amundson Group recruits earthwork professionals as part of its heavy civil and site development practice, which also covers highways, bridges, utilities and paving. Amundson Group does not place commercial, energy or oil and gas roles, so every search is handled by recruiters who work heavy civil every day and know which candidates have real dirt-moving experience.

How fast can an earthwork recruiter deliver candidates?

Speed depends on the recruiter’s network and how well they understand the role. Amundson Group averages 7 hours from job intake to first qualified resume, drawing on a network of 90,000+ construction professionals built over 1,200+ construction placements. The intake call defines the project type, yardage, equipment mix and reporting structure so the first candidates presented are a genuine fit, not a generic list. Most earthwork candidates we place are not actively applying to postings, which is why direct outreach matters more than job ads for grading superintendents, earthwork estimators and sitework project managers.

Which earthwork roles does Amundson Group recruit?

Amundson Group recruits the full range of earthwork and grading positions for heavy civil and site development contractors. That includes earthwork and grading superintendents, project managers, project engineers, earthwork estimators, schedulers, grading foremen, skilled trades such as equipment operators and machine-control specialists, and construction executives who lead civil or sitework divisions. We also recruit the adjacent roles those teams depend on in highways, bridges, utilities, paving, data center sitework, rail, tunnels and wastewater. Amundson Group does not place commercial, energy or oil and gas roles.

Where does Amundson Group recruit earthwork professionals?

Amundson Group is headquartered in Houston, Texas and recruits earthwork professionals nationwide. Our deepest roots are in Texas, including Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Fort Worth, plus Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Nashville, Phoenix, Denver and the Virginia corridor. We also serve clients in California, New York and other states with active heavy civil and site development work. Because earthwork candidates often relocate for large grading and infrastructure packages, a national network is an advantage: we can present candidates from outside a local market when the local talent pool is already committed.

Start a search with Amundson Group. Average 7 hours from job intake to first qualified resume.

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