ESA is seeking a highly motivated Business Group Director with the vision and entrepreneurial drive to lead and grow our dynamic team of environmental planning consultants in the Pacific Northwest. This is a senior-level opportunity to lead our team of environmental review project managers and associated technical experts who support community development, water, surface transportation and maritime ports, airports, energy, and natural resources management clients throughout the Pacific Northwest. The position will be focused on leading and growing our team of talented environmental professionals to sustain and strengthen our reputation while focusing on recruiting & staff development, financial performance, sustaining a robust pipeline, high levels of client engagement, and promoting a dynamic and inclusive work environment.
We are passionate about improving the sustainability of our communities and our natural environment, providing outstanding client service and tackling complex challenges while creating opportunities for our employee-owners to learn and advance their careers. We pride ourselves on helping communities address the challenges of our urban communities in the 21st century. We value creative thinking, diversity, and multi-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary engagement. You’ll love our company culture which fosters ownership and collaboration in a flexible, fun work environment that supports your professional growth and success.
At ESA we work on projects in our communities and often are invited to participate in or lead some of the highest profile projects in the Northwest including the EIS for Climate Pledge Arena, The EIS and permitting for returning a Southern Resident Killer Whale to a natural sea pen, restoration of Capitol Lake, the largest FAA Part 150 study for Seattle-Tacoma Airport, and Sea-Level Rise and Vulnerability Assessments along our coastline. Be a part of shaping our communities and engaging to make a difference in the world around us!
Who You Are
You are an experienced Environmental Professional looking for an opportunity that is focused on collaboration, quality and technical excellence, outstanding client service, and leading a team with a passion to do great work and have fun together. More specifically, you bring a minimum of 15 years of private or public sector experience with at least five years of that experience leading the operations of a business group. You bring deep knowledge about SEPA, NEPA, and have hands-on experience with preparation of related environmental documents. You have in-depth understanding of federal, state and local environmental policies and regulations relevant in the Pacific Northwest and have overseen teams that manage complex regulatory compliance efforts, including technical studies, SEPA/NEPA documentation, public engagement and outreach processes, regulatory permitting, interdisciplinary studies, and other types of environmental planning studies.
You are a collaborative, approachable leader who advocates for your team of employee-owners at all levels and embraces the recruitment and retention of key talent. You embrace growing members of your team through individual and collective mentoring and career development. As the manager of a business group, you have served as supervisor and overseen workload distribution, prepared business plans, and overseen project delivery on time and on budget. You are financially astute and a problem solver with initiative who promotes a culture of accountability within your team. You possess a strong sense of emotional intelligence, have effective oral and written communication skills, active listening skills, and are clear and concise when presenting complex information, individually or in groups.
You embrace marketing and business development and building and fostering relationships with clients and strategic partners. You understand how to develop and execute strategic marketing strategies, including the development and implementation of client or project capture plans. You have substantial experience working with key clients in the Pacific Northwest providing services involving environmental analysis and permitting for community development, transportation, energy, water and wastewater infrastructure programs.
You hold a Bachelor’s degree in a related field. A Master’s degree is a plus.
What You Will Do for ESA
At the highest level, as a leader in ESA’s Pacific Northwest region you will provide leadership and strategic direction for our Pacific Northwest Environmental Planning team, and will be a collaborative partner with leaders of other technical practice teams and regionwide leadership. Within your group, you will contribute to advancing ESA’s 5-year Strategic Plan and will develop and implement the group’s annual business plan. You will ensure that the group has clear performance expectations to meet performance goals and financial targets. You will support, promote, and implement ESA’s Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) program within your business group and throughout the region.
On a more granular basis, you will work with project managers to determine staffing requirements for current and future projects and ensure a thoughtful distribution of work to keep the group appropriately focused on projects while providing training and professional development opportunities. You will ensure that your team is comprised of high-performing environmental planners, land use planners, permitting specialists, project managers, outreach and facilitation experts, and supporting technical staff to complete work safely, on schedule and profitably. Where necessary to meet client needs and achieve planned performance goals, you will work with our HR team to recruit new talent to the group to meet the needs of our clients and projects. With an eye to esprit-de-corps within your group, you will foster a respectful, collaborative and inclusive environment with a team that values diversity of thought and experience.
You will lead and direct the marketing and business development pursuits of the group including building and maintaining a robust opportunity pipeline, ensuring that individual and group contract acquisition targets that grow the practice and Region are met. You will work collaboratively with ESA’s Market Leaders, Practice Leaders, and other leaders in the region to developing an overall strategy and capture plans for key pursuits and strategic clients which achieves marketing goals in a manner that is efficient and effective. You will ensure that the team is sufficiently engaged with clients and professional associations to maintain a strong professional network and industry presence which bolsters ESA’s competitiveness in the marketplace.
While your focus will be on your group, success in ESA’s collaborative environment and matrix organization requires effective coordination and collaboration with environmental planning group directors in other ESA regions, as well as with technical experts and leaders from across the company. To ensure the delivery of high caliber technical work, you will promote an environment in your group that supports inter-practice collaboration and cross-regional and cross-practice project execution. You will ensure that company QA/QC policies and procedures are implemented and followed at the project and group level. Where appropriate, you will review reports prepared by others and set a positive example by ensuring that constructive feedback is provided to staff at all levels.
What’s Special About ESA
Joining ESA means becoming part of a close-knit team of environmental professionals who contribute to outstanding projects, value working together as a team, and have a desire to make an impact on our communities. We offer engaging and fulfilling opportunities for our employee owners to participate in community outreach events including Habitat for Humanity Builds and harvesting with City Fruit as well as seminars to explore aspects of history, community, and conflict to explore and expand our JEDI values. Cool in-house activities regularly hosted at our offices include Job Shadow Day, Women’s Leadership events, and team building art projects. We are a company with LEAP Awards to support professional growth, InspO Awards to recognize actions that inspire your fellow employee-owners, and tuition reimbursement to support our employee owners actively involved in deepening their knowledge and expertise. The hallmark of ESA is being part of a culture in which everyone is an owner and shares in the growth and success of the company.
We are an inclusive employee-driven firm that collectively works to raise the industry standard through technical excellence and innovation. You will be surrounded by other employee owners equally as excited about making an impact to shape a better world and have fun while doing it!
At ESA, we provide benefits such as medical, dental, and vision insurance (paid at 70% for you AND your family), annual allocations of company shares through our ESOP, a 401(k) plan with company match, and paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays, to name a few.
ESA has established multiple pay ranges tailored to the economic factors in the geographies in which ESA staff reside. For this position, the range is approximately as listed based on our anticipated hiring locations as noted in the above job details. Actual compensation is determined by several factors including but not limited to an individual’s related experience, education, skills, and the city in which the applicant lives.
Who We Are
We are a 100% employee-owned environmental consulting firm who values diversity and inclusion and celebrate the differences that make each of us unique. Our culture is built on mutual respect, recognizing that our variety of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives leads to better solutions, which fosters our continued success for our employee-owners and clients.
In accordance with ESA’s duty and responsibility to provide and maintain a safe workplace that is free of known hazards and to minimize the exposure to potential hazards, any employee who works from an ESA office or conducts any other in-person ESA work-related activity is required to submit their proof of vaccination status or have received an approved exemption and accommodation in states which this applies.
ESA is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to a diverse and inclusive work environment. (EOE M/V/F/D)
