About the opportunity
SWCA Environmental Consultants is seeking a Cultural Resources Director to lead a team of anthropologists, archaeologists, architectural historians, and paleontologists in our Arizona offices. This position requires excellent leadership skills and behaviors to successfully manage the execution of project work, cultivate our business development processes, deliver for our clients, and continue to build an exceptional team. The Arizona Cultural Resources Director will report to the Southern Arizona Senior Director. This is a regular, full-time, salaried position with compensation based on individual qualifications and experience. The position is open to highly qualified candidates who would sit at any of the Flagstaff, Phoenix, or Tucson offices with visits at least once a month to the other offices to work directly with their staff and colleagues.
Our Arizona offices are a hub of excellence within our market that is renowned for the quality of our work, commitment to our clients, and unparalleled team of professionals. We continuously strive to be the premier environmental consultancy in our market by offering a work environment that promotes employee engagement and development. The successful candidate will coordinate closely with their peers across Arizona, and throughout the company. This position offers a great opportunity for team leadership as well as business and professional development in this expanding market.
Candidates must submit a brief letter of interest with their application that describes their vision for this position.
Note that applications are due by March 25, 2023
What you will accomplish
As the Cultural Resources Director, you will have the following responsibilities:
People Leadership (35% of workload)
- Lead SWCA’s Cultural Resources teams in Arizona collaboratively, as an integral member of the leadership team.
- Promote a culture of leadership, teamwork, engagement, high-quality service, and client satisfaction.
- Develop and implement strategies to attract and retain talent within our Arizona offices. Lead strategic hiring efforts and focused retention efforts.
- Directly manage principal and lead-level staff.
- Drive engagement of the team by recognizing high performance and implementing approaches that build and sustain high levels of motivation.
- Support career mobility and growth within SWCA through active coaching and mentorship of team members.
- Direct all performance-related activities, including performance reviews and any disciplinary recommendations.
- Work with leadership to determine compensation and bonus allocation.
- Connect with staff, peers, and senior management by leading regular staff meetings and contributing to regular regional and national leadership meetings.
- Ensure that the team’s work is well-coordinated across the business.
- Participate in setting business goals for the office.
- Cascade objectives through the organization to ensure alignment between local efforts and regional/national goals.
- Manage resource allocation and coordinate across SWCA to enable successful project delivery.
Technical Leadership (30% of workload)
- Take responsibility for adherence to SWCA Quality Control Procedures within the Arizona Cultural Resources Program. Ensure that the program meets its commitments to quality and create an environment of accountability for meeting agreed-upon expectations through the use of tools and controls, such as quality audits.
- Implement and refine SWCA Quality Control Procedures.
- Support the execution of work by managing projects and contracts, as well as providing senior-level technical support.
- Leverage experts effectively, engaging the right talent to meet client needs.
- Stay current on relevant regulations and communicate changes and trends to staff and clients.
- Ensure company safety program is effectively implemented for your area of responsibility.
- Coordinate with peers and project managers to efficiently allocate company resources, including personnel, vehicles, supplies, and equipment.
- Coordinate with the nationwide Cultural Resources Technical Director, Practice Group Champions, and the Practice Group in general to advance local and nationwide technical needs and initiatives.
Client and Market Leadership (25% of workload)
- Contribute to the growth and maintenance of client relationships, both locally and regionally.
- Maintain awareness of market and industry trends that impact the business through news sources, event attendance, and using your professional network.
- Identify new opportunities to diversify the business and lead teams in their pursuit.
- Lead go/no-go analyses and provide senior review of proposals.
- Collaborate with business development specialists across SWCA to align operational abilities and needs with the pursuit of opportunities.
Financial Leadership (10% of workload)
- Contribute to the development and management of the operational budget and ensure that budget objectives are achieved throughout the year through tracking and sound financial decision making, ensuring the ultimate profitability of your group.
- Ensure appropriate level of review and approval of proposals, contracts, budgets, and expenditures through mastery of and adherence to the SWCA approvals matrix.
- Monitor financial KPIs and redirect efforts as needed (e.g., productivity/utilization, multipliers, overruns, sales, etc.).
- Conduct regular audits of projects within area of responsibility to ensure that projects are on track, risks are mitigated, and issues are escalated and resolved.
- Facilitate communication between project managers, project controls, and accounts receivable.
Experience and qualifications for success
- Graduate degree in anthropology, archaeology, geology, historic preservation, or a related field.
- A minimum of 10 years of experience in cultural resources management, planning, and science. Experience should include overseeing fieldwork, office work, and report completion, as well as scheduling and budgeting of projects.
- A minimum of 10 years of experience in increasing levels of responsibility in management, including supervising and mentoring of professional staff.
- Working knowledge of the Arizona market and cultural resources.
- Demonstrated expertise working within multiple business lines to develop business and successfully complete projects to the satisfaction of clients.
- Experience applying federal, state, and local regulations to cultural resources in Arizona, particularly NEPA, and the National Historic Preservation Act.
- Demonstrated success leading staff, including recruiting, mentoring, developing, and coaching.
- Strong understanding of financial metrics common to our industry.
- Extensive experience building and maintaining strong partnerships, both internal and external.
- Strong client-facing skills (e.g., communication, relationship building, problem solving).
- Proven record of developing new business and leading major proposal efforts.
SWCA Environmental Consultants is a growing employee-owned firm, providing a full spectrum of environmental services. With offices across the United States, SWCA is one of the largest environmental compliance firms and ranks among Engineering News-Record’s Top 200 Environmental Firms.
If you would like to contact SWCA regarding the accessibility of our website or need assistance completing the online application process due to a disability, please email accommodations@swca.com or call 1-480-581-5378. This contact information is for disability accommodation requests only. All other inquiries will not receive a response.
SWCA is committed to salary equity and salary transparency for all its employees. In alignment with this commitment, SWCA posts good faith pay ranges in all its advertised job postings to promote pay equity and transparency.
An employee in this Phoenix, AZ based position can expect an annual salary of $112,300.00/year to $147,680.00/year. Actual pay within this range may depend on experience, qualifications, geographic location, client requirements where applicable, and other factors permitted by law. Regular-status employees are also eligible for performance bonuses. Candidates are also encouraged to consider SWCA’s Total Rewards package, which includes a competitive Benefits package, forward-thinking workplace flexibility, outstanding corporate culture, award-winning career development, and more.
EOE - women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans are encouraged to apply.
Not ready to apply? Connect with us for general consideration.