Senior Tribal Liaison

About the opportunity

Building and maintaining relations with Native communities and governments is essential to SWCA’s foundational operations across the United States. Our continued growth requires the addition of a Tribal Liaison or Expert in Native Relations who partners with peers across SWCA to share insights and information to propagate positive Native community and government relations throughout our organization. This candidate will have unique technical leadership skills to steer the provision, innovation, and management of SWCA’s Native community relations, Tribal Liaison services, and associated practice areas.

As a Technical Lead, you will be accountable for the quality of service for Native community liaison practices across SWCA. You will collaborate with other leaders to ensure that SWCA has preeminent expertise in Native community and government relations and is applying best practices, processes, methodologies, and approaches. You will lead complex projects or tasks specific to Native community relations in support of SWCA’s environmental and cultural resources practices. You will establish measures of quality, mentor others on working with Native communities and governments, lead or contribute to business development pursuits and management of strategic clients, and coordinate with SWCA leadership, technical staff, and project managers to support our services.

The selected individual will be an experienced leader with recognized Native community and government relations expertise. You will report to an SWCA manager with a leadership role connected to our existing Native community relations service line; however, the selected individual need not be located in that manager’s region or near an SWCA office.

This position is available at the below levels and title will be based on years of relevant experience or expertise:

• Senior Tribal Liaison - typically at least 8 years of related experience or expertise
• Principal Tribal Liaison - typically at least 10 years of related experience or expertise

A letter of interest and resume are required for this application.

What you will accomplish

• Be a technical leader who is accountable for the quality of service within SWCA’s Native community and government relations across the company, ensuring that SWCA has preeminent expertise and state of the art processes, methodologies, and practices.

• Work with SWCA leadership, technical staff, and project managers to identify and implement strategic technical initiatives and drive quality and consistency across offices and regions for Native community and government relations.

• As an experienced consultant and Technical Lead, oversee large and complex cultural resources projects or project components and, as needed, serve as a project, client, or contract manager.

• Lead the development of technical competencies and standards, and technical leadership and mentoring, for Tribal liaisons across the company.

• Be recognized as a technical authority and role model responsible for setting a standard of excellence for Native community and government relations.

• Help to drive growth and differentiation by developing, understanding, and leveraging emerging trends in Tribal liaising and community or government relations.

• Lead the development of, and serve as an influential participant in, professional networks that provide SWCA with unique insights and a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

• Develop quality standards and ensure the company and practice area QA/QC program is effectively implemented in the area of Native community and government relations.

• Coordinate with office and/or regionally based operations staff to develop and implement strategic technical initiatives and support consistent practices throughout SWCA.

• Provide expertise further supporting SWCA operations in:

• Building and retaining a progression of technical talent related to Native community relations and Tribal liaison-ship.

• Identifying gaps in expertise, identifying and attracting top talent to SWCA, and advocating for strategic hires when needed.

• Staying apprised of new regulatory developments, technical approaches, and strategic initiatives are continually disseminated within the company and to clients as it relates to the Technical Lead’s sphere of expertise.

• Position Native community and Tribal liaison services to accelerate and support SWCA's growth, with attention given to strategic business development and client management initiatives to grow this nationwide service line.

• Recognize and capitalize on market trends that impact the business (e.g., new regulations, technological developments, etc.), develop new business opportunities, and lead proposal efforts.

• Support client managers and serve as technical client manager for key clients or business lines and foster a client-focused environment.

• Lead go/no-go conversations, and provide guidance on large pursuits in the Technical Lead’s area of expertise.

• Represent SWCA as a thought leader and subject matter expert in Native Relations and Tribal Liaison-ship at client and agency meetings, conferences, professional association meetings, external networking events, etc.

Experience and qualifications for success

• Minimum of ten (10) years of experience as a consultant, with a specific emphasis on federal and Tribal regulatory compliance, Tribal relation services, and/or ethnography with increasing project management and technical responsibility, including leadership of others and management-level accountability for project or program performance. Twelve (12) or more years of experience preferred.
• College/university degree preferred, particularly in a field related to environmental or social sciences, planning, or law.
• Demonstrated experience addressing complex Native community and government relations issues across multiple agencies, business lines, client types, and geographies.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively across offices and regions at all levels of an organization.
• Demonstrated ability to recognize and capitalize on market trends that impact a business (e.g., new regulations, technological developments, etc.), develop new business opportunities, and lead proposal efforts.
• Possesses a broad understanding of relevant regulatory requirements.
• Possesses strong client-facing skills (e.g., communication, relationship building, problem solving).
• Demonstrated ability to develop positive relationships with Native organizations, sovereign Native governments, and non-Native governments locally, regionally, and nationally.
• Consistent record of communicating highly technical or socially complex concepts to a variety of stakeholder groups.
• Possesses a strong understanding of financial metrics, with the proven ability to manage complex projects or tasks.
• Demonstrated ability to direct high-quality, complex, interdisciplinary technical and project work.
• Proven track record of influencing the delivery of results, including in areas where not the party directly in the lead role or command.

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.

S_WCA 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 position can expect a salary of $85,280.00 - $111,280.00/year for the Senior Tribal Liaison (which aligns with the salary of a Senior Anthropologist), and $97,760.00 - $127,920.00/year for the Principal Tribal Liaison (which aligns with the salary of a Principal Anthropologist). 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.

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 (800)-828-8517. This contact information is for disability accommodation requests only. All other inquiries will not receive a response.

EOE - women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans are encouraged to apply.

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