Vice President - Gulf Coast

About the opportunity

For over four decades, SWCA Environmental Consultants has provided comprehensive environmental planning, regulatory compliance, and natural and cultural resource management services to businesses and government clients across the United States. SWCA is an employee-owned firm of scientists, planners, and technical experts. We combine scientific expertise with sound technical skills to provide solutions to a full spectrum of environmental projects. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, SWCA has 30+ offices and over 1,650 employees throughout the United States to serve clients from primary business lines including energy generation, oil and gas, mining, federal land management, transmission, and transportation.

The Leadership Team at SWCA projects continued significant annual year-over-year growth for the next several years. This trajectory requires the addition of a visionary leader to fill our Gulf Coast Vice President position who is responsible for overall subregional business performance and partners with peers across the organization to shape the direction of SWCA.  This candidate is expected to bring dynamic people and organizational leadership to SWCA by championing our company’s unique culture, enabling excellence, and driving the talent strategy. Primary duties include leading the strategic direction of the subregion and its offices, including financial performance, client development, staff management, and scientific and technical quality. The Vice President drives the cross-collaboration and alignment needed to achieve SWCA’s goals for our Gulf Coast subregion, which includes our Houston and Baton Rouge offices, as well as the greater South region.

The successful candidate will model and promote SWCA’s core competencies:  Be action oriented, ensure accountability, instill trust, be client focused, be able to adapt in different situations, make quality decisions and collaborate with other SWCA professionals throughout the company.

In addition, we are looking for business acumen: being able to apply knowledge of our business and the marketplace to advance the organization’s goals, be able to develop our people to meet both their career goals and respond to business needs, and to create a climate where people are motivated to do their best work to help the organization to grow and prosper.

A letter of interest and resume are required for this application.  Applications are due COB on September 1, 2023.

Our Vision (the North Star):  Make SWCA to be the best workplace and industry leader in sustainability, bringing sound science and creative solutions to global environmental challenges while maintaining a dedication to employee-ownership.

We are #OneSWCA.  We collaborate, we are #AlwaysLearning, we #NeverSettle and we #GiveBack.  We are 100% employee-owned, and we build our success together.   It is imperative for the successful candidate to fit SWCA's unique culture. Do you appreciate sustainability and environmental awareness? Is giving back to your community a priority? SWCA is a team of scientists, planners, technical experts, and corporate services professionals that are committed to our culture.

Our company purpose is to preserve natural and cultural resources for tomorrow while enabling projects that benefit people today.  You are invited to be a part of our success story.

What you will accomplish

Planning and Problem Solving

• Propose objectives for their area of responsibility and ensure alignment with other parts of the business to contribute to overall SWCA goals and objectives. ​
• Build, communicate, and cascade the business plan throughout their area of responsibility to ensure coordination of efforts. ​
• Drive the achievement of long-term (e.g., 3+ years) strategic and policy decisions impacting SWCA. ​
• Provide oversight, guidance, and high-level course correction on complex and risk-laden issues related to projects, finances, and operations. ​
• Manage effectively through a variety of issues, exceptions, and crises.

Financial Accountabilities

• Develop and manage operational budgets across multiple offices and geographies; coordinate the budgets of directors and/or managers (e.g., capital expenditures, hiring activities, etc.).  ​

• Lead the subregional organization through the business planning cycle. ​

• Conduct regular labor and revenue forecasts for their area of responsibility. ​

• Manage the P&L for their area of responsibility, making decisions that positively impact overall P&L health. ​

• Manage operations to minimize financial and business risks and educate regional leadership in risk management practices.

• Establish team utilization targets through the business planning process and work with Directors to establish appropriate individual productivity targets to support achievement of team goals. Load level, network, and course-correct to ensure overall utilization and productivity KPIs are achieved.”

Technical Accountabilities

• Serve as a mentor and role model for client-focused, effective project leadership at SWCA. ​
• Serve as a seasoned expert, leveraging experience to counsel and advise executive leadership on relevant strategies and policies relevant to their area.
• Seek out and synthesize broad trends (e.g., scientific, market, industry) that impact the business, integrating these insights into the organization to ensure alignment up, down, and across SWCA. ​
• Engage in strategic workforce planning to ensure a robust leadership pipeline.  ​
• Partner with peers and executive leaders to build and maintain the organizational structure needed to optimally deploy talent.

People Accountabilities

• Build and nurture an environment of performance and engagement.   ​
• Serve as a steward of the organization's culture by accelerating the development of others through coaching, mentorship, and skill-building.
• Partner with HR and other senior leaders to ensure strong bench strength (i.e., succession and strategic workforce planning). *​
• Develop and implement strategies to attract, retain, motivate, and develop talent. ​
• Implement strategies to continually raise performance expectations in the organization. ​
• Guide your team through difficult issues related to people leadership (e.g., performance management, termination, etc.) in compliance with applicable HR and labor laws. ​

Client and Market Accountabilities

• Actively identify opportunities for expansion, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, and pivotal hires.
• Contribute to the growth and maintenance of client relationships. ​
• Anticipate changes in the marketplace and identify opportunities for SWCA to expand services and offerings.
• Proposes new directions to leadership and/or executes them within their areas of responsibility. ​
• Serve as an externally facing representative of the organization for their geographic area of responsibility. ​
• Maintain awareness of emerging market trends and craft/align the business plan accordingly.

Experience and qualifications for success

• Bachelor's degree in a field related to the environmental services that SWCA generally provides, including (but not limited to) biology, archaeology, anthropology, planning, environmental regulatory compliance, GIS, hydrology, and other environmental and planning fields.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience providing environmental consulting services and/or management of professional services operations with increasing responsibility.
• Proven track record of implementing innovative solutions to obtain necessary critical resources to drive business success (i.e., personnel, budget, thought leadership, etc.).
• Experience recognizing and capitalizing on market trends to achieve business growth. ​
• Prior support in the creation and implementation of strategic plans. ​
• Solid understanding of the corporate structure and office/business financials. ​
• Proven experience contributing to the development and execution of business plans. ​
• Consistent track record of making tough business decisions that result in positive outcomes. ​
• Extensive experience working across regions or markets, showing an enterprise-wide perspective. ​
• Demonstrated success directing and/or managing large projects as a project or contract manager. ​
• Experience effectively helping the organization to manage risk in agreements and projects. ​
• Consistent track record of generating productive outcomes amid conflict. ​
• Leadership experience of diverse teams of people to achieve goals in a fast-paced, multidisciplinary, and highly complex environment. ​
• Experience leading a team through a successful transformation or substantial organizational change. ​
• Demonstrated track record of setting and monitoring individual and team performance metrics. ​
• Proven track record of developing high-performing individuals and addressing under-performance.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree or above in a field related to the environmental services that SWCA generally provides, including (but not limited to) the disciplines of biology, archaeology, anthropology, planning, environmental regulatory compliance, GIS, hydrology, and other environmental and planning fields; and/or a Master's degree in Business Administration, with an emphasis on strategic planning and operations management.

Additional Information:

• Ability to travel as needed, for an estimated 20% of the time.
• The successful candidate must commit to living within the footprint of SWCA’s Gulf Coast subregion

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 application process, please email accomodations@swca.com or call 480-581-5378. This contact information is for accommodation requests only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of application

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 within the Gulf Coast sub-region can expect a salary of $163,800/year to $231,504/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.

SWCA is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans to apply.

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