Cultural Resources Section Manager

Burns & McDonnell's Environmental Services Global Practice is seeking an experienced Cultural Resources Lab Manager to oversee cultural resources laboratory operations in Kansas City while managing a diverse portfolio of cultural resources, archaeological, and interdisciplinary environmental projects throughout the Midwest and across the United States.

This position combines people leadership, laboratory management, technical oversight, and project management responsibilities. The successful candidate will develop and mentor high-performing teams, oversee laboratory operations, manage cultural resources and environmental projects, and serve as a senior technical resource for clients and project teams.

The ideal candidate is an experienced cultural resources professional with demonstrated success leading laboratory operations, supervising technical staff, managing and delivering complex projects, and building client relationships. This individual will play a key leadership role in advancing Burns & McDonnell's Environmental Services practice while exemplifying our core values of safety, client satisfaction, integrity, commitment, and employee ownership.

Primary Responsibilities

• Lead daily operations of the Cultural Resources Laboratory in Kansas City.

• Supervise, mentor, and develop laboratory staff, archaeologists, technicians, and support personnel.

• Recruit, train, retain, and develop technical staff to support continued growth.

• Manage staffing, workload, utilization, and resource assignments to meet project schedules and financial goals.

• Improve laboratory workflows, artifact processing procedures, quality assurance practices, and operational efficiency.

• Ensure compliance with company safety policies, quality standards, and laboratory procedures.

• Support implementation of Environmental Services initiatives and continuous improvement efforts.

• Serve as Project Manager for cultural resources, archaeological, and interdisciplinary environmental projects.

• Manage projects from proposal through closeout, including scope development, budgeting, scheduling, staffing, client communication, contract administration, change management, billing, and financial performance.

• Oversee laboratory analysis, reporting, and technical deliverables.

• Understand curation practices and principles and oversee preparation of collections to repository standards. 

• Interpret and apply federal, state, and local historic preservation regulations, including the National Historic Preservation Act (Section 106), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA), and Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

• Coordinate with State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs/THPOs), federal agencies, and other regulatory agencies.

• Conduct technical and quality reviews while maintaining a high standard of technical excellence across laboratory and project work.