Business Group Director-Engineering, Hydrology & Design-Southeast Region

Environmental Science Associates (ESA) seeks an experienced engineering business leader to guide and grow our established Southeast team of engineers and licensed professionals in Environmental Hydrology and Design (EH&D). Working with the Regional Director, you will build, develop, and lead a high-performing engineering business group and be accountable for its operational and financial performance. You will develop people, expand client relationships, and guide delivery of multi-benefit projects that restore ecosystems and help communities manage flooding and changing coastal environments. This role can be based in a hybrid arrangement from ESA’s Tampa, Orlando, Boynton Beach, Sarasota, or Pensacola offices. We are also open to remote candidates in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

You are an engineering or environmental design leader with demonstrated experience managing a consulting business unit. You enjoy developing people, building client relationships, and converting project acquisitions into work the team can deliver successfully. You use business data to guide staffing, utilization, pricing, and financial performance, address problems early, and hold project managers accountable while helping them succeed.

You are approachable, decisive, and generous with your knowledge. You bring the technical judgment to guide complex work, mentor future leaders, welcome different perspectives, and protect the trust and employee-owner engagement that make growth sustainable.

• A bachelor’s degree in engineering, hydrology, landscape architecture, or a related field.
• At least 15 years of relevant professional experience, including at least five years leading a business group or equivalent team with responsibility for people, project delivery, and business performance.
• A demonstrated record of managing staff workshare and utilization, reviewing scopes and fees, aligning staffing and pricing with delivery needs, and achieving project multiplier and profitability goals.
• Demonstrated success winning and retaining clients, developing strategic capture plans, and leading proposals.
• Managing projects and coaching project managers in financial performance.
• Technical depth in engineering, hydrology, coastal and/or freshwater habitat restoration design, geomorphology, or a related field, with the ability to lead specialists across disciplines and connect engineering decisions with ecological function, community needs, and implementation costs.
• Experience guiding complex engineering design projects from concept through final design and construction support, including coordination of technical studies, design plans, specifications, cost estimates, and permitting.

• Professional licensure or registration in Florida appropriate to your discipline.
• Strong Southeast client and teaming relationships.
• Experience reviewing RFPs, scopes of work, and client contracts to identify project or contract risk.
• A master’s degree in a relevant field.
• Experience with nature-based solutions, coastal hazards, or flood and stormwater management, the Gulf Coast, the Atlantic Southeast including USVI and Puerto Rico, or the Mid-Atlantic.
• Experience taking complex design projects from concept through final design and construction support; guiding technical review, coordinating geotechnical, structural, hydraulic, and coastal specialists, and connecting engineering decisions with ecological function, community needs, and implementation costs.

Coastal engineering, restoration, and resilience are priorities for ESA’s growth in the Southeast. You will guide an established team through its next stage of growth, strengthen technical and project management depth, and pursue new opportunities with the support of existing client relationships, ESA’s national market leaders, and our firm-wide EH&D practice.

Florida is the foundation for this growth, with opportunities extending into Georgia, the Carolinas, Texas, and the wider Gulf Coast. Your group will connect engineering design with biological resources, aquatic sciences, water quality, quantitative ecology, environmental planning, and permitting specialists. Together, these services support municipal and water infrastructure, transportation, energy and aviation projects, and coastal resilience, adaptation and restoration programs.

You will work with the Regional Director and firm-wide EH&D practice leader to set priorities and align staffing with demand. The opportunity is to help an experienced team advance, add complementary talent, and grow a durable business within a 100% employee-owned firm that values technical excellence, long-term client relationships, and a collaborative culture.

Working closely with the Regional Director, you will manage day-to-day operations and financial performance of the engineering business group. Success in this role requires hands-on business management and a consistent operating rhythm with project managers and team leaders.

• Translate the annual business plan into operating budgets, revenue and profitability goals, utilization targets, and staffing priorities. Review results and forecasts with the Regional Director and lead corrective action.
• Direct workshare across the team and coordinate assignments with other ESA groups and regions. Match workload to staff capabilities, availability, project budgets, and development needs; resolve competing demands and address capacity gaps before they affect delivery.
• Maintain individual and group utilization through regular workload and backlog reviews. Anticipate gaps and overcommitments, rebalance assignments, and align recruitment, subcontracting, and cross-regional support with realistic demand.
• Review scopes of work and fee proposals before submission. Confirm that tasks, deliverables, assumptions, exclusions, schedules, staffing, subconsultant costs, and quality review effort support a realistic and profitable delivery plan.
• Review proposed billing rates, labor mix, and fee structures to achieve target project multipliers and margins. Monitor realized performance as work proceeds, address the effects of discounts, write-offs, or staffing changes, and elevate pricing exceptions through ESA’s approval process.
• Support business review of client and subconsultant contracts with the Regional Director and ESA’s contracts and risk specialists. Evaluate scope obligations, compensation, payment terms, schedule commitments, and exposure; resolve concerns through the appropriate review and approval channels before commitments are made.
• Oversee regular financial reviews with project managers addressing budgets, progress, estimates to complete, earned revenue, project multipliers, and forecast margins. Partner with finance staff on timely billing, unbilled work, and collections, and follow through on actions needed to protect project performance and cash flow.
• Develop project managers’ business skills and establish accountability for staffing plans, financial forecasts, scope control, and client commitments through consistent reviews and coaching.

• Ensure that ESA’s QA/QC policies and procedures are implemented at the project and group levels in collaboration with the Chief Engineer and the firm-wide QC team, with engineering review provided by appropriately licensed professionals.
• Guide multidisciplinary coordination from early planning through implementation, connecting engineering design with environmental science, planning, and regulatory expertise. Coordinate geotechnical, structural, hydraulic, coastal, and other specialists as needed.
• Serve as Project Director or senior technical advisor on strategic and complex assignments, and as Project Manager where appropriate, while maintaining responsibility for group performance and growth.

• • Develop and implement the group’s strategic and annual business plans with regional and practice leadership. Set priorities for markets, services, staffing, and financial performance, with a focus on coastal resilience, restoration, and flood and stormwater management.
  • Grow a sustainable backlog through existing ESA relationships and new clients. Lead priority pursuits with municipalities, water agencies, infrastructure owners, and architecture and engineering partners. Strengthen partnerships that connect ESA’s specialized services to larger infrastructure programs.

• • Support and develop the existing team, strengthen project management and technical leadership, and recruit complementary specialists as the business grows. Expand local delivery capacity in target markets and coordinate with national EH&D colleagues to bring the right expertise to regional assignments.
  • Align work assignments with client commitments and professional development. Mentor staff, support knowledge sharing, and maintain a respectful, inclusive team culture as the group expands.

• • Serve as Project Director or senior technical advisor on strategic assignments. Guide quality reviews and multidisciplinary coordination from early planning through implementation, with engineering review provided by appropriately licensed professionals.
  • Collaborate with the Senior Principal Engineer, other business group directors, and practice leaders to apply ESA’s quality standards and connect regional engineering work with environmental science, planning, and regulatory expertise.

Our Southeast teams combine engineering, natural systems expertise, and nature-based solutions on projects such as:

• Fowl River Shoreline and Marsh Stabilization and Restoration in Alabama, using thin-layer placement of dredged material, timber wave screens, and nature-based designs to stabilize shorelines and restore marsh spit habitat.
• Rock Creek Ponds Ecosystem Restoration in Hillsborough County, Florida, integrating restoration planning, permitting, engineering plans, and construction support to restore agricultural lands to coastal wetlands, including freshwater marsh, saltern, and mangrove tidal creek habitats.
• Philippe Park Living Shoreline in Safety Harbor, Florida, combining results from ESA’s coastal conditions analysis, nature-based shoreline stabilization design, permitting, and construction monitoring to reduce erosion and enhance oyster and mangrove habitat.

What’s Special About ESA

Joining ESA means becoming part of a close-knit team of environmental professionals who contribute to outstanding projects, improve environmental stewardship, and advance a more sustainable and resilient future for our communities and wild places.

At ESA, we provide benefits such as medical, dental, and vision insurance (paid at 70% for you AND your family), annual allocations of company share through our ESOP, a 401(k) plan with company match, and paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays, to name a few.

We also provide specific programs whether you want to further your technical expertise, sharpen your business acumen, or help lead the next generation of employee-owners. We want to support you in reaching your career goals through tuition reimbursement, professional development bonuses, and attendance at conferences.

• Full name
• The best method to contact you (phone number and/or email address)
• Title of Job Position Applied
• Description of your accommodation request

ESA is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to a diverse and inclusive work environment. (EOE M/V/F/D)