Director of Civil Engineering - West Region

Description

In this role, you will work with the Engineering Director to provide strategic leadership and operational oversight for our West region engineering teams, driving innovation in sustainable transportation design while fostering a culture of collaboration, professional growth, and excellence. You will be responsible for setting technical and strategic direction for engineering initiatives across our West region of offices, which include Oakland, Portland, Los Angeles, Seattle, Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno ensuring our projects create positive impacts on communities nationwide while meeting financial and operational performance standards.

As West Regional Director of Engineering, you will be the strategic leader responsible for driving engineering excellence and organizational growth across our western operations while collaborating with other regional directors to help lead the engineering practice as a whole. Your leadership will directly impact the success of our mission to create active, healthy communities, while ensuring strong financial performance and operational excellence.

• Maintain staff utilization at or above predetermined goals while ensuring sustainable workload management
• Oversee financial and operational performance of projects within the West Region, maintaining close oversight of project managers and their performance relative to plan while delegating effectively
• Lead the regional engineering organization through periods of growth and change, ensuring operational excellence and cultural alignment
• Oversee project delivery across the region, ensuring quality, schedule, and budget performance delivering projects on-time and on-budget
• Recruit, hire, and retain top engineering talent to support regional growth objectives, maintaining forward-looking hiring plans to fill open roles efficiently
• Build and maintain a high-performance culture focused on professional growth, collaboration, and technical excellence
• Maintain and expand relationships with key public sector clients
• Develop and execute long-term strategic plans for the West region engineering practice, aligning with company-wide objectives and market opportunities
• Champion innovation in active transportation engineering practices and emerging technologies
• Implement best practices and process improvements to enhance delivery efficiency and client satisfaction
• Lead proposal development and client presentations for major regional projects
• Provide strategic oversight of project portfolios ranging from natural surface trails to complex multimodal transportation networks
• Assist regional business development directors in identifying new market opportunities and client relationships
• Apply disciplined approach to managing non-billable labor and overhead costs
• Ensure the West Region meets or exceeds annual and quarterly financial targets, with strong emphasis on achieving Net Service Revenue and EBITDA growth
• Ensure compliance with proposal and cost estimation protocols to maintain financial and delivery integrity
• Foster cross-disciplinary collaboration and knowledge sharing across engineering, planning, landscape architecture, and other practice areas
• Ensure compliance with professional standards, regulations, and company quality assurance protocols
• Play an active role in the budgeting process, including prioritization of trade-offs to grow both revenue and earnings
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of engineering professionals, project managers, and technical staff across multiple office locations
• Supervise and evaluate West Region staff, creating clear performance expectations, providing regular feedback, and establishing pathways for career advancement

Requirements

• Mentoring and coaching experience with engineering professionals
• Background in active, sustainable, multimodal transportation
• Proven ability to drive cultural change and organizational development initiatives
• Ability and willingness to travel regionally as needed
• Working knowledge of MS Excel, Word, MS Project, AutoCAD / Civil 3D or MicroStation / OpenRoads, and enterprise project management tools
• Critical thinking abilities with purposeful judgment and reasoned consideration of evidence, context, and objectives
• Own key performance areas including safety, client engagement, staff development and retention, and cross-business collaboration
• Strong professional ethics, accountability, and decision-making capabilities
• Proven track record of business development success and client relationship management
• Master's degree in Civil Engineering, Business Administration, or related field
• Experience leading large, complex transportation engineering projects
• 5+ years in leadership positions managing engineering teams and business operations
• Proficiency in project management principles, methods, and techniques for large-scale, multi-disciplinary projects
• 8+ years in project management roles with demonstrated P&L responsibility
• Experience leading cross-functional, multi-disciplinary project teams
• Demonstrate deep understanding of financial metrics and KPIs including book-to-burn ratio, revenue factor, and overhead rate
• Financial acumen with ability to analyze business performance and articulate relevant KPIs, financial metrics, and levers of growth and profit
• Strong command of numbers and finance, with a bias toward data-driven decision making
• Budget prioritization skills with experience evaluating trade-offs to optimize both revenue and earnings in a professional services environment
• Experience managing regional operations, including budget oversight, resource allocation, and performance metrics
• Experience managing competing priorities and multiple simultaneous projects within budget and schedule constraints
• Attention to detail with focus on monitoring KPIs and understanding that long-term success is driven by daily execution
• Demonstrated ability to lead, inspire, and develop high-performing teams in a professional services environment
• Experience with Plans, Specifications and Estimates packages for complex roadway and transportation projects
• Experience with Deltek VantagePoint or similar enterprise resource planning systems
• Comprehensive understanding of project delivery from conceptual design through construction administration
• Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills with ability to influence at all organizational levels
• Experience in active, non-motorized transportation planning and design
• 15+ years of progressive experience as a Transportation Engineer in consulting environment or public entity
• Professional Engineering (P.E.) license required
• Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering
• Strong strategic thinking and business acumen with experience in organizational planning and execution

Benefits

The pay range for this job in Oakland is $175,000-$215,000 annually. Placement within the range is based upon experience, skill-sets, and qualifications.

Flexible Schedule

Alta offers a flexible, hybrid work schedule where most employees work from home three days per week. In-office days support our collaborative culture, one of our core values.

• Additional Benefits: Wellness reimbursement up to $800 annually, Alta Gets Around benefit of up to $900 annually, 5-year travel award, and professional development opportunities
• Medical: PPO or HSA medical plans
• Life Insurance: Alta pays 100% of the premium for life and AD&D, equal to your base compensation
• Holidays: 11 total company paid holidays
• PTO: 21 days accrued annually to start
• 401(k): Alta provides a match up to 3%
• Paid Parental Leave/Short-Term Disability

Training + Development

Interview process

Visa Sponsorship

Security clearance