Area Structural Business Class Lead

About the Role

The Area Structural Business Class Lead, based in downtown Chicago, will direct the Nebraska/Iowa structural engineering team, champion technical excellence, and drive staff recruitment and development. This role collaborates with market‑sector leaders, engages clients and stakeholders, and contributes to marketing, proposals, and thought leadership within the engineering and architecture community. • Lead the Nebraska/Iowa structural engineering team, emphasizing technical excellence, quality, recruiting, and staff development. • Partner with market‑sector leaders to ensure excellence across commercial, civic, industrial, federal, water, transportation, healthcare, education, laboratory, and mission‑critical projects. • Engage clients and community stakeholders to understand project needs and build relationships. • Contribute to marketing, planning, proposal development, and interview processes in key markets. • Promote HDR’s structural engineering practice through conferences, academic collaborations, and client outreach. • Serve as design lead or engineering project manager on major projects when required. • Build and sustain a leadership team responsible for staff development, technical improvement, profitability, morale, and quality control. • Oversee proactive staff management to plan, organize, control, check, and evaluate all work. • Implement, monitor, and support company policies across the structural work group. • Collaborate with business class directors, operations managers, technical directors, and marketing managers on business initiatives. • Encourage and participate in work‑sharing and practice development with HDR’s nationwide structural engineering network.

Key Responsibilities

• ▸team leadership
• ▸technical excellence
• ▸client engagement
• ▸design lead
• ▸project management
• ▸practice development

What You Bring

Candidates must hold a bachelor’s degree in architecture, engineering, or a related field, possess at least ten years of experience, and maintain a professional registration. They should demonstrate a track record of leading diverse teams, commitment to quality and HDR values, and a proactive, employee‑owned culture mindset. • Maintain a professional or engineering registration and demonstrate ten or more years of relevant experience.

Requirements

• ▸professional registration
• ▸10+ years
• ▸bachelor's degree
• ▸architecture
• ▸engineering
• ▸team leadership

Benefits

At HDR, employee‑owners cultivate a welcoming, inclusive environment where individuals are valued, respected, and encouraged to bring their authentic selves and innovative ideas to work each day. The company emphasizes its impact on the world through a culture of inclusion both internally and in the communities it serves.

Work Environment

Office Full-Time