West Tunnel Practice Lead

Central / West Tunnel Practice Lead

Company: HDR

We are looking for an experienced professional to lead our trenchless and tunnel practice across the Central and West regions. This role will oversee hydraulic tunnel engineering, manage complex infrastructure projects, and drive the technical and strategic direction of the practice.

• Primary Responsibilities
  • Direct involvement and oversight on select projects to manage tunnel related services.
  • Advising on and review of alternatives analyses and feasibility studies related to tunnels.
  • Risk Management and risk awareness of the WBG tunneling portfolio.
  • Subconsultant vetting and working with teams for subconsultant risk management including required Quality Assurance activities and scope provisions.
  • Assessment and enhancement of HDR’s capabilities regarding tunnel construction and trenchless technologies including expertise with Sequential Excavation Method (SEM) and the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM).
  • Collaboration with HDR’s WBG Tunnel Practice Lead and Geotechnical Cross Sector.
  • Verify qualifications and training of field staff assigned to construction phase services related to tunnels.
• Secondary Responsibilities
  • Cost Engineering support.
  • Skills and bench-depth management for tunnel instrumentation, mechanical, civil, and mechanical consulting and design support for projects.
  • Assessing terrestrial and marine construction capabilities.
  • Numerical modeling to support tunnel projects including modeling of ground/structure interaction and underpinning of buildings and utilities.
  • Technologies for coordination/production of design (calculations), design products, and contract documents.
  • Site characterization and geotechnical evaluations.
  • Construction Engineering support.
  • Inspections and Condition Assessments.
  • Resiliency, operations, and emergency response issues.

• Master’s degree.
• Ability to communicate and coordinate work within an integrated multidisciplinary team.
• Applicable experience in U.S. focused tunneling design and construction, leading the design and construction of tunnels and underground facilities for major projects.
• Experience in rock mechanics, soil mechanics, and geotechnical engineering across wide varieties of ground conditions.
• Familiarity with techniques such as SEM, NATM, SCL, EPBM, and cut-and-cover.
• Track record of industry-facing publication and presentation of technical papers and active participation in professional organizations.
• Ph.D. in engineering or related field.
• Previous experience managing staff, clients, and contracts, and hiring staff for an engineering consulting firm.
• Excellent marketing and business development skills with contacts/relationships in the discipline.
• Experience in numerical analysis such as FLAC, UDEC, PHASES2, PLAXIS 2D & 3D, MIDAS GTS, MODFLOW, etc.
• Ground-structure-interaction modelling (FEM or similar).
• Experience in large‑scale underground projects, urban tunneling, and tunnel rehabilitation.
• Prior working experience in construction or working for a contractor.
• Robust interpersonal skills and professional demeanor appropriate for interacting with clients, other design professionals, and colleagues.

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering.
• 10 years related experience.
• A minimum of 5 years project management experience.
• Requires a professional engineering license recognized by the licensing board for the location of the position offered (Example:
  Professional Engineer (PE or P.Eng) license).
• MS Office and MS Project experience (Access experience would be plus).
• Demonstrated leadership, business development and strategic planning skills.
• Attitude and commitment to being an active participant of our employee‑owned culture is a must.

HDR offers a comprehensive benefits package that promotes employee ownership, health, performance, and success. Benefits include medical, dental, vision, short‑term and long‑term disability, life insurance, an employee assistance program, paid time away, parental leave, paid holidays, a retirement savings plan with employer match, employee referral bonus, tuition reimbursement, and more. The expected compensation range for this position…