Principal Geospatial Sciences Program Lead - North Region

About the opportunity

SWCA Environmental Consultants is seeking an experienced and strategic Principal Geospatial Sciences Program Lead to oversee GIS professionals, services, and projects across the North region. This full-time, regular (with benefits), salaried, and exempt position offers flexibility for remote or hybrid work. However, it is strongly preferred that applicants be located within SWCA’s North region and preferability in proximity to one of our offices in Denver, Sheridan, Bismark, Minneapolis, Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburg, Philadelphia, Amherst, or Boston.

As Principal Geospatial Sciences Program Lead, you will provide leadership to a large, distributed GIS workforce, driving the implementation of goals and strategies that advance our geospatial services, technology adoption, and project excellence. You will collaborate closely with operations and technology leaders, manage strategic projects, and ensure the delivery of high-quality GIS products and solutions. This role is ideal for a seasoned GIS professional who excels at building strong teams, fostering innovation, and promoting best practices in geospatial science.

Final date to receive applications:
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, and interviews may be scheduled as qualified candidates are identified. This position may close without prior notice once a strong candidate pool is established.

• Builds, develops, and leads diverse teams, typically within the discipline. This includes recruiting top talent, facilitating professional growth, managing performance evaluations, and ensuring team members are engaged, productive, and collaboratively working towards common goals.
• Institutes and upholds rigorous quality assurance and control standards to ensure all project deliverables meet SWCA's quality standards. Simultaneously, ensures strict adherence to safety policies and procedures, safeguarding the team's welfare and compliance with regulatory requirements.
• Actively contributes to the business unit strategic planning and business development efforts while maintaining transparent and effective communication with all stakeholders. This involves identifying and seizing opportunities for business enhancement, risk management, and regular engagement with clients and team members to align expectations and project objectives.
• Innovates by designing and implementing advanced geospatial applications, tools, and methodologies to address complex business challenges and enhance project outcomes.
• Oversees projects and communicates regularly with clients and internal teams to manage expectations, effectively handling client relations and internal coordination to ensure project success and stakeholder satisfaction.
• Establishes and grows effective consulting relationships with internal clients to support successful projects, and to coordinate initiatives and programs for the discipline (gathering feedback and implementing changes).
• Follows applicable federal, Tribal, state, local, industry, contractual, and company regulations, standards, and specifications.
• Performs related work as assigned.

• Provide leadership to a large, distributed team of GIS professionals, working with the Director of GIS to set and implement strategic goals for the North region.
• Ensure consistent, high-quality GIS deliverables, serving as senior technical reviewer for major projects.
• Coordinate inter-office workloads and foster positive relationships across teams to promote collaboration, engagement, and efficiency.
• Collaborate with regional and corporate leadership to balance workloads and maintain quality standards.
• Monitor productivity metrics, anticipate workload fluctuations, and ensure optimal resource allocation.
• Manage large, strategic projects and serve as a GIS advisor to project managers and stakeholders.
• Promote GIS services internally and externally, representing SWCA’s capabilities to clients and partners.
• Represent the Technology team within regional leadership, advocating for geospatial needs and priorities.
• Troubleshoot GIS issues, gather user feedback, and implement improvements to enhance service delivery.
• Collaborate on Esri software releases, training, and requirements to ensure staff proficiency and technology optimization.
• Work with technical leaders to establish and promote best practices for GIS data collection, analysis, mapping, and reporting.
• Communicate geospatial solutions and needs for budget planning,…