Director of Water Resources

Director of Water Resources

Department: Civil/Municipal

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Jackson, MS

Waggoner Engineering, Inc. is seeking a Director of Water Resources to play a key leadership role in our established and expanding Water Resources practice, recognized for delivering high-quality, innovative solutions. This position offers an exciting opportunity for a motivated leader to shape and expand a discipline that serves multiple markets and consistently delivers innovative, resilient, and community-focused solutions across the region.

• Base Salary: Competitive, commensurate with experience
• Signing Bonus: You will receive a one-time signing bonus of $10,000
  , payable within 30 days of your start date.
• Clawback Provision: If you voluntarily resign or are terminated for cause within 12 months of your start date, you agree to repay the signing bonus in full.

We are seeking a forward-thinking professional who is energized by growth, thrives in a collaborative environment, and is motivated to make a meaningful impact for our clients, our communities, and our internal team.

Following are the essential functions of the position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

• Provide strategic leadership for Waggoner’s Water Resources discipline, including watershed planning, stormwater engineering, H&H modeling, and flood mitigation services.
• Lead business development efforts by identifying opportunities, pursuing key clients, preparing proposals, and serving as a trusted advisor to municipalities, counties, state agencies, and private clients.
• Oversee delivery of high-quality, technically sound projects, ensuring strong QA/QC, innovative solutions, and on-time, on-budget performance.
• Offer senior-level technical guidance on hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, watershed studies, stormwater systems, drainage analysis, and FEMA/NFIP-related work.
• Mentor, motivate, and grow a team of engineers and project managers, fostering a collaborative, high-performing culture across multiple locations.
• Manage discipline performance, including staffing, utilization, backlog, profitability, and resource planning.
• Coordinate closely with other service areas including Water, Wastewater, Transportation, Environmental, and GIS to support integrated project delivery and strategic pursuits. Represent the Water Resources discipline in leadership discussions, contributing to firmwide strategy, innovation, and growth initiatives.

This position has supervisory responsibility for a technical team that includes engineers, designers/technicians, and/or watershed planners.

This job generally operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.

This is a full-time position. May require long hours and some weekend work.

Travel is primarily local during the business day, although some projects and initiatives may require more out-of-the-area and overnight travel.

• Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering, or a related field is required.

• Licensure as a Professional Engineer (PE); (if not licensed in Mississippi, the ability to do so within six months).
• Licensure or ability to obtain licensure as a PE in other states where Waggoner practices, within a reasonable timeframe.
• Certifications applicable to civil engineering, hydrology and hydraulics desired (e.g. CPESC, CFM).

• Ten years of professional engineering experience in water resources, stormwater management, and/or watershed planning.
• Knowledge of and experience in watershed-based planning, H&H modeling, and stormwater design.
• Proven success managing and completing complex projects for local, state, and federal clients.
• Experience leading and managing engineering teams, including staff development and coordination.
• Successful track record in business development, including identifying opportunities, leading pursuits, and developing winning proposals.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to present complex concepts to clients, stakeholders, and non-technical audiences.
• Knowledge of programmatic and regulatory state and federal agency interests and requirements related to water resources (e.g., USACE, NRCS, EPA, USGS, FEMA) and ability to connect to relevant client initiatives and priorities.
• Working knowledge of H&H modeling tools, GIS platforms, and design software, with the ability to identify the appropriate approaches and tools for specific project applications.
• Strong problem-solving abilities with a focus on creative, resilient, and data-driven solutions.

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