Director of Water Resources — Hybrid Leadership & Impact

Compensation: $160,000 - $180,000 / year

Department: Civil/Municipal

Location: Jackson, MS

Compensation: $160,000 - $180,000 / year

Description

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.

Compensation & Benefits:

• 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.

Typical Responsibilities/Essential Functions

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.

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

Work Environment
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.

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work
This is a full-time position. May require long hours and some weekend work.

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

What you'll need

Required Education

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

Required Licensures and Certifications

• 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).

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