Water Resources Consultant​/Business Builder – Senior Level; Hybrid

The role – what you’ll do

Barr is seeking a senior consultant and business builder to lead Barr’s growth in the Des Moines and central Iowa market. This person will build lasting client relationships, develop new work, and help grow Barr’s Des Moines office and broader presence in Iowa. In this role, you will lead business development activities in Des Moines and surrounding areas; conduct marketing, secure projects, serve clients, and collaborate across Barr to build multidisciplinary project teams that best serve client needs;

and provide senior technical, project, and client leadership for a diverse range of projects. In short, you will be a senior seller-doer with the opportunity to help shape Barr’s long-term presence in Iowa. You will establish and grow Barr’s local and statewide presence through business development opportunities, client relationship development, brand building, industry engagement, strategic partnership development, and coordination of local market initiatives across Barr market sectors and focus service areas.

The person in this position will work in close partnership with a senior Des Moines-based staff member who provides leadership focused on internal office development, staff integration, and staff connectivity. Together, they will provide coordinated leadership for the Des Moines office, balancing external market and business development with the internal needs of the office and its staff. The ideal candidate will demonstrate success in growth strategy, client development and retention, opportunity positioning and pursuits, proposal development, reputation building, and successful project delivery.

The position also requires strong technical and project leadership, effective interpersonal and communication skills, senior-level collaboration and people leadership experience, and the initiative to work effectively in Barr’s collaborative and self‑directed environment.

• Business development leadership: develop strategic growth plans; manage and grow client relationships; lead business development efforts; support project positioning, proposal development, brand positioning, communications strategy, teaming partner development, support recruitment planning, and industry engagement to expand market presence and build high‑performing regional teams.
• Industry leadership: represent Barr through client engagement, conference participation, professional organization involvement, thought leadership, and other activities that strengthen Barr’s reputation in Iowa.
• Help shape Barr’s long‑term growth strategy across Iowa by identifying priority markets, service opportunities, strategic partnerships, and future staffing needs that support sustainable office expansion.
• Collaborative office leadership: partner closely with a senior Des Moines‑based staff member to align market‑development activities with internal office needs, staff integration, recruiting coordination, and local office culture.
• Strategic hiring and team‑building input: provide input regarding future team composition, strategic hires, technical capabilities, and business development needs required to support market growth.
• Technical knowledge: bring multi‑disciplinary design team experience with an emphasis on water resources challenges such as site hydrology, grading and drainage, stormwater BMPs, green infrastructure, water‑quality focused design, urban stormwater projects, stream restoration, and related design and modeling software. Collaborate with water resources engineers on hydrologic and hydraulic analyses, flood risk management, water quality modeling, and lake, river, and natural resources management topics.
• Project and task management: assist with planning,…