Business Group Director-Engineering, Hydrology & Design-Southeast Region

Tampa, Florida, United States

Environmental Science Associates (ESA) is a 100% employee‑owned environmental consulting firm. We plan, design, permit, mitigate, and restore for projects across our communities, infrastructure systems, open spaces, and wildlands. We are 50 years strong in 21 offices across California, the Pacific Northwest, and the southeastern United States.

Environmental Science Associates (ESA) seeks an experienced engineering business leader to guide and grow our established Southeast team of engineers and licensed professionals in Environmental Hydrology and Design (EH&D). Working with the Regional Director, you will build, develop, and lead a high‑performing engineering business group and be accountable for its operational and financial performance. You will develop people, expand client relationships, and guide delivery of multi‑benefit projects that restore ecosystems and help communities manage flooding and changing coastal environments.

This role can be based in a hybrid arrangement from ESA’s Tampa, Orlando, Boynton Beach, Sarasota, or Pensacola offices. We are also open to remote candidates in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

You are an engineering or environmental design leader with demonstrated experience managing a consulting business unit. You enjoy developing people, building client relationships, and converting project acquisitions into work the team can deliver successfully. You use business data to guide staffing, utilization, pricing, and financial performance, address problems early, and hold project managers accountable while helping them succeed.

You are approachable, decisive, and generous with your knowledge. You bring the technical judgment to guide complex work, mentor future leaders, welcome different perspectives, and protect the trust and employee‑owner engagement that make growth sustainable.

• A bachelor’s degree in engineering, hydrology, landscape architecture, or a related field.
• At least 15 years of relevant professional experience, including at least five years leading a business group or equivalent team with responsibility for people, project delivery, and business performance.
• A demonstrated record of managing staff workshare and utilization, reviewing scopes and fees, aligning staffing and pricing with delivery needs, and achieving project multiplier and profitability goals.
• Demonstrated success winning and retaining clients, developing strategic capture plans, and leading proposals.
• Managing projects and coaching project managers in financial performance.
• Technical depth in engineering, hydrology, coastal and/or freshwater habitat restoration design, geomorphology, or a related field, with the ability to lead specialists across disciplines and connect engineering decisions with ecological function, community needs, and implementation costs.
• Experience guiding complex engineering design projects from concept through final design and construction support, including coordination of technical studies, design plans, specifications, cost estimates, and permitting.
• Professional licensure or registration in Florida appropriate to your discipline.
• Strong Southeast client and teaming relationships.
• Experience reviewing RFPs, scopes of work, and client contracts to identify project or contract risk.
• A master’s degree in a relevant field.
• Experience with nature‑based solutions, coastal hazards, or flood and stormwater management, the Gulf Coast, the Atlantic Southeast including USVI and Puerto Rico, or the Mid‑Atlantic.
• Experience taking complex design projects from concept through final design and…