Market Vice President - Water + Environment Market

Take your career to the next level with Gresham Smith!

Our Water Environment (W E) market follows a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates the combined expertise of civil and environmental engineers, from maintaining clean drinking water and treating wastewater to managing stormwater, we invite you to join us in designing solutions that improve essential infrastructure to keep communities healthy and thriving.

Consistently ranked as the Top 10 Engineering Architecture Firms by Building Design Construction, Gresham Smith is a growing architectural, engineering, and program management firm with 26 offices throughout the United States. Join us and you’ll work on dynamic and diverse projects!

You’ll see firsthand our commitment to our employees recognized by our “Best Place to Work” awards.

We are seeking a Market Vice President (MVP) to lead our award-winning Water Environment Practice. The MVP provides leadership to ensure the Water Environment (W E) market operations and project delivery outcomes successfully meet the goals of the firm’s strategic plan. The MVP is responsible for meeting the business plan through leadership in providing quality services, professional development of market staff, and maintenance of client satisfaction.

Key Responsibilities:

Management and Leadership

• Provide direction and supervision to ensure effective management of the W E market and its employees including workload versus capacity, project performance, staffing and personnel matters, and administrative issues.
• Follow the firm’s policies and procedures and utilize appropriate systems to track, measure, and take corrective action as required.
• Supervise directly or indirectly the various department/location leaders in the W E market and the operational functions of those departments.
• Ensure there are sufficient resources in place to operate effectively and efficiently to meet the operational metrics of the market.
• Collaborate with Directors and leadership team members in IT, HR (including the HR Partners), Accounting, Risk Management, Marketing, and Corporate Communications to leverage the corporate services functions to the market.
• Model the core values and promote the Gresham Smith culture of excellence.
• Foster an inclusive workplace where diversity and individual differences are valued and leveraged to achieve the vision and mission of the firm.
• Communicate with frequency and transparency to engage and retain talent.
• Supervise directly or indirectly the Project Executives (PXs) within the market. Solicit feedback from the Executive Vice President (EVP) on PX performance, methods, and effectiveness, and progress toward tactical plans for use with continuous feedback and performance management.
• Support the Gresham Smith Way to Win process and monitor its application to key pursuits within the market.
• Engage and support the PXs by providing the resources necessary for them to execute their tactical plans.

Project Execution

• Ensure that high-quality project management and technical skillsets are applied to projects utilizing the Gresham Smith “Roles and Responsibilities.” Every project will follow a rigorous quality control and management process as the means to maintain the firm’s high reputation for excellent work.
• Ensure a project plan is employed on every project and use periodic project reviews as a means of exerting management oversight on significant projects. Hold yourself and others accountable for measurable high‐quality, timely, and cost‐effective results following Gresham Smith policies and procedures.

Talent Management and Development

• Align the workforce with the firm’s and the market’s operational goals. Ensure key skill sets and capabilities are in place to support current operational needs and create goals for each department within the market.
• Acquire and develop key capabilities through a combination of effective recruitment and development of staff. MVPs and EVPs will collaborate on all strategic hires, keeping one another informed and seeking concurrence throughout the identification and recruitment process.
• Where applicable, collaborate with other MVPs and EVPs to allocate resources on a firmwide basis and share talent and work across the firm.
• Develop and execute a staff development plan responsive to the market’s operational goals and technical expertise needs. Engage the workforce in fulfilling the firm’s developmental requirements through supervisors using continuous feedback and through the market’s practice leaders.
• Utilize performance development and goal setting to effectively develop market leaders and ensure they are developing their staff. Provide real-time and ongoing feedback to recognize the successes of an employee and opportunities for learning and development. Ensure appropriate staff development is occurring throughout the market by providing opportunities to learn through formal and informal methods.
• Ensure performance problems are documented and addressed appropriately with HR’s assistance.

Practice Leadership

• Provide balanced attention to the practice and the business in support of the firm’s practice-led business model. Maintain an ongoing dialogue with other market MVPs and pillar directors to understand and support the firm’s best practices and ensure compliance with the Gresham Smith policies and procedures.
• Provide leadership and support to the market’s Technical Practice Leader (TPL) for executing an effective TLG and Pillar program.
• Collaborate with the market's practice leaders to communicate best practices and gather feedback useful to the firm. Ensure the market's practice leaders and staff devote time and attention to advance the practice in the market and contribute to the firmwide effort.

Market Strategy and Business Development Support

• Proactively collaborate with and offer support to the EVP in the implementation of the market’s strategic vision and business development activities. Provide leadership through collaboration with the EVP and PXs in the market to achieve the market’s goals.
• Promote the development and execution of an effective community engagement plan in each office location for the market.
• Collaborate with and assist the EVP with the evaluation of market growth opportunities. Work closely with the EVP and PXs to ensure that business and tactical plans are developed that are adequate to meet the market’s goals. Monitor and contribute to the successful execution of each PX’s tactical plan.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree; plus 15 years of job-related AE consulting firm experience required.
• Prefer a minimum of 5 years experience in a meaningful leadership role in a market or firm with multi-discipline, multi‐location responsibility.
• A/E industry experience in medium to large-scale projects with an advanced civil, environmental, chemical, or mechanical engineering focus.
• Professional licensure is preferred, not required.
• Proven ability to effectively lead and mentor a team of senior-level professionals.
• Experience in teaming with other firms.
• Willing to travel in support of the above responsibilities.
• Other equivalent combinations of education, experience, and training that meet the minimum qualifications may be reviewed and approved by the Executive Leadership Team.

Gresham Smith is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Gresham Smith provides equal employment opportunities to applicants and employees and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, transgender, national origin, status as a protected veteran, disability or any other classification protected by law. 

 Gresham Smith will not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters, headhunters, contract recruiters, search firms, or employment agencies. An executed GRESHAM PLACEMENT SERVICES AGREEMENT (PSA) is required prior to any payment obligation for either a referral or recruiter fee.  In the event a recruiter or agency submits a resume or candidate without a previously executed PSA, GRESHAM SMITH explicitly reserves the right to recruit and hire those candidate(s) at its discretion, and without any financial obligation whatsoever to the recruiter or agency.  Any such unsolicited resume or candidate contact information, including those submitted directly to GRESHAM SMITH’S hiring managers or any other employee, shall become the property of GRESHAM SMITH upon receipt.