Director of Environmental Services

Position Summary:

The Director of Environmental Services directs the Environmental Services Division. They oversee the District’s environmental planning and natural resource stewardship strategies. This includes overseeing the following programs and associated staff: regulatory and permitting, reclaimed water wetlands, water conservation, water quality, and watershed management.

In addition, this role will work alongside the Leadership team to collaborate on matters of strategic and operational planning, organizational change, business decision-making, and the overall leadership of TRWD. They develop TRWD’s Strategic Plan in conjunction with TRWD management and the Board of Directors.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

The duties listed below are intended only as illustrations of the various types of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related, or a logical assignment to this position.

• Monitor emerging trends in the environmental or regulatory fields
• Develop relationships with state or federal environmental regulatory agencies to learn about and analyze the potential impacts of proposed environmental policy regulations
• Direct the District’s reservoir and watershed monitoring and sampling programs
• Act as District representative and spokesperson at hearings or legislative meetings regarding environmental issues
• Promote environmental stewardship practices across all District functions
• Work with TRWD Leadership and Board of Directors to develop, implement and accomplish the TRWD Strategic Plan
• Establish and implement division mission, goals, and strategies in alignment with the Strategic Plan
• Direct and coordinate activities of the Division
• Develop and manage the division budget
• Perform personnel functions such as selection, training, development, and evaluation
• Ensure compliance with the Clean Water Act
• Review, evaluate and coordinate with other governmental agencies regarding stormwater control Best Management Practices
• Direct the preparation and submission of regulatory agency applications, reports, and correspondence
• Review all regulatory agency submission materials to ensure timeliness, accuracy, comprehensiveness, or compliance with regulatory standards
• Provide regulatory guidance to departments regarding design, construction, operations, or other District functions
• Ensure that regulatory compliance is maintained or enhanced
• Communicate regulatory information to multiple departments and ensure that information is interpreted correctly
• Maintain current knowledge of relevant regulations, including proposed and final rules
• Train staff in regulatory policies or procedures
• Oversee District response to chemical or petroleum spills that could impact water supplies
• Maintain familiarity with strategic District levels of service
• Continuous improvement monitoring and innovation efforts
• Perform other duties as required

Required Experience:

• Ten (10) years of experience in comparable environmental science or natural resources fields
• Demonstrable progressive management experience leading comparable environmental, natural resources, or technical teams

Desired Experience:

• Fifteen (15) years of progressive management experience leading comparable environmental or natural resources teams
• Coordination and relationships with applicable regulatory and permitting agencies such as the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, US Army Corps of Engineers, etc.

Required Education/Certification/License:

• Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science, Biology, Water Resources, Environmental or Civil Engineering, or related field
• Valid Texas driver’s license

Desired Education/Certification/License:

• Certified professional in Biology, Limnology or Ecology

Success Factors/Job Competencies:

• Technical Expertise: The ability to demonstrate depth of knowledge and skill in a technical area
• Establishing Focus: The ability to develop and communicate goals in support of the business’ mission
• Providing Motivational Support: The ability to enhance others’ commitment to their work
• Fostering Teamwork: As a team member, the ability and desire to work cooperatively with others on a team; as a leader, the ability to demonstrate interest, skill, and success in getting groups to learn to work together
• Empowering Others: The ability to convey confidence in employees’ ability to be successful, especially at challenging new tasks; delegating significant responsibility and authority; allowing employees freedom to decide how they will accomplish their goals and resolve issues
• Managing Change: The ability to demonstrate support for innovation and for organizational changes needed to improve the organization’s effectiveness; initiating, sponsoring, and implementing organizational change; helping others to successfully manage organizational change
• Developing Others: The ability to delegate responsibility and to work with others and coach them to develop their capabilities
• Managing Performance: The ability to take responsibility for one’s own or one’s employees’ performance, by setting clear goals and expectations, tracking progress against the goals, ensuring feedback, and addressing performance problems and issues promptly
• Attention to Communication: The ability to ensure that information is passed on to others who should be kept informed
• Oral Communication: The ability to express oneself clearly in conversations and interactions with others. Speaks clearly and can be easily understood
• Written Communication: The ability to express oneself clearly in business writing
• Persuasive Communication: The ability to plan and deliver oral and written communications that make an impact and persuade their intended audiences
• Interpersonal Awareness: The ability to notice, interpret, and anticipate others’ concerns and feelings, and to communicate this awareness empathetically to others
• Influencing Others: The ability to gain others’ support for ideas, proposals, projects, and solutions
• Building Collaborative Relationships: The ability to develop, maintain, and strengthen partnerships with others inside or outside the organization who can provide information, assistance, and support
• Customer Orientation: The ability to demonstrate concern for satisfying one’s external and/or internal customers
• Diagnostic Information Gathering: The ability to identify the information needed to clarify a situation, seek that information from appropriate sources, and use skillful questioning to draw out the information, when others are reluctant to disclose it
• Analytical Thinking: The ability to tackle a problem by using a logical, systematic, sequential approach
• Forward Thinking: The ability to anticipate the implications and consequences of situations and take appropriate action to be prepared for possible contingencies
• Conceptual Thinking: The ability to find effective solutions by taking a holistic, abstract, or theoretical perspective
• Strategic Thinking: The ability to analyze the organization’s competitive position by considering market and industry trends, existing and potential customers (internal and external), and strengths and weaknesses as compared to competitors
• Results Orientation: The ability to focus on the desired result of one’s own or one’s unit’s work, setting challenging goals, focusing effort on the goals, and meeting or exceeding them
• Stress Management: The ability to keep functioning effectively when under pressure and maintain self-control in the face of hostility or provocation
• Personal Credibility: Demonstrated concern that one be perceived as responsible, reliable, and trustworthy
• Flexibility: Openness to different and new ways of doing things; willingness to modify one’s preferred way of doing things

Physical Demands and Work Environment:

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Physical demands: While performing duties of job, employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, sit, and use hand to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls, reach with hands and arms, balance, stoop, talk or hear. Employees must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.
• Work environment: While performing the duties of this job, the employee typically resides within an office or cubicle and may have occasional fieldwork that will expose the employee to weather conditions prevalent at the time.

For HR Use Only (POS# UB001)