Director of Civil Engineering - East Region

Trilon Group • Minneapolis, MN

61d • Hybrid

About The Position

Alta is seeking a dynamic East Regional Director of Engineering to join their team in Minneapolis and lead their growing engineering practice in the East. This role is for an engineering leader who believes in the importance of active, multimodal, and sustainable transportation to shape communities while driving business excellence and operational performance. The Director will work with the Engineering Director to provide strategic leadership and operational oversight for the East region engineering teams, driving innovation in sustainable transportation design while fostering a culture of collaboration, professional growth, and excellence. Responsibilities include setting technical and strategic direction for engineering initiatives across the East region offices (Atlanta, Durham, Minneapolis, Baltimore, and Nashville), ensuring projects create positive impacts on communities nationwide while meeting financial and operational performance standards. The role is for someone passionate about leading transformational change in transportation engineering while developing talent and advancing organizational excellence.

Requirements

• 15+ years of progressive experience as a Transportation Engineer in consulting environment or public entity
• 8+ years in project management roles with demonstrated P&L responsibility
• 5+ years in leadership positions managing engineering teams and business operations
• Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering
• Professional Engineering (P.E.) license required
• Proven track record of business development success and client relationship management
• Demonstrated ability to lead, inspire, and develop high-performing teams in a professional services environment
• Strong strategic thinking and business acumen with experience in organizational planning and execution
• Financial acumen with ability to analyze business performance and articulate relevant KPIs, financial metrics, and levers of growth and profit
• Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills with ability to influence at all organizational levels
• Experience managing regional operations, including budget oversight, resource allocation, and performance metrics
• Proven ability to drive cultural change and organizational development initiatives
• Budget prioritization skills with experience evaluating trade-offs to optimize both revenue and earnings in a professional services environment
• Strong command of numbers and finance, with a bias toward data-driven decision making
• Critical thinking abilities with purposeful judgment and reasoned consideration of evidence, context, and objectives
• Attention to detail with focus on monitoring KPIs and understanding that long-term success is driven by daily execution
• Experience in active, non-motorized transportation planning and design
• Comprehensive understanding of project delivery from conceptual design through construction administration
• Experience with Plans, Specifications and Estimates packages for complex roadway and transportation projects
• Proficiency in project management principles, methods, and techniques for large-scale, multi-disciplinary projects
• Working knowledge of MS Excel, Word, MS Project, AutoCAD / Civil 3D or MicroStation / OpenRoads, and enterprise project management tools
• Ability and willingness to travel regionally as needed
• Strong professional ethics, accountability, and decision-making capabilities
• Experience managing competing priorities and multiple simultaneous projects within budget and schedule constraints
• Operational discipline with focus on ensuring compliance with project protocols and standards

Nice To Haves

• Master's degree in Civil Engineering, Business Administration, or related field
• Active leadership roles in industry-relevant professional associations and committees
• Experience leading large, complex transportation engineering projects
• Experience with Deltek VantagePoint or similar enterprise resource planning systems
• Background in active, sustainable, multimodal transportation
• Mentoring and coaching experience with engineering professionals
• Experience leading cross-functional, multi-disciplinary project teams

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute long-term strategic plans for the East region engineering practice, aligning with company-wide objectives and market opportunities.
• Ensure the East Region meets or exceeds annual and quarterly financial targets, with strong emphasis on achieving Net Service Revenue and EBITDA growth.
• Lead the regional engineering organization through periods of growth and change, ensuring operational excellence and cultural alignment.
• Champion innovation in active transportation engineering practices and emerging technologies.
• Drive a culture of fiscal and business acumen that empowers teams to seek continuous improvement in operational efficiency and financial performance.
• Play an active role in the budgeting process, including prioritization of trade-offs to grow both revenue and earnings.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of engineering professionals, project managers, and technical staff across multiple office locations.
• Supervise and evaluate East Region staff, creating clear performance expectations, providing regular feedback, and establishing pathways for career advancement.
• Build and maintain a high-performance culture focused on professional growth, collaboration, and technical excellence.
• Recruit, hire, and retain top engineering talent to support regional growth objectives, maintaining forward-looking hiring plans to fill open roles efficiently.
• Foster cross-disciplinary collaboration and knowledge sharing across engineering, planning, landscape architecture, and other practice areas.
• Own key performance areas including safety, client engagement, staff development and retention, and cross-business collaboration.
• Maintain staff utilization at or above predetermined goals while ensuring sustainable workload management.
• Assist regional business development directors in identifying new market opportunities and client relationships.
• Lead proposal development and client presentations for major regional projects.
• Maintain and expand relationships with key public sector clients.
• Ensure compliance with proposal and cost estimation protocols to maintain financial and delivery integrity.
• Oversee project delivery across the region, ensuring quality, schedule, and budget performance delivering projects on-time and on-budget.
• Oversee financial and operational performance of projects within the East Region, maintaining close oversight of project managers and their performance relative to plan while delegating effectively.
• Implement best practices and process improvements to enhance delivery efficiency and client satisfaction.
• Provide strategic oversight of project portfolios ranging from natural surface trails to complex multimodal transportation networks.
• Ensure compliance with professional standards, regulations, and company quality assurance protocols.
• Apply disciplined approach to managing non-billable labor and overhead costs.

Benefits

• Flexible Schedule
• Medical: PPO or HSA medical plans, Alta pays 75% of the cost
• Dental/Vision: PPO, Alta pays 90% of the cost
• Life Insurance: Alta pays 100% of the premium for life and AD&D, equal to your base compensation
• 401(k): Alta provides a match up to 3%
• PTO: 21 days accrued annually to start
• Holidays: 11 total company paid holidays
• Paid Parental Leave/Short-Term Disability
• Wellness reimbursement up to $800 annually
• Alta Gets Around benefit of up to $900 annually
• 5-year travel award
• Professional development opportunities

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director