Principal, Transportation

Stantec•Lombard, IL

About The Position

The Transportation Principal is a senior leadership role within Stantec’s US Mobility, Analytics and Revenue Solutions group. Overall work responsibilities will involve providing project management and technical consulting services to tolling and transportation organizations throughout North America. Additional responsibilities will include strategic growth, business development, client relationship management, and technical delivery leadership, as well as representing Stantec in the tolling and transportation industry both nationally and within the North Central region. Qualified candidates should have substantial experience in project management and technical consulting services related to traffic and toll revenue (T&R) forecasting, toll policy and program development, transportation planning, traffic engineering, travel demand modeling, and transportation data analytics, including investment-grade studies supporting toll revenue bond financings. Demonstrated experience growing client programs, leading multidisciplinary teams, and advising agency executives is essential.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree in Planning, Engineering, Economics, or a related field; Master’s Degree in Urban Planning, Engineering, Transportation, or a related discipline preferred.
20+ years of progressive experience in transportation planning and traffic and toll revenue forecasting.
Established relationships with US toll agencies and transportation clients, both nationally and in the North Central region.
Demonstrated success leading large, multi-task program contracts for public toll agencies or state DOTs and setting strategic direction for a practice or program.
Proven ability to lead multiple task managers and multidisciplinary teams of modelers, analysts, engineers, and developers across offices.
Experience developing agency policies and programs, including capital program, toll reform, carbon reduction, and electrification initiatives.
Experience integrating emerging transportation datasets and defining functional requirements for analytical tools and executive dashboards.
In-depth understanding of regional and statewide travel-demand models, toll diversion and sensitivity analysis, stated-preference and origin-destination surveys, and socioeconomic forecasting.
Demonstrated experience leading investment-grade traffic and toll revenue studies, annual revenue certificates, and ad hoc revenue impact analyses.
Broad understanding of toll rates and business rules, all-electronic tolling conversion, managed lanes and pricing, fees and violations, and customer impacts.
Experience supporting toll revenue bond financings, including interaction with rating agencies, underwriters, and financing teams.
Track record of introducing new methods, data sources, and analytical approaches that improve forecasting and client decision-making.
Experience in quality oversight and technical review of complex deliverables.
Experience advising agency executives, boards, and department chiefs on complex policy, investment, and financing decisions.
Demonstrated commitment to recruiting, mentoring, and developing technical staff and project managers.
Proven ability to grow client programs and win new work, including capture planning, proposal development, presentations, and interviews.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including presenting complex technical findings to executives, legislators, and the financial community.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Microsoft Teams, Microsoft OneDrive and Microsoft Copilot.

Responsibilities

Provide strategic and program leadership as US North Central T&R Practice Leader, accountable for practice strategy, client relationships, staffing, delivery quality, and financial performance.
Serve as North Central T&R, Transportation Planning and Traffic Engineering (TPTE), and Travel Demand Modeling (TDM) Growth Leader.
Lead business and practice development, including participation in Business Center growth planning, sales and net revenue targets, key account priorities, and pursuit strategy.
Lead capture planning, proposal development, presentations, and interviews for major T&R, tolling policy, and modeling pursuits.
Serve as National Data Practice Lead, setting the direction for transportation data analytics and visualization services across the US.
Drive technical innovation through the use of emerging data sources (e.g., location-based origin-destination, connected vehicle, and toll transaction data) in modeling, forecasting, and performance monitoring.
Provide multidisciplinary team management, directing modelers, analysts, and subject-matter experts in developing analytical tools and executive dashboards.
Develop repeatable, marketable data and analytics offerings and associated marketing collateral.
Serve as an approved Project Independent Reviewer (PIR), providing independent review and approval of proposals, contracts, project plans and set-up, change orders, and project updates in accordance with Stantec’s Project Management Framework.
Provide technical quality assurance as Technical Reviewer of deliverables across the Business Center, including traffic and revenue analysis, investment-grade reports, tolling policy studies, and modeling work.
Support professional development and mentoring project managers on scope, schedule, budget, risk, and forecasting, and share lessons learned to strengthen delivery discipline.
Manage T&R and transportation consulting contracts for public and private toll agencies.
Conduct regular client service check-ins with key agency clients to understand how Stantec is performing, capture feedback, and identify emerging needs.
Provide executive-level client advisory as an independent voice and senior reviewer on client programs, separate from day-to-day project delivery.
Advise agency executives on tolling policy and strategy, traffic and revenue analysis, and infrastructure finance, including investment-grade studies supporting toll revenue bond financings.
Guide transportation policy and program development, translating complex technical findings into practical policy, program, financing, and investment decisions.
Serve as a Senior Advisor to Business Center leadership on strategy, technical direction, market positioning, and key client and pursuit decisions.
Lead professional development and mentoring of technical staff, support recruiting, and build succession depth on key accounts.
Provide leadership support, contributing modeling, forecasting, and data analytics expertise to pursuits and projects.
Represent Stantec in the Chicago-area transportation industry, including local professional organizations and agency events.
Build a national profile through industry associations (e.g., IBTTA, TRB, ACEC), conference presentations, expert panels, and publications.
Apply strong technical communication and presentation skills to present findings to agency boards, legislators, rating agencies, and the financial community.
Advocate for technical innovation in toll policy, pricing, forecasting, and transportation data analytics.