Project Director, Urban Design and Development

WSP•New York, NY

4d•$202,700 - $300,000

About The Position

The Project Director is a senior design and business development leader in WSP’s Transportation practice, helping direct and grow the practice and strengthen its market position. The role focuses on complex urban development programs connected to major transportation assets, such as station districts, rail yard and infrastructure overbuilds, waterfront and resilience districts, and large mixed-use redevelopment sites. It brings together WSP’s planning, engineering, environmental, landscape, architecture, and advisory capabilities to develop project visions that can earn client, community, and funding support. The Project Director provides design leadership, team leadership, and client relationship management. The role sets design direction for projects and pursuits, contributes to quality reviews, presents WSP’s design perspective to clients and communities, and assembles and directs internal and external consultant teams. Business development and project origination are central: the Director builds senior relationships, shapes opportunities ahead of procurement, and converts relationships with public agencies, authorities, institutions, and developers into work for the practice and wider firm. The position also contributes to practice planning, staffing, resource allocation, and financial performance; leads major pursuits and project delivery; integrates disciplines across WSP; develops staff; and represents the practice through thought leadership and professional engagement. The role primarily supports opportunities in the Northeast and nationally, with an emphasis on the New York metropolitan region, and requires approximately 20 percent regional travel.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, Urban Design, Urban Planning, or a related field from an accredited program, or equivalent professional standing.
At least 15 years of experience in urban design, master planning, and large-scale development, including leadership in a design or multidisciplinary professional practice.
Registration as an architect, AICP certification, or an equivalent professional credential.
Demonstrated ability to originate work, including client relationships that have generated repeat commissions at scale.
Direct experience leading master plans and development frameworks for major transportation facilities, station districts, waterfront and resilience districts, or large publicly initiated redevelopment sites.
Command of the public development process, including entitlement, zoning and rezoning, environmental review, community engagement, capital programming, and the relationship between public investment and private development value.
Established relationships with public agencies and authorities in the New York metropolitan region.
Ability to lead multidisciplinary teams of engineers, planners, environmental specialists, landscape architects, and architects in prime and subconsultant roles.
Excellent verbal, written, graphic, and interpersonal communication skills, including in public and adversarial settings.
Demonstrated leadership, initiative, accountability, and commitment to delivery.
Ability to travel approximately 20 percent, primarily regionally.
Must be authorized to work in the United States.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in Architecture, Urban Design, Urban Planning, or a related field from an accredited program, or equivalent professional standing.
20 or more years of experience in urban design, master planning, and large-scale development, including leadership in a design or multidisciplinary professional practice.
Recognized public profile in the urban design and planning community, demonstrated through published writing, speaking, teaching, jury service, or board membership.
Experience with alternative delivery and public-private partnership procurements.
Experience with both public-sector and private-development client relationships.

Responsibilities

Work with the Project Leader on the direction, growth, staffing, and financial performance of the Transportation practice.
Lead or co-lead internal and client relationships and commit the practice to pursuits, teaming arrangements, and project approaches in collaboration with the Project Leader.
Contribute to annual planning, target setting, and practice resource allocation.
Coordinate with regional leaders across Transportation and Infrastructure, Property and Buildings, Earth and Environment, and Water business lines.
Maintain continuity of client relationships, market position, and practice culture.
Identify, shape, and win urban development and infrastructure programs in the Northeast and nationally, particularly in the New York metropolitan region.
Open and sustain senior relationships with transportation agencies and authorities, city and state economic and development agencies, institutions, and private developers.
Position WSP for opportunities at the visioning and feasibility stages and develop client relationships early.
Lead and support pursuit strategy, team assembly, and proposal narratives for major pursuits, including alternative delivery and public-private partnership procurements.
Work with business development and marketing to define practice pitch narratives and develop practice-specific collateral.
Serve as Principal-in-Charge, Project Director, or Urban Design Lead on assigned projects, with responsibility for the client relationship and urban design proposition.
Set project design goals and direction and provide design review at agreed milestones across the practice’s portfolio.
Provide design critique and quality review to teams in other disciplines and business lines when a place-based perspective can strengthen outcomes or presentations.
Lead client presentations, public meetings, and stakeholder engagement.
Work with project managers on scope, budget, schedule, and deliverables, and contribute directly to production when a pursuit or deadline requires it.
Assemble integrated project approaches across planning, transportation engineering, structures, civil, environmental, landscape architecture, architecture, buildings, water, and resilience.
Establish working relationships and points of contact across disciplines so urban development opportunities are recognized early.
Connect the practice’s front-end work to the buildings and infrastructure business-line pipeline and bring those business lines’ capabilities into the practice’s pursuits.
Coordinate with teams working on vertical development programs alongside building or infrastructure design.
Help recruit, mentor, and develop planning and design staff and identify urban design capability within the firm.
Contribute to external presence and thought leadership through conferences, panels, published writing, awards submissions, and select competitions.
Maintain and extend board, institutional, and academic affiliations relevant to the practice’s clients.
Develop business development capability in mid-level and senior staff and support their recognition in the market.

Benefits

Medical coverage
Dental coverage
Vision coverage
Disability coverage
Life insurance
Retirement savings
Paid sick leave
Paid vacation or other personal time
Paid parental leave
Paid time off for bereavement, voting, and/or attendance at naturalization proceedings
Flexible and agile workplace model