Project Executive

ECS Ltd•Raleigh, NC

About The Position

The Project Executive is a senior leadership role responsible for technical excellence, operational performance, risk management, and strategic growth for the local office and across the subsidiary. The role serves as a trusted advisor to clients and internal leadership, oversees complex engagements, mentors technical leaders, and advances ECS's capabilities and market presence. The Project Executive drives consistency, quality, and innovation across service lines while demonstrating ECS Core Values. The position provides leadership and mentorship to Project Managers, Principals, and technical staff; oversees complex or high-risk projects; strengthens client relationships and business development; supports strategic growth and innovation; and promotes effective operational and risk management. It also contributes to talent development, recruiting, university engagement, and succession planning.

Requirements

20 years of related experience.
Bachelor's degree in engineering, geology, environmental science, architecture, or equivalent.
Valid driver's license if driving for or on behalf of any ECS subsidiary.
Demonstrated technical excellence, leadership, safety, and professionalism.
Excellent performance history in project management, communication, risk management, and technical knowledge.
Proficient communication and interpersonal skills to engage diverse stakeholders and convey complex data clearly and actionably.
Extensive experience driving strategic initiatives across organizations.
Ability to enact change quickly and influence stakeholders and operational owners through well-articulated strategies supported by metric-driven value statements.
Ability to make independent decisions and assume higher-level leadership responsibilities in critical situations.
Ability to promote innovative ideas and accept the risks required to lead change.
Effective consultative and influencing approach; maturity, flexibility, comfort with ambiguity, and an optimistic, can-do attitude.
Ability to build, lead, and interact with diverse, distributed teams across internal and external organizations and multiple locations.
Strong creative problem-solving, critical-thinking, and strategic-planning skills, including the ability to disaggregate problems and structure complex issues.
Strong presentation skills, including developing PowerPoint presentations.
Strong collaboration and influence skills, including navigating organizational relationships, incorporating differing perspectives, developing recommendations, and generating consensus across teams.
Extensive experience with client relationship management, contract negotiation, and financial oversight across multiple regions.
Proven ability to mentor and train engineering professionals, including Principal Engineers.
Deep knowledge of specialized service lines and emerging technologies in the industry.
Ability to build and maintain relationships across private, public, and federal client sectors.
For the military qualification pathway, ranks E-6, E-7, O-2, or O-3 qualify only when the candidate also meets the education, certification, and license requirements listed under Required Qualifications.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree or MBA.

Responsibilities

Mentor and lead Project Managers, Principals, and technical staff; develop high-performing teams and future leaders.
Establish career development plans, monitor progress, support performance evaluations, and participate in leadership development and succession planning.
Lead or participate in Principal Engineer review and promotion processes.
Collaborate with recruiting teams to attract talent and support university engagement and early-career pipeline development.
Serve as Project Executive on complex, high-risk, or high-visibility projects.
Provide quality assurance and technical oversight of project deliverables, ensuring projects meet safety, quality, schedule, and budget standards.
Support project execution and resolve technical, operational, and client challenges; promote consistency and excellence across service lines.
Build and maintain client relationships, serve as senior client contact for key engagements, and identify and pursue new business opportunities.
Support proposal development and strategic positioning; represent ECS at external meetings, industry events, and professional organizations.
Enhance brand visibility through thought leadership, presentations, and publications.
Identify opportunities for new service lines and market expansion, and support strategic initiatives aligned with subsidiary and corporate goals.
Contribute to growth strategies across geotechnical, environmental, CMT, and specialty services.
Support mergers, acquisitions, and integration initiatives; collaborate with leadership to drive innovation and competitive advantage.
Ensure effective risk management across projects and operations, including oversight of contract execution and client risk exposure.
Support operational efficiency and consistency, collaborate with operations and department leadership on staffing and workload planning, and identify and mitigate project and organizational risks.