Senior Environmental Lead

Sargent & Lundy•Chicago, IL

8d•Hybrid

About The Position

As a member of Sargent & Lundy’s Environmental and Permitting team, you will utilize your academic background and experience to review, evaluate, and implement federal, state and local environmental regulatory requirements as they apply to a variety of electric power and industrial projects. You will be asked to use your knowledge of environmental regulations and engineering principals to meet project team and client needs for defining, evaluating, and implementing environmental mitigation, compliance, and permitting projects. Support proposals, statements of qualifications, and interviews; shape win themes, level of effort, schedule, and risk/commercial clarifications. The position will offer you the opportunity to expand your knowledge of federal, state and local environmental regulations as they apply to major industrial projects, and to work with multi-disciplined project teams. The position offers the opportunity to travel to client offices and project site locations for project reviews. Some international travel may be required.

Requirements

A BS in Environmental Engineering, Environmental Science, or related field, MS preferred.
Ten (10) or more years of experience in environmental compliance, environmental impact assessment, and/or permitting for complex industrial and power related projects.
Demonstrated experience managing complex, multi-disciplinary projects in the power industry, including coordination among internal engineering teams, clients, regulatory agencies, and other project stakeholders.
Familiarity with environmental laws and regulations that apply to large industrial facilities, including the National Environmental Policy Act, Threatened & Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
Environmental impact assessment/permitting experience, including specific experience in one or more of the following fields: Environmental Impact Assessments, Subsequent License Renewals and associated Environmental Reports, NPDES wastewater and construction stormwater discharge permitting, Wetlands permitting, Major source air permitting.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to interact and multitask with project team members, clients, community stakeholders and regulatory agencies.
Ability to manage multiple projects at the same time and coordinate various inputs between the internal engineering team, client and regulatory agency.

Nice To Haves

Proficiency in ArcGIS mapping and experience in developing interactive maps showing critical environmental resources such as wetlands, critical habitats, and other sensitive receptors.
Certification or coursework in GIS is a plus.
Programming or scripting (e.g., Python, MATLAB, advanced Excel) to automate calculations, design checks, reporting, or data transformation is valued but not required.
Additional learning, such as a minor, certificate, or other training in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Software Engineering, or related fields that helps you apply automation or agentic AI to real engineering problems.

Responsibilities

Review, evaluate, and implement federal, state and local environmental regulatory requirements as they apply to a variety of electric power and industrial projects.
Use knowledge of environmental regulations and engineering principals to meet project team and client needs for defining, evaluating, and implementing environmental mitigation, compliance, and permitting projects.
Support proposals, statements of qualifications, and interviews; shape win themes, level of effort, schedule, and risk/commercial clarifications.
Expand knowledge of federal, state and local environmental regulations as they apply to major industrial projects.
Work with multi-disciplined project teams.
Provide mentorship and guidance to younger staff members.
Take engineering problems from issue to solution using data and modern tools such as automation and AI to improve workflows, reduce rework, and deliver cost-effective designs.
Build or use automation to create calculations, summarize technical documents, or draft design documentation, including appropriate use of agentic AI tools, with strong engineering judgment and verification of results.