Sr Sustainability Specialist - Embodied Carbon Service Lead

HGA•Washington, DC

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

Join our national Building Performance certification team and bring your sustainability project leadership expertise for embodied carbon to HGA! As demand for sustainable, high‑performance environments continues to rise, our work increasingly centers on elevating building performance across a diverse portfolio. As a Sr Sustainability Specialist, you will contribute to projects spanning healthcare facilities, corporate offices, laboratories, museums, local, state, and federal government buildings, higher‑education campuses, and major infrastructure improvements. The ideal candidate brings experience in sustainable design and certification administration. This role requires working in person and/or on‑site three days per week, with the option to work remotely for the remaining two days.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Architecture, Interior Design, Engineering, Building Science, the Built Environment, Sustainability, or a related field; alternatively, demonstrated competency through a different degree combined with substantial sustainable design experience.
Background in architecture or structural engineering strongly preferred.
8+ years of experience in design and construction project delivery preferred.
Minimum 5 years of experience leading sustainability strategy for buildings - hands-on work with life cycle assessment (LCA) and embodied carbon analysis.
Solid understanding of environmental and sustainable business practices, relevant regulatory frameworks, and current industry trends.
Strong expertise in integrating embodied carbon assessment and reduction strategies into standard design and construction workflows and timelines.
Deep knowledge of sustainable construction practices, low‑carbon materials, and material transparency resources such as EPDs, HPDs, and Declare labels.
Proficiency with embodied carbon tools used in project delivery (e.g., One Click LCA, EC3) is essential.
Advanced familiarity with embodied carbon and whole‑building life cycle assessment (WBLCA) concepts required.
Experience with design and analysis software such as Rhino, Grasshopper, Radiance, DIVA, Revit, AutoCAD, SketchUp, Sefaira, and Insight360 preferred.
Ability to read and interpret architectural and engineering drawings, specifications, and technical design documents.
LEED Accredited Professional with experience supporting LEED‑certified projects.
Demonstrated ability to incorporate the AIA Framework for Design Excellence into the design process.

Nice To Haves

Excellent written & verbal communication skills and experience communicating with technical disciplines.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with attention to detail.
Ability to apply intensive and diversified knowledge of principles and practices to broad assignments and devise new approaches to problems encountered.
Experience facilitating project visioning and goal setting workshops and developing and implementing sustainability goals and targets on projects.
Balances understanding of the details with high level visioning and goal setting.
Excellent people skills and the ability to coordinate and collaborate with various disciplines and stakeholders.
Open and collaborative communication style.
Ability to multitask and manage time efficiently across multiple projects.
Meet deadlines and be flexible to changing deadlines.
Well-developed interpersonal skills, maturity, credibility, confidence, and integrity.
Focused and highly self-motivated.
Able to work independently as well as in close collaboration with other staff members and multiple client project team.
Exercises skills of persuasion and negotiation on critical issues.
Maintains awareness of risk management for potential project issues and involves PIC/PM if needed.
Able to teach and mentor team members with different expertise to support knowledge-sharing and elevating the firm’s overall expertise in sustainable design.
Experience with environmental product declaration and product category rules.

Responsibilities

Expand HGA’s LCA services through building strategic partnerships with clients alongside our principals and business developers.
Provide recommendations to project teams on low-GWP products, structural/material optimization, and procurement strategies.
Refine and streamline LCA workflow through the development of LCA tools, templates, and other resources to ensure high quality analysis and reports are consistently delivered by the national team.
Perform WBLCA in partnership with design teams.
Ability to effectively communicate complex climate mitigation and GHG emissions concepts, in written and oral form, to a diverse range of professionals including clients and multi-disciplinary project teams to give everyone a common understanding.
Maintain expertise in whole building life cycle assessment methodologies (e.g. ISO14040/44, EN 15978).
Provide sustainability leadership on projects, including: Leading visioning/goal setting workshops and sustainable design charrettes with project teams and clients; Advising PMs and Principals on staffing to best leverage in-house experts to achieve the project’s sustainability goals; Sustainability and certification project management, including completing certification credit forms and supporting documentation; and Design team coordination to execute sustainability goals, including providing education and guidance to support discipline credit documentation.