Water Utilities & Groundwater Market Leader

Environmental Science Associates•San Francisco, CA

13d•$250,000 - $300,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Environmental Science Associates (ESA) is seeking a strategic Water Utilities & Groundwater Market Leader to serve in one of the firm's most senior market leadership roles. This leader will set and execute a firmwide growth strategy, strengthen ESA's position with priority clients, and align client needs with the full range of ESA capabilities across practices and regions. The Market Leader is accountable for market direction and measurable growth, including priority-client development, pipeline and backlog expansion, contract acquisition and activation, strategic investment, and strong financial performance. The role requires a leader who can work through ESA's collaborative matrix and bring together Client Service Managers, Practice Leaders, Regional Directors, Business Group Directors, project leaders, and corporate marketing professionals around shared priorities. The position reports to ESA's Chief Growth Officer and will coordinate closely with the other Market Leaders, the Practice Leaders, and the Regional Directors so that clients experience the full capabilities of ESA. The position may be based in any ESA region - Northern California, Southern California, Pacific Northwest, or Southeast - and will operate on a hybrid schedule with periodic travel to ESA offices, client locations, and industry events.

Requirements

15+ years of progressively responsible experience in the water sector within a water or wastewater utility, public water agency, environmental or engineering consulting firm, infrastructure organization, or related advisory environment.
Senior leadership experience with a strong understanding of how water agencies establish priorities, make investment decisions, manage regulatory and operational risk, and move initiatives from planning into implementation.
Demonstrated ability to build trusted executive relationships and influence complex decisions involving multiple departments, disciplines, stakeholders, and regulatory agencies.
Experience developing or advancing significant water programs, client relationships, partnerships, or consulting opportunities, with the business judgment to connect client value to measurable growth.
Broad knowledge of water supply and reliability, water rights, wastewater and reuse, groundwater management and recharge, resilience, environmental planning, permitting, regulatory compliance, and infrastructure implementation.
Strong financial and commercial acumen, including the ability to set growth priorities and manage revenue, pipeline, backlog, investment, and profitability expectations.
Proven ability to lead through influence in a matrixed organization, build alignment among senior peers, and mobilize multidisciplinary teams.
Bachelor's degree in environmental science, engineering, water resources, planning, public administration, business, or a related discipline.
Outstanding written, verbal, facilitation, and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate credibly with executives, technical professionals, regulators, boards, and community stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

A well-established network among water, wastewater, groundwater, and multipurpose water agencies in one or more ESA regions, with the ability to expand relationships nationally.
Experience integrating strategy, environmental and regulatory requirements, technology, capital planning, and operations.
Experience moving between public-agency and consulting environments or leading collaborative teams that include agencies, consultants, engineers, researchers, and technology partners.
An advanced degree is valued but not required.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute the annual Water Utilities & Groundwater Market Growth Plan, establishing clear client, revenue, acquisition, backlog, pipeline, profitability, and investment priorities.
Use market intelligence, agency capital plans, regulatory developments, funding trends, and client insight to anticipate where demand is moving and translate that insight into focused growth strategies.
Build a diversified portfolio across ESA's regions, balancing growth within established relationships with expansion into priority agencies and geographies.
Monitor market performance, pipeline quality, backlog, win rates, profitability, contract capacity, and client concentration; intervene early where performance or conversion is off track.
Advise executive leadership on strategic hiring, partnerships, acquisitions, technology investments, and new capabilities that support durable market growth.
Develop trusted relationships with general managers, utility executives, board members, planning and operations leaders, and other senior agency decision-makers.
Engage clients before projects and environmental scopes are fully defined, helping ESA understand enterprise priorities, emerging risks, alternatives, and pathways to implementation.
Work with Client Success Managers to develop and execute account plans that deepen client relationships, expand ESA across the client lifecycle, and create measurable account growth.
Translate agency business needs into well-defined, appropriately procured opportunities for ESA's planning, environmental, regulatory, natural-resource, cultural-resource, climate, restoration, and technology-enabled services.
Serve as an executive sponsor, strategic advisor, or Project Director for selected complex, high-profile, or cross-practice assignments.
Create disciplined transitions from early strategy and planning into implementation, monitoring, compliance, and adaptive-management services where ESA can deliver clear client value.
Bring together the right ESA practices, regions, and technical leaders around priority client needs, creating integrated solutions rather than disconnected service offerings.
Partner with project and technical leaders to ensure that growth commitments are grounded in delivery capacity, technical excellence, quality, and client outcomes.
Identify gaps in ESA's offering and determine when to build capability, hire, acquire, or partner rather than overextend the firm's role.
Support strategic pursuits, proposals, interviews, and negotiations, with particular focus on programs and contracts that can support sustained, multi-practice client relationships.
Coordinate with the Water Resources & Infrastructure Market Leader on shared clients, multipurpose agencies, and opportunities that span both market segments.
Serve as a visible external leader for ESA in the water industry through client forums, executive roundtables, professional associations, conferences, publications, and other thought-leadership activities.
Shape a clear ESA point of view on the environmental and regulatory dimensions of utility strategy, resilience, water supply, reuse, groundwater, and infrastructure implementation.
Develop strategic relationships with engineering firms, technology providers, financial and management advisors, and other partners that extend ESA's reach while protecting its differentiated role.
Identify practical applications of emerging technology and data that improve client decisions, project readiness, compliance, and long-term program performance.
Create shared priorities and accountability across Client Service Managers, Practice Leaders, Regional Directors, Business Group Directors, and project leaders.
Coach client and technical leaders in executive engagement, consultative selling, upstream discovery, account planning, and lifecycle growth.
Work with regional and practice leadership to recruit, retain, and deploy the talent required to deliver the market strategy.
Model One ESA leadership by mentoring, sharing relationships, information, credit, and opportunities across organizational boundaries.
Contribute actively to enterprise strategy and perform other senior leadership responsibilities as needed.