West Regional Director of Engineering

Trilon Group • Oakland, CA

118d • $175,000 - $215,000

About The Position

Alta is seeking a dynamic West Regional Director of Engineering to join our team in Oakland and lead our growing engineering practice across the West. This is a fantastic opportunity for an engineering leader who believes in the importance of active, multimodal, and sustainable transportation to shape communities while driving business excellence and operational performance. In this role, you will work with the Engineering Director to provide strategic leadership and operational oversight for our West region engineering teams, driving innovation in sustainable transportation design while fostering a culture of collaboration, professional growth, and excellence. You will be responsible for setting technical and strategic direction for engineering initiatives across our West region of offices, which include Oakland, Portland, Los Angeles, Seattle, Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno ensuring our projects create positive impacts on communities nationwide while meeting financial and operational performance standards. If you are passionate about leading transformational change in transportation engineering while developing talent and advancing organizational excellence, apply with Alta today!

Requirements

• 15+ years of progressive experience as a Transportation Engineer in consulting environment or public entity
• 8+ years in project management roles with demonstrated P&L responsibility
• 5+ years in leadership positions managing engineering teams and business operations
• Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering
• Professional Engineering (P.E.) license required
• Proven track record of business development success and client relationship management

Nice To Haves

• Master's degree in Civil Engineering, Business Administration, or related field
• Active leadership roles in industry-relevant professional associations and committees
• Experience leading large, complex transportation engineering projects
• Experience with Deltek VantagePoint or similar enterprise resource planning systems
• Background in active, sustainable, multimodal transportation
• Mentoring and coaching experience with engineering professionals
• Experience leading cross-functional, multi-disciplinary project teams

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute long-term strategic plans for the West region engineering practice, aligning with company-wide objectives and market opportunities
• Ensure the West Region meets or exceeds annual and quarterly financial targets, with strong emphasis on achieving Net Service Revenue and EBITDA growth
• Lead the regional engineering organization through periods of growth and change, ensuring operational excellence and cultural alignment
• Champion innovation in active transportation engineering practices and emerging technologies
• Drive a culture of fiscal and business acumen that empowers teams to seek continuous improvement in operational efficiency and financial performance
• Play an active role in the budgeting process, including prioritization of trade-offs to grow both revenue and earnings
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of engineering professionals, project managers, and technical staff across multiple office locations
• Supervise and evaluate West Region staff, creating clear performance expectations, providing regular feedback, and establishing pathways for career advancement
• Build and maintain a high-performance culture focused on professional growth, collaboration, and technical excellence
• Recruit, hire, and retain top engineering talent to support regional growth objectives, maintaining forward-looking hiring plans to fill open roles efficiently
• Foster cross-disciplinary collaboration and knowledge sharing across engineering, planning, landscape architecture, and other practice areas
• Own key performance areas including safety, client engagement, staff development and retention, and cross-business collaboration
• Maintain staff utilization at or above predetermined goals while ensuring sustainable workload management
• Assist regional business development directors in identifying new market opportunities and client relationships
• Lead proposal development and client presentations for major regional projects
• Maintain and expand relationships with key public sector clients
• Ensure compliance with proposal and cost estimation protocols to maintain financial and delivery integrity
• Oversee project delivery across the region, ensuring quality, schedule, and budget performance delivering projects on-time and on-budget
• Oversee financial and operational performance of projects within the West Region, maintaining close oversight of project managers and their performance relative to plan while delegating effectively
• Demonstrate deep understanding of financial metrics and KPIs including book-to-burn ratio, revenue factor, and overhead rate
• Implement best practices and process improvements to enhance delivery efficiency and client satisfaction
• Provide strategic oversight of project portfolios ranging from natural surface trails to complex multimodal transportation networks
• Ensure compliance with professional standards, regulations, and company quality assurance protocols
• Apply disciplined approach to managing non-billable labor and overhead costs

Benefits

• Flexible Schedule
• Medical: PPO or HSA medical plans
• Dental/Vision: PPO
• Life Insurance: Alta pays 100% of the premium for life and AD&D, equal to your base compensation
• 401(k): Alta provides a match up to 3%
• PTO: 21 days accrued annually to start
• Holidays: 11 total company paid holidays
• Paid Parental Leave/Short-Term Disability
• Wellness reimbursement up to $800 annually
• Alta Gets Around benefit of up to $900 annually
• 5-year travel award
• Professional development opportunities

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees