Building Engineering Services Business Group Data Steward

HDR; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits package

Employee ownership

Medical, dental, vision

Retirement plan with employer match

Paid time away

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

HDR is seeking a BES Data Steward in the Building Engineering Services Group to define and enable data standards across BES disciplines. You will coordinate SME expertise, establish data definitions, and drive consistent data usage to support better decisions and project delivery.

This leadership role focuses on data alignment, reuse, and governance, empowering teams to define data once and reuse it across projects.

Qualifications

• Ten years of strategic leadership experience focused on growing, developing and leading teams in change management and working with data.
• Fifteen years of overall experience providing diverse data centric solutions and services to an organization and the industry.
• Bachelor’s degree in architecture, engineering, data science, business, computer science, or related discipline or equivalent related experience.
• Strong ability to define, align, and enable data practices across a large domain.

Responsibilities

• Establish and coordinate a network of SME expertise across the Building Engineering Services Business Group to define technical standards.
• Develop and maintain business‑aligned data definitions for key engineering and technical terms that support data models.
• Promote consistent, responsible use of technical data and oversee data governance.
• Lead change management efforts to drive adoption of data standards, practices, and tools across the BES BG.
• Regularly communicate with Data Stewards, Enterprise Data teams, and Operations staff.

Skills

Data governance

Data stewardship

Leadership

Change management

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in architecture, engineering, data science, business, computer science, or related discipline

Job description

At HDR, our employee-owners are fully engaged in creating a welcoming environment where each of us is valued and respected, a place where everyone is empowered to bring their authentic selves and novel ideas to work every day. As we foster a culture of inclusion throughout our company and within our communities, we constantly ask ourselves: What is our impact on the world?

Watch Our Story: ' https://www.hdrinc.com/our-story'

Each and every role throughout our organization makes a difference in our ability to change the world for the better. Read further to learn how you could help make great things possible not only in your community, but around the world.

We believe building engineering is more than systems and structures, it’s about powering progress and enabling innovation. As part of HDR’s Building Engineering Services Group, you’ll help design the critical infrastructure that supports the digital age and shapes the spaces where people work, connect, and thrive. From high-performance data centers driving the future of AI to dynamic commercial environments, your work will directly support technological advancement, sustainability, and human experience. We bring together mechanical, electrical, structural, and civil engineering experts to solve complex design challenges with precision, creativity, and collaboration. Whether you're optimizing energy efficiency, integrating resilient systems, or engineering the backbone of next‑generation facilities, your contributions will help define the future of the built environment. This isn’t just a job, it’s a chance to lead innovation, engineer impact, and build a legacy of excellence.

This role shapes how our data is defined, used, and reused across our Building Engineering Services Business Group (BES BG) and HDR.

We’re looking for a BES Business Group Data Steward to help bring clarity and consistency to how data is defined, shared, and used across all BES disciplines and their embodied service lines within BES for HDR. This is a leadership role, not an IT or compliance position, and it plays a key part in enabling better business decisions, data reuse, and project delivery excellence.

This role is not expected to be the subject matter expert across all BES disciplines. Instead, the BES Data Steward defines how data practices are established, aligned, and sustained across the BES Business Group by coordinating and enabling subject matter experts and technical authorities within each domain. This role is ideal for technical leaders who are able to shape “how work gets done” and extend that influence on how data supports our business. This role exists to empower our teams to define data once, understand it the same way, and reuse it confidently across projects, teams, and time.

Why This Role Matters

Across the company, we all rely on data to plan work, deliver projects, answer questions, and make decisions. But when data is defined differently from team to team, project to project, or region to region, it becomes harder to trust, harder to reuse, and harder to scale. People spend time reconciling definitions, rebuilding datasets, or explaining what something really means instead of using the data to drive decisions that move work forward. Data Stewardship helps fix this at the source.

By clearly defining how our data aligns to proper business terminology, and by creating a shared understanding of data for our delivery teams, this role will support turning our data into solutions that our Building Engineering Services practice and employees can confidently use, reuse, and build upon. It reduces confusion, prevents rework, and makes it easier for teams to answer questions to deliver their work without needing to start from scratch every time.

For project teams, this will result in less time cleaning up data and more time delivering. For technical staff, it means clearer expectations and fewer one‑off requests. For leaders, it means faster, more consistent answers and greater confidence in the insights they rely on. For HDR, it means enterprise and project data that is ready to support analytics, automation, and AI in a way that reflects how we work.

This role is about making data simpler, more useful, and more connected to the way we do business, today and in the future.

What You’ll Do

• Establish and coordinate a network of SME expertise across the Building Engineering Services Business Group to define technical standards, while ensuring alignment to BES data practices and enterprise expectations.
• Develop and maintain business‑aligned data definitions for key engineering and technical terms that support structured data models, reporting, automation, and AI use cases.
• Use your technical network to build alignment and consensus around data processes, priority, and expected use.
• Promote consistent, responsible use of technical data, including access, data quality, BES practice for format, and reuse.
• Support governance of externally sourced datasets (access, approvals, inventory awareness, storage, and lifecycle considerations).
• Promote data fluency across the BES Business Group.
• Coordinate with the Technology Director and/or Professional Services Director to align data workflows and initiatives to BES BG Strategy.
• Lead change management efforts to drive adoption of data standards, practices, and tools across the BES BG.
• Regularly communicate and collaborate with other Data Stewards, Enterprise Data Science Teams, and Enterprise Data Operations staff.
• Ensure new tools identified for implementation within the BES BG are aligned to data strategy.

What This Role Is

• Embedded in the BES Business Group (not an IT role).
• Enablement‑focused and collaborative.
• Part of technology leadership, focused on supporting effective project delivery.
• Connected to a broader Data Steward network.
• Focused on defining and enabling use of Architecture and service line data.

People Who Would Be a Great Fit

• Understand how data is delivered, defined and used in the BES industry and on projects.
• Trusted by peers and leaders.
• Can translate complex practices into clear, usable guidance.
• Are comfortable making decisions and driving consensus?
• Have strong data fluency (and curiosity to keep learning).
• Bring a solid technical network you can tap for feedback and alignment.
• Demonstrate credibility in data, technology, and delivery practices and can influence teams through clarity, consistency, and outcomes.
• Able to clearly communicate the importance of data integrity at all levels of the organization.
• This role is not intended for early‑career staff or as a learning assignment, but for established leaders with influence and credibility.

What Success Looks Like

This role establishes repeatable data practices by defining how data is captured, structured, governed, and reused across systems, workflows, and delivery teams. Success depends on driving adoption and aligning people, process, and technology rather than owning technical definitions in isolation.

• Maintained BES service line data glossary that people use.
• BGs have a well‑known, go‑to steward who can train staff and answer data questions.
• Data definitions and classifications translate into data models and AI tools that are reliable and structured enough to answer the questions leaders and teams care about.
• Teams have the tools available to them to effectively leverage data for their project delivery and pursuits.
• Teams proactively reference shared definitions instead of creating local terminology.

Preferred Qualifications

• Ten years of strategic leadership experience focused on growing, developing and leading teams in change management and working with data.
• Fifteen years of overall experience providing diverse data centric solutions and services to an organization and the industry.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in architecture, engineering, data science, business, computer science, or related discipline or equivalent related experience.
• A minimum of 10 years of experience in the Architecture Engineering industry.
• Experienced in development and management of diverse teams.
• Ability to work cooperatively with other leaders, operations managers, technical directors and marketing managers.
• Committed to quality, improvement, and HDR values.
• An attitude and commitment to being an active participant of our employee‑owned culture.

What We Believe

HDR is our company. Together, we build on each other's life experiences and perspectives to make great things possible every day. This shapes our collaborative culture, encourages organizational trust and connects us closer to the clients and communities we serve.

Our Commitment

As employee owners, we all have a role in creating an inclusive environment where each of us is welcomed, valued, respected and empowered to bring our authentic selves to work every day.

Our eight Employee Network Groups (Asian Pacific, Black, Hispanic/Latino(a), LGBTQ+, People with Disabilities, Veterans, Women, Young Professionals) help create a sense of belonging and foster a supportive environment where everyone is empowered to engage and contribute. Each group has an executive sponsor and is open to all employees.

We provide a comprehensive benefits package that promotes employee ownership, employee health, performance, and success, which includes medical, dental, vision, short and long‑term disability, life insurance, an employee assistance program, paid time away, parental leave, paid holidays, a retirement savings plan with employer match, employee referral bonus and tuition reimbursement. The expected compensation range for this position depends upon skills, experience, education and geographical location. (Stated benefits are for full‑time regular positions. Temporary and part‑time roles eligible for limited benefits.) $150,000 - $200,000

Primary Location: United States-Nebraska-Omaha

Other Locations: United States-North Carolina-Charlotte, United States-Texas-Austin, United States-Washington-Bellevue, United States-Missouri-Kansas City, United States-Massachusetts-Boston, United States-Colorado-Denver, United States-New Jersey-Pennington, United States-Tennessee-Nashville, United States-New York-New York, United States-Texas-Houston, United States-California-Irvine, Canada-Ontario-Toronto, United States-Arizona-Phoenix, United States-California-Walnut Creek, United States-Florida-Orlando, United States-Illinois-Chicago, United States-California-Los Angeles, United States-Idaho-Boise, United States-Minnesota-Minneapolis, United States-North Carolina-Raleigh, United States-Washington-Seattle, United States-Pennsylvania-Pittsburgh, United States-Texas-San Antonio, United States-Texas-Dallas, United States-Virginia-Arlington, United States-Ohio-Columbus

Industry: Building Engineering

Schedule: Full-time

Employee Status: Regular

BusinessClass: Digital

Job Posting: Aug 11, 2026

At HDR, we are committed to the principles of employment equity. We are an affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer (https://www.hdrinc.com/equal-employment-opportunity-employer). We consider all qualified applicants, regardless of criminal histories, arrest and conviction records.