Business Group Director-Cultural Resources

environmentalscienceassociates; Tampa (FL); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Environmental Science Associates (ESA) seeks an established cultural resources leader to build and grow our Southeast practice from the ground up. This senior leadership role offers the opportunity to set direction, recruit a team, and develop a business with support from ESA’s employee-owned structure and national practice.

The role focuses on turning demand into a regional practice across the Southeast and Gulf Coast.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of cultural resources consulting experience with success winning and retaining clients.
• Strong knowledge of Section 106, NEPA, and state/local requirements and compliance coordination.

Responsibilities

• Lead development, operations, and financial performance of the Southeast cultural resources group.
• Win work, recruit key people, and establish a dependable delivery team.

Skills

Entrepreneurial leadership

Business development

Hiring decisions

Staff development

Project delivery

Client relationships

Market knowledge

Education

Graduate degree in anthropology, archaeology, architectural history, cultural resources management, or related field

Job description

Environmental Science Associates (ESA) is a 100% employee-owned environmental consulting firm. We plan, design, permit, mitigate, and restore for projects across our communities, infrastructure systems, open spaces, and wildlands. We are 50 years strong in 21 offices across California, the Pacific Northwest, and the southeastern United States.

ESA is seeking an established cultural resources leader to build and grow our Southeast practice from the ground up. This senior leadership role offers the opportunity to set the direction, recruit a team, and develop a business that reflects your experience and ambition, with the support of a full-service environmental consulting firm that is employee-owned and has an established national cultural resources practice. The ideal candidate shall launch a regional cultural resources group as a near-term priority in ESA's South/East Growth Plan. Our clients and teaming partners already seek these services alongside our biological resources and environmental planning work. You will turn that demand into a regional practice, bring more cultural resources work into ESA, and develop new client relationships.

This practice will advance ESA's broader growth in transportation and aviation, water and public infrastructure, energy, and coastal restoration and resilience. You will connect cultural resources expertise with environmental planning, permitting strategy, and natural resources services to help clients address complex projects. Building on our Florida foundation, you will help pursue opportunities in Georgia, the Carolinas, Texas, and the wider Gulf Coast.

You will work closely with the Regional Director, regional business group leaders, and ESA's Cultural Resources Practice Leader to shape the growth plan and priorities for hiring. Collaboration with cultural resources colleagues across ESA will connect the new team to technical expertise and project delivery support as the Southeast practice develops. This role can be based in a hybrid arrangement from ESA's Tampa, Orlando, Boynton Beach, Sarasota, or Pensacola offices. We are also open to remote candidates in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

Who You Are

• An entrepreneurial industry leader and technical expert who enjoys building a business and helping people succeed.
• Translate client relationships and market knowledge into a focused pipeline of work, make sound hiring decisions, and stay involved in project delivery while a team takes shape.
• Have excellent judgment to balance growth with technical quality, staff development, and financial performance.
• Approachable and collaborative, with a record of earning trust among clients, colleagues, tribes, and agency partners. Flexible and creative and value enduring client relationships and understand that protecting ESA's employee-owner culture is central to successful growth.
• Ability to mentor future leaders, welcome different perspectives, and create a respectful workplace where people can contribute and advance.
• At least 15 years of relevant cultural resources consulting experience, with demonstrated success winning and retaining clients, leading teams, and managing complex projects and business performance.
• A strong professional network in the Southeast, experience in Florida, and relationships across the Gulf or South Atlantic states are especially valuable.
• A graduate degree in anthropology, archaeology, architectural history, cultural resources management, or a related field, and qualifications that meet the Secretary of the Interior's Professional Qualification Standards for Archaeology.
• A track record of growing cultural resources services or expanding into new markets is especially valuable.
• Experience directing cultural resources work in the Southeast, including archaeological investigations, historic architectural studies, resource evaluation, and treatment or mitigation planning, with the ability to assemble the right specialists for each assignment.
• Strong working knowledge of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, NEPA, and applicable state and local requirements; experience integrating cultural resources analyses into environmental reviews and coordinating complex compliance efforts.
• Experience working with federal, state, and local agencies, State Historic Preservation Offices, Tribal representatives, and land managers, with a respectful approach to supporting agency-led Tribal consultation.
• The ability to develop business and capture plans, lead proposals, negotiate scopes and budgets, and guide project managers through delivery, quality review, and financial management.

What You Will Do For ESA

You will lead the development, operations, and financial performance of the Southeast cultural resources group. Your responsibilities will evolve as the practice grows, with an initial emphasis on winning work, recruiting key people, and establishing a dependable delivery team.

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