Central Virginia Water Practice Manager

Dewberry; Richmond (VA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Dewberry’s Central Virginia Water Practice seeks an experienced leader to guide our Richmond-based water and wastewater program, shaping strategy, staffing, and delivery for municipal clients across Central and Southeast Virginia.

You will mentor senior project managers, coordinate regional teams, and drive business development, achieving operational excellence while delivering high-quality infrastructure projects and maintaining client relationships in a dynamic public-sector market.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering or related discipline is required
• Virginia Professional Engineer (PE) license is required
• Minimum 15 years of experience in the water/wastewater consulting industry serving public-sector clients
• Strong written and verbal communication skills are essential
• Proven success leading business development, capture planning, proposal development, and interview efforts
• Collaborative leadership with the ability to guide senior project managers and teams
• Experience building and maintaining municipal client relationships in Central Virginia
• Experience with resource planning, workload forecasting, and project performance management
• Experience leading practice operations and regional business functions within a multidisciplinary engineering environment

Responsibilities

• Lead and advance the Central Virginia water/wastewater practice through operational leadership and client service
• Provide mentorship and strategic direction to senior project managers and technical leaders
• Develop and execute client, capture, and pursuit plans aligned with regional objectives
• Coordinate with cross-office leadership to leverage national water capabilities
• Drive practice performance, client service, and project delivery excellence
• Negotiate project scopes, fees, and resource needs to meet client expectations
• Support business development and industry outreach within municipal water and wastewater markets

Skills

PE licensure

Communication skills

Multidisciplinary leadership

Business development

Resource planning

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering

Master’s degree preferred

Job description

Job Description

Dewberry isseekingan experienced and collaborativeCentral Virginia Water Practice Managerto lead and advance our Richmond-based water/wastewater practice serving clients throughout Central and Southeast Virginia.

As a key member of the Central Virginia leadership team, you will provide operational, strategic, and client leadership for a well-established regional practice, helping shape operational priorities, staffing strategies, resource planning, and practice performance while guiding senior project and client managers, supporting pursuit and proposal efforts, and ensuring the successful delivery of high-quality projects for municipal clients.

Working collaboratively across our MA Water offices in Baltimore, Fairfax, Richmond, and Virginia Beach, you will leverage Dewberry's national water expertise, strategic market resources, and deep technical bench to drive client success, strengthen practice performance, and deliver meaningful infrastructure solutions throughout the region.

The ideal candidate will bring a strong understanding of water markets, public-sector clients, and project delivery environments, along withdemonstratedsuccess leading multidisciplinary teams, implementing operational best practices, supporting business development initiatives, and fostering collaboration across geographically dispersed teams.

Dewberry is a leading, market-facing professional services firm with more than 60 locations and 2,500 professionals nationwide. What sets us apart from our competitors is our people. At Dewberry, we seek out exceptional talent and strive to deliver the highest quality of services to our clients. Whether you’re an experienced professional or a new graduate, you’ll have the chance to collaborate with the best and brighte

st and work on innovative and complex projects at the forefront of the industry. Our commitment to excellence stems from our personal integrity and from other defining attributes, which we call “Dewberry at Work,” that have inspired our employees to be successful for more than a half-century.

Responsibilities

As a member of the Dewberry team, you will lead and advance our Central Virginia water/wastewater practice through operational leadership, client service, strategic collaboration, business development, and project deliveryexcellence. Provideleadership, mentorship, and strategic direction to senior project managers, client managers, and technical leaders to promote collaboration, accountability, operational efficiency, and professional growth.

• Support practice operations through workload forecasting, resource planning, staffutilizationmanagement, and coordination of staffing needs across the region.

• Develop and execute client, capture, and pursuit plans thatsupport the strategicobjectivesof the Central Virginia water/wastewater practiceand align with Dewberry's national water strategy.

• Serve as a primary or secondary client manager for key municipal water and wastewater clients, building andmaintainingtrusted relationships with public-sector agencies throughout Central Virginia.

• Support business development efforts through identification, evaluation, and pursuit of strategic opportunities, including leading go/no-go decisions and fostering long-term client relationships.

• Collaborate withMid-Atlantic Waterbusiness unit leadership, marketing, capture, and pursuit teams to develop winning strategies, proposals,interviews,scopes, and pricing.

• Drive achievement of practice performance, client service, and strategic businessobjectivesbyleveragingDewberry's local and national water capabilities and technicalexpertise.

• Lead and coordinate local and geographically dispersed teams to position, win, and successfully deliver high-quality engineering services while promoting consistency, collaboration, operational excellence, and implementation of best practices.

• Support implementation of operational best practices, quality initiatives, project delivery improvements, and performance metrics across the Central Virginia water practice.

• Assemble and manage client, project, and subconsultant teams to meet client needs and support successful project delivery, operational excellence, and practiceobjectives.

• Negotiate project scope, fees, schedules, and resources to achieve client expectations and projectobjectives.

• Support MA Water strategy and collaboration across offices in Baltimore, Fairfax, Richmond, and Virginia Beach, including work-sharing, resource coordination, and early positioning for strategic opportunities.

• Participate in national and regional water market initiatives and represent Dewberry through active involvement in industry and professional organizations, enhancing the firm's visibility and reputation.

• Contribute to planning, coordination, and implementation of local, regional, and national practice initiatives within Dewberry's national water framework.

• Demonstrate Dewberry's commitment to honesty, integrity, teamwork, and client-focused service.

Required Skills & Required Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineeringor related disciplinerequired;Master’sdegree preferred.

• Virginia Professional Engineer (PE) licenserequired.

• Minimum15 years of experiencein the water/wastewater consulting industry servingpublic-sectorclients.

• Strong understanding of water and wastewater infrastructure systems anddemonstratedexperience leading multidisciplinary teams responsible for planning, design, and project delivery.

• Experience building andmaintainingmunicipal client relationships, preferablyin Central Virginia.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

• Proven success leading business development, capture planning, proposal development, and interview efforts for municipal water and wastewater projects.

• Collaborative leadership style with the ability to work effectively with senior leaders, peers, and staff.

• Demonstrated success managing operational performance, staffutilization, and project deliveryobjectiveswithin a consulting environment.

• Experience with resource planning, workload forecasting, project performance management, and operational leadership responsibilities.

• Experience leading practice operations, organizational initiatives, and regional business functions within amultidisciplineengineering consultingenvironment.

Don’t meet every single requirement? At Dewberry we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace for our employees. So if you’re excited about this role, but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the position description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may just be the right candidate for this or other opportunities.

*At this time, Dewberry will not sponsor a new applicant for work authorization.

*Dewberry is an Equal Opportunity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, gender identity or sexual orientation.

*Only recipients of an offer of employment from Dewberry, will be required to submit to a background screening which may include, but is not limited to, employment verification, educational and other credential verification, driving record check, criminal background check, and an investigative consumer report. These screenings will be conducted by Dewberry’s background vendor of choice and will be conducted in compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local law.

Notice to Third Party Recruiters: Dewberry only compensates job placement recruiters that have a valid Dewberry-approved written agreement in place for recruiting services. Dewberry does not compensate third party recruiters for unsolicited job placement candidate information.

Salary Range

The projected range for this position is $190,000 - $240,000 annually. Depending upon other factors, i.e., skills, experience, location, market conditions, the range may vary slightly.