Hydraulics Practice Lead - Dams and Levees

Geosyntec Consultants; Davis (CA); Hybrid; USD 149,330 - 259,690; Full time

Job summary

Geosyntec Consultants is seeking a Hydraulics Practice Lead - Dams and Levees to build and lead a national hydraulic engineering group. You will direct technical teams across the country, grow client relationships, and manage complex dam and levee projects with emphasis on modeling, design, and risk assessment.

The role combines leadership, business development, and technical excellence, with flexible work arrangements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's in water resources or environmental engineering (required).
• Professional registration (P.E.) (required).
• 15+ years of direct engineering consulting experience on water resources/dams and levees projects (preferred).
• Experience leading multi-disciplinary teams and managing complex projects (required).
• Experience with project management and business development (required).
• Strong leadership, communication, and client-relations skills (required).
• Willingness to travel and perform fieldwork (required).

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership to grow the hydraulic engineering practice within Dams and Levees.
• Coordinate with a network of hydraulic and hydrologic engineers to support nationwide projects.
• Lead hydraulic analysis and modeling (1-D/2-D/3-D) using various software; scope and advise on projects.
• Design spillways, outlet works, and other dam hydraulic structures.
• Conduct flood hazard assessment and dam breach modeling; support economic consequence analyses.
• Act as H&H SME on probabilistic risk assessment and reviews for safety studies.
• Lead business development, staff mentoring, and contribution to proposals.
• Prepare technical reports, letters, plans, specifications, and proposals.
• Occasionally travel to client sites and attend conferences as needed.

Skills

Leadership

Project management

Business development

Communication skills

Travel willingness

Fieldwork

Team collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in water resources or environmental engineering

Professional engineering license (P.E.)

Advanced degree (preferred)

Tools

HEC-RAS (1-D/2-D)

HEC-LifeSim

HEC-FIA

DAMRAE

CFD (3-D) models

Job description

Overview

Geosyntec has an exciting opportunity for a Hydraulics Practice Lead - Dams and Levees for our growing practice in Los Angeles, CA, Davis, CA, or Denver, CO or any of our other Geosyntec offices throughout the U.S. This position may offer the flexibility to work a hybrid or fully remote schedule at the discretion of the company. You will serve in a key leadership role and build out our hydraulic engineering capabilities, leveraging existing staff resources and collaborating with other senior dam practitioners across the firm. You will have the opportunity to establish a national dams and levees‑focused hydraulic engineering group that works on complex projects involving hydraulic structures and other flood risk management infrastructure. Projects span hydraulic modeling of various complexities, spillway, and other hydraulic structure evaluation and design, supporting probabilistic risk analysis, hydraulic and hydrologic modeling for large riverine systems, flood modeling, and dam breach consequence assessment studies.

Geosyntec is an innovative, international engineering and consulting firm serving private and public‑sector clients to address new ventures and complex problems involving our environment, natural resources, and civil infrastructure. Our engineers, scientists, technical, and project employees serve our clients from offices across the world. Ranked by ENR as one of the top environmental engineering design firms, Geosyntec is internationally known for its technical leadership, broad experience, and exceptional client service.

We invest in our people. Each employee is unique, and your career at Geosyntec will be too. We offer competitive pay and benefits, and well‑being programs to support you and your family.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Collaboration and mentoring are cornerstones of Geosyntec's culture. You should expect to work closely with experienced professionals who will help integrate you into Geosyntec's culture as you advance to this next stage of your career of leading and growing a practice. We operate under a sell‑manage‑do culture, and so we expect that you'd work on challenging technical projects while leveraging your existing knowledge and experience to help Geosyntec expand its current practices and capabilities through business development and client management.

• Provide technical leadership and guidance directed at growing a hydraulic engineering practice within Geosyntec's Dams and Levees high‑growth area business line;
• Pulling together resources from our existing network of hydraulic and hydrologic engineers to support dam and levee projects across the country, and fostering their professional growth while also recruiting additional technical team members;
• Past experience with hydraulic analysis and modeling (1‑D and 2‑D, and 3‑D) utilizing various hydraulic modeling software. Ability to scope, lead, and serve as a technical advisor on modeling projects;
• Rehabilitation and design of existing/new spillways, outlet works, and other appurtenant dam hydraulic structures;
• Flood hazard assessment and dam breach modeling for inundation mapping and support of direct and indirect economic consequence estimation. Familiarity with HEC‑FIA and HEC‑LifeSim software is a plus;
• Serving as H&H Subject Matter Expert on probabilistic risk assessment and risk evaluation teams;
• Serving as H&H Subject Matter Expert and providing a senior review for Independent Technical Review Boards on dam safety modification studies and design projects;
• Inspections of existing hydraulic structures and dam safety review of previous analyses and studies against the current state of the practice and design criteria.
• Interacting with client representatives;
• Task and project‑level responsibility for scoping, performing, managing, and delivering multiple concurrent project assignments;
• Consistent with our sell‑manage‑do business model, play a role in lead generation, business development, staff development, and mentoring;
• Help broaden our reputation and visibility via publishing and presenting at prominent industry conferences such as USSD, ASDSO, CEATI, and NHA;
• Task and project management, including planning and directing staff, budgeting and budget management, adherence to schedule, quality, client satisfaction, and profitability;
• Recruiting, supervising, and mentoring junior staff; and
• Preparing technical reports, letters, memoranda, plans, specifications, and proposals.
• Drive personal, company, and rental vehicles to client or company project or office sites, and other business locations, as needed.

Education and Licensure

• Bachelor's degree in water resources or environmental engineering or a closely related field with emphasis on water resources or a closely related discipline. (required)
• Advanced degrees of the same. (preferred)
• Professional registration (i.e., P.E.). (required)

Skills, Experience and Qualifications

• At least 10 years (15+ preferred) of direct engineering consulting experience working on water resource projects with a focus on dams and levees; or an equivalent combination of education and experience working on the types of projects described above. (required)
• Experience with multi‑disciplinary project teams. (required)
• Experience with project management and business development (required)
• Excellent leadership and detail orientation skills. (required)
• Experience performing hydrologic studies for dams and specific experience performing probabilistic flood hazard analyses. (preferred)
• Experience with modeling tools such as platforms like HEC‑RAS (1‑D and 2‑D), CFD (3‑D) models, or similar. HEC‑LifeSim, HEC‑FIA, DAMRAE or similar. (preferred)
• Exceptional social skills and outstanding oral and written communication skills. (required)
• Ability and willingness to perform fieldwork and travel for site visits, inspections, and other business‑related meetings or conferences. (required)
• Field work and overnight travel may be required.
• Current OSHA 40‑hr HAZWOPER training and refreshers. (preferred)
• Health & Safety training, medical monitoring, and client‑driven drug and background testing may be required.
• Valid U.S. driver's license and a satisfactory driving record for business travel. (required)

Compensation

• Minimum Salary: $156,115/year / Maximum Salary: $271,495/year (Los Angeles, CA)
• Minimum Salary: $149,330/year / Maximum Salary: $259,690/year (Davis, CA)
• Minimum Salary: $142,540/year / Maximum Salary: $247,885/year (Denver, CO)

We offer a comprehensive benefits package including, paid holidays, vacation, sick, and personal paid time off, medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance, 401(k), and other benefits to eligible employees.