Senior Vice President, Electrical Engineer - Buildings

WSP in the U.S.; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 303,000; Full time

Job summary

WSP USA invites a Senior Vice President, Electrical Engineering to lead the Property & Buildings practice in Southern California, focusing on Healthcare, Commercial, Higher Education, and Civic sectors.

The role blends strategic growth, client development, and technical direction across power systems, lighting, life safety, renewables, and decarbonization while mentoring teams and delivering landmark projects.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Electrical or Architectural Engineering from an accredited institution.
• Professional Engineer (PE) license required.
• 15+ years of progressive electrical engineering experience with leadership responsibilities.
• Demonstrated success leading large-scale Healthcare, Commercial, Higher Education, and/or Civic projects.
• Strong business development experience with a proven record of developing client relationships and winning work.
• Experience managing multidisciplinary teams and complex project portfolios.
• Excellent communication, presentation, negotiation, and leadership skills.
• Ability to travel as needed to support clients and project teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead strategic growth initiatives for the Property & Buildings practice throughout Southern California.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with key clients, government agencies, healthcare systems, universities, developers, architects, and contractors.
• Identify, pursue, and secure new business opportunities and major project pursuits.
• Collaborate with regional and national leadership to establish growth strategies and market priorities.
• Lead proposal development, presentations, contract negotiations, and client engagement activities.
• Represent WSP at industry organizations, conferences, and networking events.
• Provide executive oversight and technical direction for complex electrical engineering projects.
• Guide project teams in planning, design, and delivery of power distribution, lighting, life safety, low-voltage systems, renewables, and critical facility infrastructure.
• Champion innovation, resiliency, sustainability, electrification, and decarbonization initiatives across project types.
• Ensure compliance with codes, standards, quality procedures, and client requirements.
• Serve as subject matter expert and trusted advisor on critical projects.
• Build, mentor, and develop high-performing engineering teams.
• Foster collaborative, inclusive culture focused on growth and technical excellence.
• Support recruitment, retention, succession planning, and leadership development.
• Provide coaching and mentorship to project managers, senior engineers, and emerging leaders.
• Provide executive oversight of project performance, profitability, quality, and client satisfaction.
• Partner with project managers to ensure successful project execution.
• Monitor financial performance, resource planning, and business metrics.
• Support risk management and QA initiatives.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Business development

Multidisciplinary team leadership

Client relationship building

Executive communication

Education

Bachelor's in Electrical or Architectural Engineering

Job description

Job Description

We are seeking a Senior Vice President, Electrical Engineering to lead the growth and delivery of our WSP's Property & Buildings practice in San Deigo, with a strong focus on Healthcare, Commercial, Higher Education, and Civic market sectors. This leadership role presents a unique opportunity to drive strategic growth, develop client relationships, mentor talented professionals, and oversee the delivery of landmark projects throughout Southern California and beyond.

This Opportunity

As a Senior Vice President, you will serve as a trusted advisor to clients, a market leader within the Southern California region, and a key contributor to the continued expansion of WSP's Property & Buildings business. The successful candidate will combine technical excellence, business development expertise, and operational leadership to grow market share while delivering exceptional client service.

You will collaborate with multidisciplinary teams, executive leadership, and key stakeholders to advance WSP's position as an industry leader within the Healthcare, Commercial, Higher Education, and Civic sectors.

Your Impact

Leadership & Business Development

• Lead strategic growth initiatives for the Property & Buildings practice throughout Southern California.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with key clients, government agencies, healthcare systems, universities, developers, architects, and contractors.
• Identify, pursue, and secure new business opportunities and major project pursuits.
• Collaborate with regional and national leadership to establish growth strategies and market priorities.
• Lead proposal development, presentations, contract negotiations, and client engagement activities.
• Represent WSP at industry organizations, conferences, and networking events.

Technical Leadership

• Provide executive oversight and technical direction for complex electrical engineering projects.
• Guide project teams in the planning, design, and delivery of power distribution, lighting, life safety, low-voltage systems, renewable energy, and critical facility infrastructure projects.
• Champion innovation, resiliency, sustainability, electrification, and decarbonization initiatives across all project types.
• Ensure compliance with applicable codes, standards, quality management procedures, and client requirements.
• Serve as a subject matter expert and trusted advisor on critical projects.

Team Development

• Build, mentor, and develop high-performing engineering teams.
• Foster a collaborative and inclusive culture focused on professional growth and technical excellence.
• Support recruitment, retention, succession planning, and leadership development initiatives.
• Provide coaching and mentorship to project managers, senior engineers, and emerging leaders.

Project & Operational Management

• Provide executive oversight of project performance, profitability, quality, and client satisfaction.
• Partner with project managers and operational leaders to ensure successful project execution.
• Monitor financial performance, resource planning, utilization, and business metrics.
• Support risk management and quality assurance initiatives.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Electrical or Architectural Engineering from an accredited institution.
• Professional Engineer (PE) license required.
• 15+ years of progressive electrical engineering experience, including leadership responsibilities.
• Demonstrated success leading large-scale Healthcare, Commercial, Higher Education, and/or Civic projects.
• Strong business development experience with a proven record of developing client relationships and winning work.
• Experience managing multidisciplinary teams and complex project portfolios.
• Strong understanding of electrical power systems, lighting design, emergency power, low-voltage systems, renewable energy integration, and building performance.
• Excellent communication, presentation, negotiation, and leadership skills.
• Ability to travel as needed to support clients and project teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's Degree in Engineering, Business Administration, or related field.
• LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP), Certified Energy Manager (CEM), or similar credential.
• Established relationships within the Southern California AEC market.
• Experience working with major healthcare systems, higher education institutions, civic agencies, and commercial developers.
• Strong understanding of California building codes, healthcare regulations, energy codes, and sustainability initiatives.

WSP Benefits:

WSP provides a comprehensive suite of benefits focused on a providing health and financial stability throughout the employee’s career. These benefits include coverage related to medical, dental, vision, disability, and life; retirement savings; paid sick leave; paid vacation (or other personal time); paid parental leave; and paid time off for purposes of bereavement, voting, and/or attendance at naturalization proceedings.

Compensation:

Expected Salary (all locations): $190,200- $303,400

WSP USA is providing the compensation range that the company in good faith believes it might pay and offer for this position, based on the successful applicant’s education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities in addition to internal equity and specific geographic location. WSP USA reserves the right to ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant’s sex or other status protected by local, state, and/or federal law.

About WSP

WSP USA is the U.S. operating company of WSP, one of the world's leading engineering and professional services firms. Dedicated to serving local communities, we are engineers, planners, technical experts, strategic advisors and construction management professionals. WSP USA designs lasting solutions in the buildings, transportation, energy, water and environment markets. With more than 15,000 employees in over 300 offices across the U.S., we partner with our clients to help communities prosper.

ABOUT US

www.wsp.com

WSP provides a flexible and agile workplace model while meeting client needs. Employees are also afforded a comprehensive suite of benefits including medical, dental, vision, disability, life, and retirement savings focused on providing health and financial stability throughout the employee’s career.

At WSP, we want to give our employees the challenges they seek to grow their careers and knowledge base. Your daily contributions to your team will be essential in meeting client objectives, goals and challenges. Are you ready to get started?

WSP USA (and all of its U.S. companies) is an Equal Opportunity Employer Race/Age/Color/Religion/Sex/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/National Origin/Disability or Protected Veteran Status.

The selected candidate must be authorized to work in the United States.