Stakeholder Management, Permits & Communications Director

Snc-Lavalin; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical

Dental

Vision

Company-paid life and disability

401(k) matching with vesting

Employee stock purchase plan

Paid time off

Flexible work options

Recognition programs

Employee assistance program

Voluntary benefits

Job summary

AtkinsRéalis is seeking a Stakeholder Management, Permits & Communications Director to lead regulatory engagement and permitting coordination for a major pharmaceutical campus program in the United States. The role demands a proactive communications framework, executive reporting, and cross-agency collaboration across federal, state, and local authorities.

You will develop comprehensive stakeholder engagement plans, track permitting milestones, and coordinate with project teams and external

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field or equivalent experience.
• Extensive experience leading stakeholder engagement and permitting programs.
• Proven ability to coordinate with federal, state, and local agencies.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the owner’s lead for stakeholder management and communications across the campus program.
• Develop and manage a campus-wide permitting strategy aligned with milestones.
• Coordinate regulatory approvals, risk tracking, and issue resolution with authorities.
• Prepare executive briefings, dashboards, and decision-support materials.

Skills

Stakeholder mgmt

Regulatory affairs

Permitting coordination

Communications strategy

Executive reporting

Risk management

Public engagement

Leadership communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Job Description Overview

We are seeking a Stakeholder Management, Permits & Communications Director to join our team in TX, AL, VA, PA, OH, IN, and WI. Our Pharmaceutical team is growing! The Stakeholder Management, Permits & Communications Lead serves as the owner's single, coordinated voice across internal and external stakeholders for a major pharmaceutical manufacturing campus program. This highly visible leadership role is responsible for managing permitting and regulatory interfaces across multiple jurisdictions, coordinating engagement with public agencies and community stakeholders, and maintaining a disciplined communications framework that keeps executive leadership informed of program risks, decisions, milestones, and emerging issues. Unlike traditional project management roles focused on scope, cost, or schedule delivery, this position ensures that stakeholder alignment, external approvals, and communication pathways remain proactive, coordinated, and transparent throughout the lifecycle of the program. Success is measured by securing critical permits on schedule, maintaining positive relationships with regulatory and community stakeholders, eliminating communication gaps across the program, and enabling rapid executive decision-making through clear and structured reporting. This is a unique opportunity to help shape and lead one of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturing investments in North America while working alongside industry-leading professionals on a career-defining program on a greenfield campus. We are offering a full-time position with AtkinsRéalis that provides the opportunity to lead complex, high-profile programs, collaborate with world-class delivery teams, and receive a highly competitive compensation package with robust benefits.

Your role

Serve as the owner's primary lead for stakeholder management, regulatory engagement, permitting coordination, and communications strategy across the campus program. Establish and maintain a comprehensive stakeholder engagement framework spanning client leadership, project teams, contractors, regulatory agencies, utility providers, community organizations, and local governments. Develop and manage a campus-wide permitting strategy that aligns regulatory approvals with project delivery milestones. Coordinate permit identification, application development, review cycles, approvals, conditions tracking, and compliance requirements across all project workstreams. Act as the primary interface between project teams and permitting authorities having jurisdiction. Lead engagement and coordination efforts with federal, state, regional, and local agencies. Track permitting schedules, risks, dependencies, and critical approval milestones that could affect program execution. Partner with project delivery teams to resolve permitting obstacles and regulatory issues before they impact project schedules. Coordinate environmental, utility, infrastructure, transportation, life-safety, zoning, and construction-related permitting activities. Facilitate executive-level communications regarding permitting risks, regulatory developments, and stakeholder concerns. Develop and maintain structured communications plans and governance processes for program-wide stakeholder engagement. Establish regular communication cadences for Lilly executive leadership, steering committees, project teams, and external stakeholders. Prepare executive briefings, dashboards, reports, presentations, and decision-support materials. Coordinate messaging across multiple contractors, consultants, and internal functional teams to ensure consistency and alignment. Support leadership management of high-profile stakeholder issues, community concerns, regulatory inquiries, and public-facing communications. Identify and mitigate stakeholder-related risks that could affect project approvals, reputation, or program objectives. Build and maintain strong relationships with government officials, community leaders, agency representatives, and executive stakeholders. Support crisis communications and escalation management when significant permitting or stakeholder issues arise. Promote transparency, accountability, and accurate information sharing across all stakeholder groups. Drive implementation of stakeholder engagement best practices and lessons learned across the broader campus program.

About you

• Bachelor's degree in Public Administration, Communications, Engineering, Construction Management, Program Management, Environmental Studies, Political Science, or related field.
• 20+ years of professional experience (BS) supporting major capital programs, infrastructure developments, or large industrial projects.
• Minimum 10 years of experience leading stakeholder engagement, permitting, regulatory affairs, communications, public involvement, or program management functions.
• Demonstrated experience supporting programs exceeding $1 billion in capital value.
• Experience managing permitting and regulatory coordination for complex industrial, pharmaceutical, semiconductor, energy, infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, or large-scale construction projects.
• Experience coordinating with environmental regulators, utility providers, transportation agencies, fire marshals, planning authorities, and other governing bodies.
• Experience supporting executive leadership through structured governance, reporting, and decision-making frameworks.
• Experience supporting community engagement and public-facing project initiatives.
• Experience navigating highly visible projects operating under significant public, political, or regulatory scrutiny.
• Strong understanding of permitting processes across federal, state, and local jurisdictions.
• Proven ability to develop and execute comprehensive stakeholder engagement and communications strategies.
• Strong understanding of project development, design, construction, commissioning, startup, and operational readiness processes.
• Exceptional written, verbal, presentation facilitation, and executive communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to manage complex stakeholder relationships with competing priorities and interests.
• Proven ability to influence across large matrixed organizations without direct authority.
• Strong analytical, organizational, risk management, and problem-solving capabilities.
• Ability to develop trusting relationships with executive stakeholders, government officials, and regulatory agencies.
• Demonstrated success operating within fast-paced, high-profile client environments.
• Willingness to travel and maintain significant on-site engagement as required.

Rewards & benefits

At AtkinsRéalis, our values—Safety, Integrity, Collaboration, Innovation, and Excellence—are more than just words. They are the foundation of who we are and how we work. These principles shape our culture, guide our decisions, and inspire us to create an environment where every team member feels empowered to grow, success, and make a meaningful impact.

• medical
• dental
• vision
• company-paid life and short- and long-term disability benefits
• employer-matched 401(k) with 100% vesting
• employee stock purchase plan
• Paid Time Off
• leaves of absences options
• flexible work options
• recognition and employee satisfaction programs
• employee assistance program
• and voluntary benefits.

About AtkinsRéalis

We’re AtkinsRéalis, a world-class engineering services and nuclear organization. We connect people, data and technology to transform the world's infrastructure and energy systems. Together, with our industry partners and clients, and our global team of consultants, designers, engineers and project managers, we can change the world. We're committed to leading our clients across our various end markets to engineer a better future for our planet and its people. Find out more.

Additional information

Expected compensation range is between $170,000 - $200,000+ annually depending on skills, experience, and geographical location.

Equal Opportunity

AtkinsRéalis is an equal opportunity, Drug-Free employer EOE/Veteran/Disability Please review AtkinsRéalis’ Equal Opportunity Statement here.

Diversity Commitment

Worker Type Employee Job Type Regular At AtkinsRéalis, we seek to hire individuals with diverse characteristics, backgrounds and perspectives. We strongly believe that world-class talent makes no distinctions based on gender, ethnic or national origin, sexual identity and orientation, age, religion or disability, but enriches itself through these differences. Created by the integration of long-standing organizations dating back to 1911, AtkinsRéalis is a world-class engineering services and nuclear company dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. We create sustainable solutions that connect people, data and technology to transform the world's infrastructure and technology. We deploy global capabilities locally to our clients and deliver unique end-to-end services across the whole life cycle of an asset including consulting, advisory & environmental services, intelligent networks & cybersecurity, design & engineering, procurement, project & construction management, operations & maintenance, decommissioning and capital. The breadth and depth of our capabilities are delivered to clients in strategic sectors such as Engineering Services, Nuclear and Capital. News and information are available at Atkinsrealis or follow us on LinkedIn.