Southern California Environmental Lead

San Diego, CA, United States

Here at Mott MacDonald, we are experts in engineering, management, and development services supporting multisector project work in over 150 countries. One of the largest employee-owned companies in the world, we pride ourselves in our ability to deliver exceptional outcomes through the connected thinking of our 16,000+ talented consultants. Sustainability and innovation are at the heart of all of our sectors which, in North America include Advisory, Built Environment, Energy, Transportation, and Water.

An exciting opportunity at Mott MacDonald awaits environmental, planning or engineering professionals in southern California. Our Environmental Practice is currently looking for a Principal CEQA/NEPA Planner/Project Manager to join our growing North America Environment practice and initiate these services in southern California. The ideal candidate should have extensive experience in managing complex environmental documents throughout the State of California/Western United States. Expertise in successfully managing CEQA and NEPA documents for transportation, transit, mixed-use development, residential, and urban in-fill for various public agencies and private developers is required.

Locally, we are leading challenging projects/providing design expertise on projects in California, with ample opportunities to expand our environmental planning capabilities alongside our Transportation, Rail, and Aviation sectors. It's an exciting time for our industry in the environmental sector; find your next career challenge here at Mott MacDonald!

You'll be responsible for and have experience with the following:

Developing environmental documents (Tier I/Tier II) including CEQA/NEPA documents (EIR for State environmental clearance under CEQA, complex EA or EIS for NEPA approval) in accordance with Caltrans’ Standard Environmental Reference (SER) and Environmental Handbook, and FHWA Technical Advisory document to support various project phases including PA&ED

Preparing environmental justice, community services, energy, land use, and visual quality sections of EIR documents and any supplemental EIR documents as well as the preparation of the EIR documents through certification, including the writing of the land use and visual/aesthetics sections and response to comments document. Adapting the document per any proposed design changes for a transit/transportation (or other discipline) project, document any new/altered environmental impacts and associated mitigation measures.

Scoping/assessing existing environmental conditions with a field review to determine the level of environmental technical studies needed and gather relevant data.

Applying the Caltrans and FHWA Quality Control/Quality Assurance (QA/QC) checklists to ensure the document is compliant with all state and federal requirements.

Participating in the environmental clearance process for projects within cities in California and the Western United States.

Evaluating the application of technical and regulatory statutes to proposed transportation and land use development projects and determining a project’s consistency with such policies.

Working on General Plans/Long Range Plans to minimize other impacts to environmental resources, including noise, riparian habitat, geologic hazards, and floodplains.

Experience with permitting requirements for projects that require environmental clearance beyond categorical exclusion.

Responsible for managing project schedules and budgets on assigned projects.

Exhibits good technical writing skills.

Establishes himself\herself as a technical expert with varying industry knowledge.

Proactively detects technical deficiencies and develops practical, workable solutions to   problems.

Preparation of technical documents and reports.

Strong written and oral communication skills.

Quality Analysis/Quality Control of key deliverables related to projects and tasks managed as well as projects and tasks managed by others. Responsible for implementation of firm quality procedures at project and task levels.

Budget, scope and schedule development, monitoring and adherence for tasks and projects managed.

Negotiate and communicate with clients, regulatory agencies and staff.

Experience interfacing with clients and proposing innovative solutions.

Direct project team compliance with contract terms, schedule, budget and quality objectives.

Outstanding client service, organizational, planning, communications, supervisory and interpersonal skills.

Capacity to lead teams, develop other professionals, and motivate staff.

Takes full responsibility for overall execution and delivery of critical tasks or projects.

Creates an environment where others feel it is safe to be open and candid, and where conflicting ideas and opinions are regularly discussed.

Stays focused on department and corporate strategic priorities and allocates their time and resources accordingly.

Assist with growing the environmental practice to support various MM discipline/practice projects, with initial focus in California.

The ideal candidate will have:

Bachelor’s degree in Environmental science/planning/related field or equivalent from an accredited college or university

Previous Transportation/NEPA and CEQA planning experience required (15-20 years preferred)

Strong communication, interpersonal, and collaborative team building skills are a must

Business acumen to understand business risk and challenges, and recognize corporate opportunities.

Build, maintain and help grow existing client accounts.

Identify and develop new business and grow a multidisciplinary resource team.

Experience in supporting business development activities and defining new markets and

services.

Ability to travel and visit client office locations and project sites across California and the Western United States

A valid driver's license and clean driving record

Salary Range: $175,000 - $200,000

Benefits: 401k, medical, dental and vision insurance, STD/LTD disability, holiday, PTO, parental leave and company paid life insurance

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We put equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of our business, seeking to promote fair employment procedures and practices to ensure equal opportunities for all. We encourage individual expression in our workplace and are committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels they have the opportunity to contribute.

Equal employment opportunity is the law.

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All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, protected veteran status, creed, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship status or disability status.

Hybrid working policy

At Mott MacDonald, we believe it makes business sense for you and your manager to choose how you can work most effectively to meet your client, team, and personal commitments. We offer a hybrid working policy that embraces your well-being, flexibility, and trust.

More about Mott MacDonald

We’re a global engineering, management and development consultancy.

Our purpose is to improve society by considering social outcomes in everything we do, relentlessly focusing on excellence and digital innovation, transforming our clients’ businesses, our communities and employee opportunities.

A fundamental part of this is respecting each person’s differences and striving to meet their needs.

Our values: progress, respect, integrity, drive, excellence

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