Senior Lead FEMA GIS Professional

This Opportunity

WSP is currently seeking a motivated Senior Lead FEMA GIS Professional with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) experience to join our team. The successful candidate will be an experienced technical professional and project manager who can oversee the management of a portfolio of projects executed by multi-disciplinary teams across various geographic locations. By leading impactful projects and mentoring staff, you will play a key role in advancing community resilience and driving innovation within the GIS field. This position will be an integral member supporting contracts with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), including FEMA Headquarters and Regions 1, 2, 3, and/or 5 and may be asked to support other contracts as needs arise. Ideal candidates are seasoned professionals passionate about driving project success, mentoring junior staff, and advancing innovative GIS solutions.

Your Impact

• Manage projects related to GIS database design and management, qualitative/quantitative analysis, mapping, and data visualization
• Build and maintain strong relationships with clients, proactively addressing their needs and aligning project outcomes with organizational goals.
• Communicating with clients to understand their objectives and leading a team to successfully achieve those objectives within scope, schedule, budget requirements. 
• Implement corrective actions as necessary to maintain project quality and timelines.
• Supervise GIS staff, oversee FEMA projects, and allocate and review project tasks
• Works with team members and clients to prepare scopes, schedules, budgets, assumptions, and constraints for projects 
• Oversees adherence to project plans and established business processes, including quality and project management standards 
• Coordinates activities of multi-disciplinary staff to ensure project delivery per schedule, on budget, and within scope parameters
• Provides guidance to team members related successful delivery across the full project lifecycle, including developing forecasts and estimates 
• Provide technical guidance and reviews to ensure the delivery of high-quality work.
• Ensure data quality (QA/QC) and uphold best practices for geospatial data management.
• Proactively strategizes and anticipates risks and issues 
• Coordinate with other managers to balance workload and staffing needs
• Engage other Subject Matter Experts and technical support staff as needed to support FEMA Regions
• Mentor junior GIS staff, oversee, allocate, and review projects 
• Participate in client meetings and follow through on assigned action items directly with clients and communities 
• Communicate with project team members, government representatives (federal, state, and local), and other stakeholders to define data needs, project requirements, and desired outputs
• Customize GIS workflow and software programs for data collection, engineering, and environmental applications
• Cultivate and manage client relationships and guide application of services to best serve the interests of the client and WSP 

Who You Are

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years of GIS project experience 
• Four-year Bachelor’s Degree in GIS, Geography, or related field
• Proficiency using ESRI ArcGIS software
• Experience with FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program
• Excellent creative problem-solving, analytical, multi-tasking, and organizational skills
• Financial project management skills, including earn value management
• Strong production management capabilities and a proven understanding of project management methodologies
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, proactive communicator and problem-solver
• Strong attention to detail and demonstrated ownership and accountability for work
• Capability to work in a dynamic environment, including a demonstrated willingness to be flexible and adaptable to changing priorities 
• Ability to work collaboratively with a wide array of individuals from various backgrounds, including engineers; planners; GIS professionals; federal, tribal, and state government officials; and the public
• Strong multi-tasking and organizational skills