Senior Project Manager - Planning

This Opportunity

WSP USA, Inc. (WSP) is looking for a motivated, highly skilled, and experienced Senior Planning Manager for our California Planning Practice.  This role is aligned with WSP’s Senior Vice President level and will focus on  transportation, housing, environmental, or land use planning for our California-based planning team. This leader will work closely with planning, environmental, civil, and transit/rail staff across WSP to research, analyze, document and present information related to various types of transportation and housing projects across the region and can be based out of any WSP California office. 

The Senior Planning Manager will organize, plan, and grow our Planning services in Northern California while serving as a client advisor, staff manager, and pursuit and project manager on Northern California and regional projects and programs. This manager will provide leadership, definition, and oversight pertaining to the consistent delivery of large scale/highly complex project management work within a sector or national business line, ensuring the application of capabilities and expertise, and that QA/QC practices are in alignment with corporate business strategy, operational performance, and risk management objectives.  Serves as a Project Management subject matter expert and champion for ensuring corporate compliance with all internal project management standards and successfully addressing current and future project management challenges within a large-scale and multi-faceted business organization.

Your Impact

• Lead our Northern California-based team of land use, housing, transit/transportation, and environmental (NEPA/CEQA) planners.
• Provide profit & loss leadership over projects, pursuits, and staff, including managing and directing successful outcomes for key performance indicators.
• Provide proactive and strategic leadership for the planning discipline and function, offering direction, expertise, and support to ensure technically proficient and high-quality planning deliverables are provided to our clients.
• Responsible for the contribution and management of multi-disciplinary project teams in all phases of the execution and delivery of feasibility studies, alternatives analyses, site selection reports, NEPA/CEQA compliance documents, locally preferred alternative selection, comprehensive plan updates, climate action plans, short/long range plans, etc. 
• Lead larger-scale more complex planning projects ensuring contributors know what they are required to do and by when, preparing and overseeing relevant project budgets, monitoring external events, tracking hours and expenses, ensuring profitability and satisfactory performance, and supervising subcontractors, contract work, and employees.
• Actively ensure compliance with applicable Federal, State, and Local Agency laws, policies, and regulatory requirements.
• Support the overall long-term strategy, growth, and pipeline development of transportation, housing, and environmental planning work for WSP in assigned area of responsibility, with a focus on opportunities in all disciplines (planning, design, strategic consulting, and program management).  
• Lead technical aspects of contract negotiation, presentations, and meetings.
• Assist with the preparation of an annual update to business tactical action plans within the specified area.
• Ensure that planning discipline certifications, accreditations, and value proposition is developed and continuously improved.
• Conduct needs analyses and client value surveys to align the planning discipline’s function with business and project strategy, identifying and addressing any skill gaps or risks within the sector business operations.
• Schedule planning discipline meetings, providing updates and recommendations to ensure that all reasonable and proper measures are taken to inculcate discipline expertise and innovation into project work.
• Serve as one of the planning discipline’s lead representatives/liaison to a variety of external entities including Federal, State, and Local Agencies, Clients, Subcontractors, industry-related groups, and various government and community entities.
• Develop and inform proposal and project scopes, timelines, pricing, and budgetary metrics.
• Interpret and summarize data, including reports and documents that result in sound planning and regulatory conclusions to minimize impacts