Director of Civil Engineering - East Region

Department: Engineering Location: Durham, NC Compensation: $160,000 - $215,000 / year
Description
Alta is seeking a dynamic East Regional Director of Engineering to join our team in Durham and lead our growing engineering practice in the East. This is a fantastic opportunity for an engineering leader who believes in the importance of active, multimodal, and sustainable transportation to shape communities while driving business excellence and operational performance.
In this role, you will work with the Engineering Director to provide strategic leadership and operational oversight for our East region engineering teams, driving innovation in sustainable transportation design while fostering a culture of collaboration, professional growth, and excellence. You will be responsible for setting technical and strategic direction for engineering initiatives across our East region of offices, which include Atlanta, Durham, Minneapolis, Baltimore, and Nashville; ensuring our projects create positive impacts on communities nationwide while meeting financial and operational performance standards.
If you are passionate about leading transformational change in transportation engineering while developing talent and advancing organizational excellence, apply with Alta today!
About Alta Alta Planning + Design is a sustainable transportation company dedicated to creating active, healthy communities through planning, landscape architecture, engineering, and education/encouragement programs. Alta was founded in 1996 when communities were calling for safer streets for people walking and bicycling as the non-motorized transportation movement developed into a profession in the United States. We pioneered the field of active transportation, evolving our planning and design work into a visionary global practice that empowers people to live active, healthy lives and gets them to where they need to go.
Our core values and work bring about positive change by creating places that are geared toward moving people rather than cars, connecting community members to daily needs and human experience, and empowering every person to live an active healthy life. As a global leader in mobility innovation for 30 years with over 230 staff, we are dedicated to connecting people to places by working across disciplines and scale to address social justice, safety, and environmental resilience.
Leadership Responsibilities
As East Regional Director of Engineering, you will be the strategic leader responsible for driving engineering excellence and organizational growth across our East region’s operations while collaborating with other regional directors to help lead the engineering practice. Your leadership will directly impact the success of our mission to create active, healthy communities, while ensuring strong financial performance and operational excellence. Strategic Leadership & Vision
Develop and execute long-term strategic plans for the East region engineering practice, aligning with company-wide objectives and market opportunities
Ensure the East Region meets or exceeds annual and quarterly financial targets, with strong emphasis on achieving Net Service Revenue and EBITDA growth
Lead the regional engineering organization through periods of growth and change, ensuring operational excellence and cultural alignment
Champion innovation in active transportation engineering practices and emerging technologies
Drive a culture of fiscal and business acumen that empowers teams to seek continuous improvement in operational efficiency and financial performance
Play an active role in the budgeting process, including prioritization of trade-offs to grow both revenue and earnings People Leadership & Organizational Development
Lead, mentor, and develop a team of engineering professionals, project managers, and technical staff across multiple office locations
Supervise and evaluate East Region staff, creating clear performance expectations, providing regular feedback, and establishing pathways for career advancement
Build and maintain a high-performance culture focused on professional growth, collaboration, and technical excellence
Recruit, hire, and retain top engineering talent to support regional growth objectives, maintaining forward-looking hiring plans to fill open roles efficiently
Foster cross-disciplinary collaboration and knowledge sharing across engineering, planning, landscape architecture, and other practice areas
Own key performance areas including safety, client engagement, staff development and retention, and cross-business collaboration
Maintain staff utilization at or above predetermined goals while ensuring sustainable workload management Business Development & Client Relations
Assist regional business development directors in identifying new market opportunities and client relationships
Lead proposal development and client presentations for major regional projects
Maintain and expand relationships with key public sector clients
Ensure compliance with proposal and cost estimation protocols to maintain financial and delivery integrity Operational Excellence & Project Oversight
Oversee project delivery across the region, ensuring quality, schedule, and budget performance delivering projects on-time and on-budget
Oversee financial and operational performance of projects within the East Region, maintaining close oversight of project managers and their performance relative to plan while delegating effectively
Demonstrate deep understanding of financial metrics and KPIs including book-to-burn ratio, revenue factor, and overhead rate
Implement best practices and process improvements to enhance delivery efficiency and client satisfaction
Provide strategic oversight of project portfolios ranging from natural surface trails to complex multimodal transportation networks
Ensure compliance with professional standards, regulations, and company quality assurance protocols
Apply disciplined approach to managing non-billable labor and overhead costs
Qualifications
Required Experience & Education:
15+ years of progressive experience as a Transportation Engineer in consulting environment or public entity
8+ years in project management roles with demonstrated P&L responsibility
5+ years in leadership positions managing engineering teams and business operations
Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering
Professional Engineering (P.E.) license required
Proven track record of business development success and client relationship management Leadership & Management Competencies:
Demonstrated ability to lead, inspire, and develop high-performing teams in a professional services environment
Strong strategic thinking and business acumen with experience in organizational planning and execution
Financial acumen with ability to analyze business performance and articulate relevant KPIs, financial metrics, and levers of growth and profit
Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills with ability to influence at all organizational levels
Experience managing regional operations, including budget oversight, resource allocation, and performance metrics
Proven ability to drive cultural change and organizational development initiatives
Budget prioritization skills with experience evaluating trade-offs to optimize both revenue and earnings in a professional services environment
Strong command of numbers and finance, with a bias toward data-driven decision making
Critical thinking abilities with purposeful judgment and reasoned consideration of evidence, context, and objectives
Attention to detail with focus on monitoring KPIs and understanding that long-term success is driven by daily execution Technical Expertise:
Experience in active, non-motorized transportation planning and design
Comprehensive understanding of project delivery from conceptual design through construction administration
Experience with Plans, Specifications and Estimates packages for complex roadway and transportation projects
Proficiency in project management principles, methods, and techniques for large-scale, multi-disciplinary projects
Working knowledge of MS Excel, Word, MS Project, AutoCAD / Civil 3D or MicroStation / OpenRoads, and enterprise project management tools Additional Requirements:
Ability and willingness to travel regionally as needed
Strong professional ethics, accountability, and decision-making capabilities
Experience managing competing priorities and multiple simultaneous projects within budget and schedule constraints
Operational discipline with focus on ensuring compliance with project protocols and standards Preferred Qualifications
Advanced Education & Credentials:
Master's degree in Civil Engineering, Business Administration, or related field
Active leadership roles in industry-relevant professional associations and committees Specialized Experience:
Experience leading large, complex transportation engineering projects
Experience with Deltek VantagePoint or similar enterprise resource planning systems
Background in active, sustainable, multimodal transportation
Mentoring and coaching experience with engineering professionals
Experience leading cross-functional, multi-disciplinary project teams
What We Offer
Flexible Schedule Alta offers a flexible, hybrid work schedule where most employees work from home three days per week. In-office days support our collaborative culture, one of our core values.
Compensation The pay range for this job in Atlanta is $160,000-$215,000 annually. Placement within the range is based upon experience, skill-sets, and qualifications.
Benefits Alta offers comprehensive benefits to all full-time employees:
Medical : PPO or HSA medical plans, Alta pays 75% of the cost
Dental/Vision : PPO, Alta pays 90% of the cost
Life Insurance : Alta pays 100% of the premium for life and AD&D, equal to your base compensation
401(k) : Alta provides a match up to 3%
PTO : 21 days accrued annually to start
Holidays : 11 total company paid holidays
Paid Parental Leave/Short-Term Disability
Additional Benefits : Wellness reimbursement up to $800 annually, Alta Gets Around benefit of up to $900 annually, 5-year travel award, and professional development opportunities