Associate Project Director, Bridge, for COWI in North America
Lead with a team of experienced leaders
We are seeking an Associate Project Director, Bridge, to join our team in Seattle and Oakland. We are widely recognized for our expertise in bridges, with experience focusing on detailed design work for complex bridge types, such as cable-stayed, suspension, truss, and arch bridges. In this role, you will provide senior leadership across project delivery, client relationships, and business development, while contributing to the growth of our presence in the West Coast and the U.S. market.
Your key responsibilities
- Lead and deliver complex bridge infrastructure projects for public and private clients, ensuring projects are completed on time and within budget from planning through delivery.
- Provide project management leadership across multidisciplinary teams (civil, structural, geotechnical) to achieve high-quality, coordinated outcomes.
- Serve as the primary client interface, managing contracts, fee negotiations, schedules, and risk while maintaining strong client relationships.
- Manage project commercial performance with a focus on profitability, technical excellence, innovation, and securing follow-on work and change orders.
- Support business development activities, including go/no-go decisions, teaming strategies, and proposals, with a focus on growing the Northwest market.
- Mentor and develop staff while contributing to local office growth, including team building, hiring decisions, and expanding COWI’s presence in the region.
Your skills
- A Bachelor’s degree in Civil or Structural Engineering (Master’s preferred)
- A Professional Engineer (PE) license (or ability to obtain in Washington or California), with demonstrated technical credibility and delivery expertise.
- Demonstrated experience leading complex, multidisciplinary projects with full accountability for scope, schedule, budget, and commercial performance.
- Demonstrated success in senior client relationship management, including contract negotiations, risk management, and delivering high client satisfaction.
- Demonstrated success in financial and commercial performance, including managing margins and securing follow-on work.
- Background in business development and team leadership, including pursuing proposals, expanding markets on the West Coast, and mentoring and building effective teams.
About the role
At COWI, we work together with our customers to shape a sustainable and liveable world. We do it by applying our knowledge and curiosity – and sometimes even our courage – to create the solutions the world needs today to enable a better tomorrow. We support our customers’ transition towards increased sustainability. We strive to lead by example by embedding environmental management, social responsibility and good governance into our business practices and the options we provide to our customers.
What we offer
- Flexible working arrangement
- Top-up parental and childbirth recovery leave
- Fantastic close-knit team with a wealth of knowledge to share
- Minimum 5 weeks vacation to start
- Floating holiday to celebrate employee diversity
- Paid sick leave
- Annual fitness subsidy - yes, you can use this for a ski pass, yoga, or gym membership
- 401K contribution matching with generous company match
- Personal and professional development fund
- Parking or public transit allowance
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance 80% employer-paid premiums
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- STD, LTD, AD&D, and Life Insurance
- Referral incentive program
- Frequent social events
Pay
Base compensation: $160,800 to $235,000 for Seattle and Oakland only. Actual compensation is subject to variations due to education, experience, skill set, and location.