GIS Manager

About the role

HDR is seeking a Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) Manager to lead the Geospatial practice in Michigan. The role involves managing geospatial technicians and analysts, supporting business development, and delivering projects.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow the Michigan Geospatial Team, focusing on staff development, engagement, quality, and operational excellence.
• Align team resources to deliver scalable solutions across projects and programs while coordinating with other HDR teams and prioritizing projects and staffing to meet scope, schedule, and budget commitments.
• Support business development and strategic growth, contributing to pursuits, proposals, and client engagement strategies that position HDR as a leader in geospatial and digital delivery.
• Provide technical leadership and strategic direction for geospatial workflows, ensuring deliverables are high quality, consistent, and aligned with HDR’s GIS and digital delivery standards.
• Partner with HDR project managers and clients to define data strategies for complex infrastructure projects, establishing clear approaches for how data is created, managed, integrated, and delivered across the project lifecycle.
• Enable platform-first solution delivery by implementing and integrating Esri and other geospatial technologies, including web applications, dashboards, Hub sites, 3D/visualization tools, and enterprise data environments.
• Understand current GIS demands and determine how best to meet them; ensure that GIS technology is being used properly and efficiently. This includes coordinating different GIS activities across groups, agencies, departments, or individuals across multiple disciplines.
• Drive adoption of integrated CAD/BIM-to-GIS workflows and support alignment with digital delivery initiatives, ensuring geospatial solutions are embedded within broader project delivery workflows.
• Oversee project delivery and execution, including planning, budgeting, staffing, and performance tracking for geospatial scopes across multiple projects and clients. Champion quality and data integrity, implementing QA/QC processes and strengthening a culture of consistency, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Mentor and develop geospatial professionals and GIS users, building capability across the region and contributing to HDR’s broader geospatial community.
• Support internal business development by supporting content development for GIS projects for use in developing proposals, presentations, scope and fee.
• Coordinate with the area Cross Sector Services Manager and area Project Managers, as needed, to identify, maintain, and support project work.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in relevant field.
• A minimum of 8 years of practical GIS experience; an advanced degree in relevant field may offset 4 years of experience.
• Proficient in use of ArcGIS, ArcGIS extensions, and Microsoft 365 Apps.
• Expertise in data analysis.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including ability to write reports that summarize spatial analyses and communicate findings with charts, tables, and narrative.
• Demonstrated ability to serve as a GIS project leader including development of technical approach, budget, scheduling, and quality assurance.
• Ability to identify industry trends and determine where company capabilities can be marketed to existing and potential clients.

Preferred Qualifications

• Esri Certification.
• GISP, AICP, PE, or other professional certification.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 10 years of experience related to geospatial technology development and/or delivery.
• Experience applying geospatial analysis to the planning and design of civil infrastructure systems.
• Experience with current technology architecture, database design, and the software development lifecycle.
• Experience in writing proposals, developing scopes of work, budgets, and schedules.

Company Culture

We believe in creating a welcoming environment where each of us is valued and respected, a place where everyone is empowered to bring their authentic selves and novel ideas to work every day. HDR is our company, and together, we build on each other's life experiences and perspectives to make great things possible every day. This shapes our collaborative culture, encourages organizational trust, and connects us closer to the clients and communities we serve.

Equal Opportunity Employer

We are an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider all qualified applicants, regardless of criminal histories, arrest and conviction records.