Project Director- Transportation-Southern, CA

About the role

The Project Director-Transportation-Southern, CA position plays a crucial role in driving the growth of GHD’s Transportation practice. This role combines project leadership with pursuit strategies, ensuring that client expectations are met and delivering projects efficiently.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a trusted advisor to existing clients through direct project leadership and consistent delivery performance.
• Maintain a deep understanding of client priorities, funding realities, and community outcomes.
• Represent client and community voices internally, shaping solutions and pursuits based on real delivery insight.
• Build long-term client partnerships rooted in credibility, responsiveness, and results.
• Lead or play a senior role in the delivery of key projects, ensuring outcomes align with client expectations and commitments made during pursuits.
• Convert successful delivery into repeat work, expanded scope, and follow-on opportunities.
• Identify growth opportunities emerging from active projects and ongoing client engagements.
• Use delivery experience to inform strategy, pricing, risk assessment, and positioning.
• Shape and lead pursuits where delivery experience, technical judgment, and client trust are critical differentiators.
• Partner with Relationship Managers, Market Leads, and technical teams to pursue targeted opportunities.
• Contribute to proposal strategy, messaging, and interviews with a focus on credibility and execution confidence.
• Participate in contract negotiations with a clear understanding of delivery risk, resourcing, and outcomes.
• Oversee and be accountable for project performance, including scope, schedule, budget, quality, and client satisfaction.
• Track and manage key performance indicators such as backlog, margin, and client health for assigned accounts.
• Ensure compliance with applicable regulations, procurement requirements, and internal governance.
• Provide clear communication and reporting to internal leadership on client performance and growth outlook.
• Act as subject matter expert in an area of technology, policy, regulation, or operational management for the team.
• Manage a portfolio of complex customer relationships and/or a small team of account managers.
• Develop and implement a relationship management plan for strategic, complex potential accounts to build key relationships at local and national levels.
• Coordinate the engagement of own organization with the customer organization to ensure effective two-way flow of information and resolution of issues.
• Consult with a range of customer representatives at different levels to identify the outcomes they require, introducing relevant internal specialists and utilizing their expertise to gather and analyze complex customer data, clarify medium- to long-term customer needs, and develop and agree to a specification of customer requirements.
• Develop a personal network of senior managers within the business sector and represent the organization at business sector events.
• Obtain market intelligence, promote the organization, and enhance its reputation.
• Lead a cross-functional internal team (e.g., technical, commercial, and legal) to configure a complex tailored or bespoke product-and-services solution and associated contractual terms that meet the customer's mid- to long-term needs at a national/key operating-unit level.
• Negotiate agreement with the customer and internally with commercial colleagues to ensure that customer requirements are met at an acceptable level of profitability and cash flow, or, alternately, review and authorize complex sales proposals from team members that deviate from standard terms, escalating issues to senior management where appropriate.
• Monitor and review performance and behaviors within area of responsibility to identify and resolve noncompliance with the organization's policies and relevant regulatory codes and codes of conduct.
• Develop internal marketing plans and work collaboratively with other departments to improve internal relationships and build strong external customer relationships.
• Manage ongoing relationships with identified customer segments to ensure their needs are met, providing themes, summary analyses, and recommendations for changes based on customer input.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master’s Degree in Engineering, Environmental Science, or similar.
• Professional Engineer license preferred.
• Minimum 10 years of experience in municipal or public sector project delivery and client relationship management.
• Strong Seller/Doer experience with strong business development, proposal preparation and marketing skills.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams and influence at senior levels.
• Proficiency in CRM tools (Salesforce in particular) and Microsoft Office Suite.
• Strategic thinker with a client-centric mindset.
• Strong understanding of municipal operations, governance, and procurement.
• Experience in client engagement and business development, with a track record of building relationships across government, industry, and community stakeholders.

Benefits

GHD offers a competitive salary range of $152,000-$253,000 based on location and experience. The company provides a flexible hybrid work model, encouraging in-office collaboration and remote flexibility. GHD is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace, promoting individual achievement, and recognizing the strength of a diverse workforce. As an equal opportunity employer, GHD provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified employees and applicants without regard to race; color; religion; genetic information; national origin; sex (including same sex); sexual orientation; gender identity; pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions; age; disability or handicap; citizenship status; service member status; or any other category protected by federal, state, or local law.

Pay

$152,000-$253,000 based on location and experience.

Schedule

Hybrid model, combining in-office collaboration and flexibility.