Wastewater Treatment and Effluent Management (WTEM) Business Class Director

HDR · Memphis, TN · 1 mo ago

On-siteConsulting$179k–$336k/yrFull-time

At HDR, our employee-owners are fully engaged 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. As we foster a culture of inclusion throughout our company and within our communities, we constantly ask ourselves: What is our impact on the world? Watch Our Story.

Each and every role throughout our organization makes a difference in our ability to change the world for the better. We believe water is more than a resource—it's a shared responsibility. As part of our Water Business Group, you’ll help shape how communities manage water for generations to come. From delivering safe drinking water and treating wastewater responsibly to developing sustainable water supplies and protecting lives and property through flood control, your work will directly support public health, environmental sustainability, and infrastructure resilience. We bring together experts across disciplines to solve complex challenges with bold thinking and technical excellence. Whether you're modernizing aging systems or pioneering innovative approaches, your contributions will make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. This isn’t just a job—it's a chance to lead change, drive progress, and leave a lasting legacy.

About the Role

The Wastewater and Effluent Management (WWEM) Business Class Director is responsible for the direction, coordination, and quality of work for HDR’s Wastewater Treatment program. This role includes building close working relationships with related business classes, market sectors, business groups, and operations. The WWEM Business Class Director provides risk management for large-scale, multi-discipline, and multi-benefit projects with a high degree of technical complexity, builds and maintains industry presence, and participates in client management, proposal development, and professional organizations. The position mentors and directs technical leaders, oversees planning, modeling, piloting, and design services for wastewater treatment and effluent management programs, and provides technical oversight for construction start-up and commissioning.

Responsibilities

Provide company-wide leadership of technical capabilities within the business class.
Build close working relationships and coordinate with related business classes, market sectors, business groups, and operations.
Lead and participate in technical risk management through process and resource reviews, providing technical advisory services on selected projects, and claims prevention and avoidance activities.
Drive quality assurance and control processes and coordinate with the WBG Quality Manager in those areas.
Oversee development and application of technical tools, standards, and techniques to enhance service quality and efficiency.
Ensure that technical staff are aware of and monitoring emerging technologies.
Oversee assignment of qualified, experienced staff to projects, including effective use of worksharing.
Work with market sector directors to develop a strategic plan for the business class and provide strategic and tactical business trend input to business group leadership at the national, regional, area, and local levels.
Lead applied research strategy and engagement (e.g., Water Research Foundation and similar organizations) to advance WWEM technical capabilities, inform future service offerings, and translate research outcomes into practice standards, tools, and guidance across HDR.
Lead and maintain strategic relationships with key university graduate programs to support workforce development, applied research collaboration, recruiting pipelines, and long-term capability building for the WWEM business class.
Facilitate business class teamwork, communication, and work sharing between offices, business classes, management, marketing, and staff.
Monitor business class direction, adherence to policies and practices, quality assurance, technical tools, project staffing, and resource-to-workload allocation.
Build technical expertise and production capacity through recruitment and training. Coordinate all strategic hires within the business group.
Facilitate business class technical experts in support of client development and project pursuits.
Ensure that business class technical experts represent HDR by involvement in industry organizations and functions, including presentations and publications.
Oversee Practice Groups within the Business Class.
Facilitate “lessons learned” for project delivery, processes, trends, successes, strengths, and weaknesses.
Monitor company-wide performance within the business class to achieve defined goals and support operational managers in monitoring project performance and implementation of corrective actions.
Facilitate the PARR process through assignment of Lead Reviewers, acting as a Lead Reviewer, and review of requests for PARR exemptions.

Location and Travel

The geographic location of this position is non-specific; however, a location with significant HDR presence is preferred. The estimated average travel requirement is 50%, with monthly variations between 0% and 75%.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in a Professional, Architecture, Engineering, or closely related field.
A minimum of 10 years of experience in a related field.
For Business Class leadership roles for which the core service being overseen is technical design, the role must maintain a professional or Architecture/Engineering registration and have related technical experience.
Experience in development and management of diverse teams.
Works cooperatively with other business class directors, operations managers, technical directors, and marketing managers on business class efforts.
Committed to quality, improvement, and HDR values.
An attitude and commitment to being an active participant in our employee-owned culture is a must.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience in a Business Class or Professional Services leadership role.
Experience working cooperatively with other HDR business class directors, operations managers, technical directors, and marketing managers on business class efforts.

Keywords: wastewater treatment, nutrient removal, effluent management, planning, water reclamation.

Benefits

We provide a comprehensive benefits package that promotes employee ownership, employee health, performance, and success, including:

Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
Short- and long-term disability, life insurance, and an employee assistance program.
Paid time away, parental leave, and paid holidays.
A retirement savings plan with employer match.
Employee referral bonus and tuition reimbursement.

Our eight Employee Network Groups (Asian Pacific, Black, Hispanic/Latino(a), LGBTQ+, People with Disabilities, Veterans, Women, Young Professionals) help create a sense of belonging and foster a supportive environment where everyone is empowered to engage and contribute. Each group has an executive sponsor and is open to all employees.

Pay

The expected compensation range for this position is $178,952–$336,375, depending on skills, experience, education, and geographical location. (Stated benefits are for full-time regular positions. Temporary and part-time roles are eligible for limited benefits.)