Wastewater Treatment and Effluent Management (WTEM) Business Class Director

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 primary duties of a Business Class Director (BCD) include responsibilities for company-wide development, coordination, monitoring, and improvement of technical competencies of business class staff, products, and services to meet client needs, response to market drivers, and risk management across HDR. Business Class Directors support the needs of all Market Sectors, Business Groups, and geographic regions, as appropriate to their areas of practice, expertise, and focus.

Specifically, 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. Responsibilities include building close working relationships with related business classes, market sectors, business groups, and operations. The WWEM BCD will provide risk management for large-scale, multi-discipline, and multi-benefit projects with a high degree of technical complexity. The position will build and maintain the industry presence, reputation, and participation in professional organizations to raise the profile of the practice. As part of these duties, the WWEM Business Class Director will participate in client management, support proposal and project development, and be an active member of professional organizations. Business development participation is primarily through technical differentiation, pursuit strategy input, and client-facing brand elevation. The person will mentor and direct technical leaders that help manage and execute the mission of the business class.

The position participates in and provides oversight of planning, modeling, piloting, and design services for wastewater treatment and effluent management programs and provides technical oversight for construction start-up and commissioning as needed. As a WWEM Business Class Director, you will participate in the corporate management of the wastewater and effluent management program, including targeted technical training, coordination and staffing of critical projects, problem-solving, claims management, and staff mentoring.

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.
• Along with Regional WWEM BC Leaders, 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 has 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 of 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, which includes:

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• Short- and long-term disability and life insurance.
• An employee assistance program.
• Paid time away, parental leave, and 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 upon skills, experience, education, and geographical location. (Stated benefits are for full-time regular positions. Temporary and part-time roles are eligible for limited benefits.)

Locations

This role may be based in any of the following U.S. locations:

• Alabama: Mobile
• Arizona: Phoenix, Tucson
• California: Folsom, Irvine, Long Beach, Ventura, Walnut Creek
• Colorado: Denver, Durango, Fort Collins
• District of Columbia: Washington DC
• Florida: Fort Lauderdale, Tampa
• Georgia: Atlanta, Savannah
• Hawaii: Honolulu
• Iowa: Des Moines
• Kentucky: Lexington, Louisville
• Louisiana: Baton Rouge, New Orleans
• Maryland: Baltimore, Fulton
• Massachusetts: Boston
• Michigan
• Minnesota; Saint Louis Park
• Mississippi
• Missouri: Kansas City, St Louis
• Montana: Billings, Bozeman, Helena, Missoula
• Nebraska: Omaha
• Nevada: Las Vegas, Reno
• New Jersey: Newark
• New York: Albany
• North Carolina: Charlotte, Greensboro
• Ohio: Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus
• Oklahoma
• Oregon: Bend, Portland, Salem
• Pennsylvania: Bethlehem, Mechanicsburg, Plymouth Meeting
• South Carolina: Fort Mill, Greenville
• South Dakota: Sioux Falls
• Tennessee: Memphis, Nashville
• Texas: Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston
• Virginia: Arlington, Richmond, Virginia Beach
• Washington: Bellevue, Olympia, Pasco, Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma
• Wisconsin: Madison
• Wyoming: Cheyenne