Water Market Sector Leader

About the role

The Water Market Sector Leader is a senior strategic-operations leader responsible for growing the firm in the water market sector across all business units - growing talent, building high-performing teams, expanding the client base, and increasing profitable revenue and backlog in the water market. The role will elevate Waggoner’s brand and thought leadership, lead major client pursuits, and ensure excellent, consistent project delivery.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a multi-year market strategy and annual plan (targets, priority clients, services, staffing, investments).
• Serve as a visible thought leader: publish, present, and represent Waggoner in industry forums to increase sector brand and market credibility.
• Lead or oversee major pursuits, capture plans, teaming strategies, and client messaging; partner with marketing and business development on campaigns and collateral.
• Develop and maintain trusted advisor relationships with priority clients; lead account planning in coordination with Business Unit Leaders and Area Managers.
• Lead capture planning and pursuit strategy for major programs, including go/no-go, teaming, pricing strategy inputs, and interview preparation.
• Identify emerging client needs, regulatory/funding drivers, and competitive positioning; evolve service offerings accordingly.
• Ensure project delivery aligns with market strategy, client expectations, technical standards, and risk posture.
• Partner with Business Unit Leaders and Area Managers to forecast workload and coordinate resources to meet commitments.
• Promote consistent delivery methodologies, lessons learned, and knowledge-sharing across offices and disciplines.
• Champion consistent project delivery standards and quality systems across the sector, including use of standard agreements and templates where client requirements allow (e.g., EJCDC-based agreements and front-end documents).
• Support the development and use of firmwide templates and standards (e.g., supplemental conditions, spec/plan covers, standard details, report templates).
• Lead or participate in QA/QC and risk reviews on key pursuits and high-risk projects; promote ‘do it right the first time’ delivery.
• Contribute to proposal reviews and continuous improvement of win themes, deliverables, and client communications (including letter proposals where appropriate).

Talent Development

• Lead through influence in a matrix environment; align Business Unit Leaders, Area Managers, Discipline Leaders, and project teams to sector priorities.
• Establish clear target markets, clients, and services; translate strategy into actionable plans, account plans, and pursuit roadmaps.
• Coach, mentor, and develop staff across business units through project engagement, QA/QC reviews, and pursuit leadership—regardless of reporting lines.
• Build and sustain high-performing teams by mentoring, recruiting, and aligning talent to the best and highest use in service of clients.
• Develop communities of practice and technical development opportunities; encourage cross-office collaboration and staff visibility to sector work.
• Support succession planning and development of future leaders.

Financial and Performance Management

• Own sector performance and accountability (revenue, backlog, win rate, profitability, utilization, client satisfaction) in partnership with Business Unit Leaders and finance/operations.
• Maintain a pipeline and forecast; communicate risks and opportunities to Strategic Operations leadership.

Key Measures of Success

• Growth: achievement of annual net service revenue targets, healthy pipeline, improved win rate, and diversified client portfolio.
• Brand: increased visibility through speaking, publishing, associations, and client references aligned to the sector strategy.
• Delivery: strong client satisfaction, consistent QA/QC outcomes, reduced rework/risk events, and successful closeout on key projects.
• People: improved engagement and retention, effective mentoring, and a developing bench of sector leaders and technical experts.
• One Firm: effective collaboration across market sectors and business units with clear lead/support roles and integrated wins.