Business Center Practice Leader

Grounded in safety, quality, and ethics, our experts lead their fields and guide our work with rigor, a creative spirit, and a vision for growth. We draw from more than 20 technical specialties worldwide and are committed to fostering an inclusive community of diverse talents, backgrounds, and expertise. We’re a place to apply your passion and collaborate with top environmental talents on work critical to our clients and the communities they support. Join a team that has the environment down to a science.

Opportunity 

We are seeking a Southern California Environmental Services Business Center Practice Leader (BCPL) to contribute to a purpose-driven organization focused on delivery of environmental solutions.

The Business Center Practice Leader (BCPL) is a seller/doer leadership role for someone who can translate market opportunity into meaningful growth, trusted client relationships, and high-performing project delivery. Accountable for top-line performance, the BCPL strengthens the Business Center’s (BC) market position, advances integrated environmental solutions, and helps teams deliver practical, innovative outcomes that create lasting value for clients, communities, and Stantec. The BCPL reports to the Regional Growth Leader (RGL) for the Environmental Services US West Region. The BCPL is a highly collaborative growth leader who partners with the BC Operations Leader (BCOL), Sector Leaders (SLs), Account Managers (AMs), Senior Resource Technical Leaders (SRTLs), project teams, business developers, and peers across Stantec’s Business Lines. The BCPL has primary responsibility for growth, client development, and market leadership, while partnering with the BCOL and other BCPLs to support operational excellence, project delivery, quality, safety, and a high-performing culture.  BC leadership roles have a term of approximately 5-years, with the opportunity to re-evaluate at the end of the term and for the purpose of succession and company growth.

Your Key Responsibilities

Be Client Focused 

• Strengthen strategic client relationships, expand key accounts, and align Stantec’s expertise with client priorities to create lasting value and improve client satisfaction.
• Personally serve, as appropriate, as Account Manager, Account Executive, Pursuit Champion, or Executive Sponsor for selected strategic clients and major growth accounts.
• Achieve client and BC-specific marketing and business development (M&BD) sales goals, including internal cross-selling initiatives, with a target of 40-50% of time. 
• Develop client relationship strategies to produce strong results in client satisfaction. 

Lead Business Development 

• Lead development and annual refresh of the BC Growth Strategy, including priority markets, target clients, account strategies, staffing implications, key pursuits, and investment priorities.
• Shape the pursuit lifecycle from early market positioning and client intelligence through qualification, capture planning, proposal strategy, interview preparation, and post-submittal follow-up.
• Lead BC growth by identifying priority pursuits, aligning sales strategies with market opportunities, and galvanizing teams to expand client relationships, geographic reach, and service offerings.
• As part of the regional Growth Team, execute the BC marketing and business development (M&BD) plan and maintain a balanced portfolio of near-term opportunities and longer-term growth initiatives.
• Increase Stantec’s visibility and market position through targeted client engagement, thought leadership, conference participation, and marketing campaigns aligned with growth priorities.
• Guide go/no-go discussions, capture planning, and proposal teams by evaluating client fit, competitive position, qualifications, delivery risk, financial return, marketing investment, win themes, teaming strategy, and pricing. Support interview preparation and leadership reviews of technical and cost proposals, as needed.
• Partner across Environmental Services and Stantec’s Business Lines to develop integrated solutions, share resources, and advance strategic pursuits across geographies.
• Maintain and monitor the opportunity pipeline to support healthy backlog and disciplined growth planning.
• Oversee pursuit and project risk management, including review of contracts, fees, and proposals for major opportunities, in coordination with operations and risk management leaders.

Engage with Projects: 

• Lead delivery of significant BC project pursuits and maintain the direct utilization target established for the role (40-50%).
• Actively participate in major projects, including contribution to content, and serve in key roles such as Independent Technical Reviewers, as required. 

Support the Practice: 

• Collaborate with SLs, RGLs, AMs, SRTLS and BOUs to align priorities, share resources, strengthen integrated delivery, and advance practice growth.
• Oversee project delivery, quality control, technical excellence, document quality, and best-practice consistency to improve outcomes and reduce delivery risk.
• Foster innovation, promote sustainable design, emerging technology, digital delivery, and knowledge sharing to improve efficiency, quality, and market relevance.
• Reinforce Stantec’s ISO-certified Integrated Management System and Project Management Frameworks through consistent processes, accountable governance, and continuous improvement.

Support Business Management: 

• Partner with the BCOL and SRTLs to achieve utilization and backlog targets, improve collaboration and work sharing across practices. Remain accountable for top-line growth and support the BCOL in achieving established BC financial goals.

Drive Health and Safety: 

• Partner with the BCOL and SRTLs to champion the BC’s health, safety, security, and environmental culture, review performance metrics, achieve leading-indicator goals, and support required training and compliance.

Provide People Leadership: 

• Serve as a visible leader and trusted advisor, connecting people, clients, technical excellence, and business performance.
• Build a high-performance culture rooted in accountability, collaboration, innovation, growth mindset, and disciplined execution.
• Model ethical, client-focused leadership while reinforcing Stantec’s values, professional standards, and quality service delivery.
• Collaborate with regional, BOU, and BC leaders to resolve issues that affect growth, clients, delivery, or business performance.
• Partner with BC and regional leaders to attract, develop, engage, and retain the talent needed to support practice growth. Support career development, engagement, succession planning, coaching, mentoring, inclusion, leadership development, staffing alignment, recognition, and workforce planning. Provide relevant input to the BCOL on performance, compensation, recognition, and succession.

Key Performance Indicators

• Achieve annual HSSE objectives and demonstrate leadership in safety culture.
• Achieve budgeted BC sales and top-line net revenue growth.
• Maintain a healthy, current pipeline and balanced backlog aligned with the BC Growth Strategy.
• Improve strategic account growth, client satisfaction, and priority-pursuit outcomes.
• Meet the utilization target established for the role and contribute meaningfully to major projects and pursuits.
• Demonstrate effective collaboration across Environmental Services, geographies, and Stantec Business Lines.
• Support recruitment, retention, and succession for strategic roles needed to deliver the growth plan.

Education and Experience

Bachelor’s degree in environmental science, engineering, planning, geology, natural resources, or a related field, with a minimum of 10 years of relevant consulting, project delivery, leadership, financial management, business development, and account management experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience. Professional registration, certification, or licensure in a related discipline is preferred. Demonstrated success growing client relationships, leading strategic pursuits, exercising commercial judgment, and developing high-performing teams is strongly preferred.

Must have a valid driver's license and a clean MVR.

This description is not a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that may be required of the employee and other duties, responsibilities and activities may be assigned or may be changed at any time with or without notice.

About Stantec

Stantec is a global leader in sustainable engineering, architecture, and environmental consulting. The diverse perspectives of our partners and interested parties drive us to think beyond what’s previously been done on critical issues like climate change, digital transformation, and future-proofing our cities and infrastructure. We innovate at the intersection of community, creativity, and client relationships to advance communities everywhere, so that together we can redefine what’s possible.
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