Central Virginia Water Leader

Job Description

We’re Growing Water – and we’re looking for our next Senior Water Leader in Richmond, Virginia.

Dewberry is seeking a Central Virginia Water Leader to provide day-to-day leadership for our Richmond office and serve as a strategic partner to the Mid-Atlantic Water (MA Water) Business Unit Manager (BUM). This role offers a rare opportunity to lead a high-performing, well-established team while shaping the next phase of growth for Dewberry's water practice in Central Virginia.

This role is ideal for a senior water/wastewater leader who is ready to take ownership of a high-performing operation. We are seeking a proven leader who enjoys balancing strategy, people leadership, and client engagement.

This is a key leadership position, contributing to growth and delivery of water and wastewater projects for premier municipal clients in Central Virginia. The successful candidate will collaborate across MA Water offices in Baltimore, Fairfax, Richmond, and Virginia Beach and will be supported by Dewberry's National Water Market strategy, top-notch marketing and capture teams, a deep technical team with water/wastewater expertise, and proven local project delivery teams. This role requires a strong understanding of water markets, clients, and procurement environments, as well as the ability to align local opportunities with national capabilities.

National, MA Water, and Local Support Structure

This role is fully supported through a multi‑level delivery and growth model, including:

National Water Market Support

• Enterprise-level business development and capture planning
• National pursuit positioning and opportunity tracking
• Access to deep technical subject matter experts across water and wastewater disciplines
• Technical delivery support for complex projects
• Alignment with national market trends and investment priorities

MA Water Collaboration

• Strategic alignment and coordination across MA Water offices
• Shared resources and technical expertise across Baltimore, Fairfax, Richmond, and Virginia Beach

Local Richmond Team Support

• Established local project management and project delivery teams
• Day-to-day execution support for municipal projects
• Strong local technical and operational foundation

Dewberry is a leading, market-facing professional services firm with more than 60 locations and 2,500 professionals nationwide. What sets us apart from our competitors is our people. At Dewberry, we seek out exceptional talent and strive to deliver the highest quality of services to our clients. Whether you’re an experienced professional or a new graduate, you’ll have the chance to collaborate with the best and brightest and work on innovative and complex projects at the forefront of the industry. Our commitment to excellence stems from our personal integrity and from other defining attributes, which we call “Dewberry at Work,” that have inspired our employees to be successful for more than a half-century.

Responsibilities

The Central Virginia Water Leader serves as a trusted partner and leadership extension of the BUM, helping translate strategy into execution while maintaining strong operational and leadership presence within the Richmond Office.

This role is intentionally structured to provide:

• Local leadership and execution responsibility in Richmond
• Strategic collaboration with MA Water leadership
• National Water Market support for business development and technical delivery
• Strong local project management and delivery teams to support execution

Key Responsibilities:

Branch Leadership and Operational Support – Richmond

• Assist the BUM with day-to-day leadership of the Richmond Office water/wastewater practice.
• Provide oversight and guidance to project managers, engineers, and technical staff.
• Support workload planning, staffing coordination, and delivery execution.
• Promote quality control, consistency, and adherence to company standards.
• Mentor and develop staff and emerging leaders within the branch.
• Serve as a visible and accessible leader in the Richmond office.

Client and Market Leadership – Central Virginia

• Serve as a primary or secondary client manager for key municipal water and wastewater clients.
• Build and maintain trusted relationships with public-sector agencies.
• Support development and execution of client action plans and capture strategies.
• Represent Dewberry in regional water industry and professional organizations.

Business Development and Marketing Support

• Support the BUM in identifying, tracking, and pursuing new business opportunities.
• Lead or contribute to proposal efforts, including technical approach, scope development, and pricing input.
• Collaborate closely with enterprise marketing, capture, and pursuit teams.
• Assist in implementing branch-level and MA Water business development plans aligned with national strategy.

MA Water Strategic Collaboration

• Support MA Water strategy and coordination across offices in Baltimore, Fairfax, Richmond, and Virginia Beach.
• Assist with identification of long-lead opportunities and early positioning.
• Encourage work sharing and effective leveraging of staff and subject matter experts across offices.
• Participate in MA Water planning and coordination initiatives within the National Water Market framework.

Project, Technical, and Advisory Leadership

• Provide senior oversight for medium to large water and wastewater infrastructure and treatment projects.
• Serve as Project Principal, Senior Advisor, or Peer Reviewer as appropriate.
• Support delivery teams working on conveyance, pumping, storage, and treatment projects.
• Help ensure projects meet scope, schedule, budget, quality, and client expectations.

Required Skills & Required Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering or related discipline required; Master’s degree preferred.
• Virginia Professional Engineer (PE) license required.
• Minimum 15 years of experience in the water/wastewater consulting industry serving public-sector clients.
• Strong technical background in water and/or wastewater infrastructure and treatment systems.
• Demonstrated success leading or supporting multidisciplinary project teams.
• Experience building and maintaining municipal client relationships in Central Virginia.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Proven ability to support business development and proposal efforts.
• Collaborative leadership style with the ability to work effectively with senior leaders, peers, and staff.

Don’t meet every single requirement? At Dewberry we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace for our employees. So if you’re excited about this role, but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the position description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may just be the right candidate for this or other opportunities.

*At this time, Dewberry will not sponsor a new applicant for work authorization.

*Dewberry is an Equal Opportunity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, gender identity or sexual orientation.

*Only recipients of an offer of employment from Dewberry, will be required to submit to a background screening which may include, but is not limited to, employment verification, educational and other credential verification, driving record check, criminal background check, and an investigative consumer report. These screenings will be conducted by Dewberry’s background vendor of choice and will be conducted in compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local law.

Notice to Third Party Recruiters:  Dewberry only compensates job placement recruiters that have a valid Dewberry-approved written agreement in place for recruiting services. Dewberry does not compensate third party recruiters for unsolicited job placement candidate information.