Job Description
The Chief Engineer will serve as a senior member of the New York regional leadership team and act as the second-in-command to the Regional Business Lead (RBL). This is a market-facing leadership role with responsibility for technical excellence, project performance, and meaningful contribution to the growth and success of the region.
The role is designed as a hybrid leadership position, combining regional technical leadership, direct project engagement, and ownership of a defined profit center. The Chief Engineer will have clear authority over all technical work across the region, with accountability aligned to that authority.
The position reports directly to the Regional Business Lead for New York, who retains full accountability for the region.
Role and Responsibilities
- Provide leadership and oversight of all technical work across the New York region, with clear authority for technical decision-making, delivery quality, and standards.
- Serve as a core member of the regional leadership team, contributing to business strategy, operational performance, and growth of the New York market.
- Operate as a senior regional leader with a balanced focus on leadership and direct project engagement, maintaining close involvement in major programs while shaping technical excellence, client relationships, and team performance across the business.
- Maintain meaningful involvement in project delivery (targeting approximately 50% engagement), focused on major, complex, and high-visibility programs.
- Act as a client-facing technical leader, strengthening relationships, supporting pursuits, and enhancing the firm’s presence across key clients and programs.
- Identify and intervene in project risks, underperformance, or delivery issues, driving timely resolution and ensuring strong client outcomes.
- Assess team capability, project leadership, and organizational effectiveness, and drive changes where needed in coordination with the Regional Business Lead and leadership team.
- Establish and reinforce a clear technical leadership structure across the region, ensuring accountability is aligned with responsibility and decision-making is not diluted. It is currently envisioned that Technical Excellence Center (TEC) Directors will report into the Chief Engineer to strengthen alignment and accountability of technical delivery; final reporting alignment will be confirmed following appointment of the Regional Business Lead to ensure full leadership team alignment.
- Lead and align Technical Excellence Centers (TECs) to support priority projects, client needs, and profitable growth across the region.
- Support the development of future leaders by mentoring senior technical staff and project managers, strengthening overall leadership depth.
- Contribute to proposal strategy, major pursuits, and positioning on key opportunities.
- Ownership of a defined profit-center (TBD), with accountability for operational performance and financial outcomes.
- Ensure alignment between technical delivery, client satisfaction, and commercial performance, reinforcing a seller-doer leadership model.
Required Qualifications
- Minimum of 20+ years of experience in the A/E/C industry, including leadership on large, complex infrastructure programs.
- Demonstrated experience in a senior technical leadership role (e.g., Chief Engineer, Technical Director, or equivalent).
- Proven ability to lead across multiple teams, projects, and business units with clear accountability for outcomes.
- Strong track record of client engagement, business development, and successful delivery of major programs.
- Experience with business performance and project economics, with the ability to contribute to or lead a profit center over time.
- Demonstrated ability to assess teams, make difficult decisions, and drive organizational and delivery improvement.
- Strong leadership presence and communication skills, with the ability to operate effectively at executive, client, and project levels.
- Commitment to technical excellence, delivery quality, and client-focused outcomes.
- Professional Engineer (P.E.) licensure or equivalent preferred
WSP Benefits:
WSP provides a comprehensive suite of benefits focused on a providing health and financial stability throughout the employee’s career. These benefits include coverage related to medical, dental, vision, disability, and life; retirement savings; paid sick leave; paid vacation (or other personal time); paid parental leave; and paid time off for purposes of bereavement, voting, and/or attendance at naturalization proceedings.
Compensation:
Expected Salary (all locations): $333,000 - $400,000
WSP USA is providing the compensation range that the company in good faith believes it might pay and offer for this position, based on the successful applicant’s education, experience, knowledge, skills, abilities in addition to internal equity and specific geographic location. WSP USA reserves the right to ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant’s sex or other status protected by local, state, and/or federal law.
WSP USA is the U.S. operating company of WSP, one of the world's leading engineering and professional services firms. Dedicated to serving local communities, we are engineers, planners, technical experts, strategic advisors and construction management professionals. WSP USA designs lasting solutions in the buildings, transportation, energy, water and environment markets. With more than 15,000 employees in over 300 offices across the U.S., we partner with our clients to help communities prosper.
WSP provides a flexible and agile workplace model while meeting client needs. Employees are also afforded a comprehensive suite of benefits including medical, dental, vision, disability, life, and retirement savings focused on providing health and financial stability throughout the employee’s career.
At WSP, we want to give our employees the challenges they seek to grow their careers and knowledge base. Your daily contributions to your team will be essential in meeting client objectives, goals and challenges. Are you ready to get started?
WSP USA (and all of its U.S. companies) is an Equal Opportunity Employer Race/Age/Color/Religion/Sex/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/National Origin/Disability or Protected Veteran Status.
The selected candidate must be authorized to work in the United States.
NOTICE TO THIRD PARTY AGENCIES:
WSP does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters, employment agencies, or other staffing services. Unsolicited resumes include any resume or hiring document sent to WSP in the absence of a signed Service Agreement where WSP has expressly requested recruitment/staffing services specific to the position at hand. Any unsolicited resumes, including those submitted to hiring managers or other business leaders, will become the property of WSP and WSP will have the right to hire that candidate without reservation – no fee or other compensation will be owed or paid to the recruiter, employment agency, or other staffing service.