Director of Environmental Planning

Environmental Science Associates (ESA) is a 100% employee‑owned environmental consulting firm. We plan, design, permit, mitigate, and restore for projects across our communities, infrastructure systems, open spaces, and wildlands. We are 50 years strong in 21 offices across California, the Pacific Northwest, and the southeastern United States.

We are looking for a highly motivated Director of Environmental Planning in the Northern California area . The ideal candidate will have 20+ years of related work experience and excel at leading a team of talented environmental professionals, managing various complex CEQA and NEPA projects, pursuing new business development opportunities, and providing solid client stewardship.

Who You Are

• You are an experienced Senior Consultant in the environmental planning field seeking a new leadership opportunity and looking to join a dynamic and growing organization.
• You have a minimum of 20 years of experience leading complex projects and guiding high‑performing teams in California, and in particular, Northern California, and a bachelor's degree or a master's degree with 18 years of relevant experience.
• You are excited and motivated by the prospect of continuing to advance an established team of expert environmental professionals. You take pride in managing people, mentoring and advancing professional development, fostering teamwork, and growing your team.
• You have the knowledge and proven ability to serve as a primary author or a senior reviewer of specialized and highly complex environmental documents.
• You have comprehensive knowledge of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and similar state/federal regulations.
• You have intellectual curiosity and thrive in collaborative environments. Your experiences are varied enough to be creative and nimble in delivering meaningful and strategic solutions to address some of the most complex environmental challenges for both public agency and private development clients. You possess excellent communication skills and have the ability to speak persuasively about complex topics to individuals and groups.
• You have significant experience managing the overall project life cycle, from developing project proposals to overseeing day‑to‑day project assignments and tracking financial performance. You excel at managing people, budgets, and resources. You know how to get things done—you demonstrate a high degree of creativity, judgment, and foresight in planning and organizing activities and programs.
• You have regular client interactions and routinely cultivate clients through your work and through business development and marketing activities. You are motivated by business development, pursuing new opportunities, and building long‑term client relationships. You are confident working with clients independently, leading cross‑practice and cross‑regional initiatives, and making decisions that advance both project and company goals.
• You hold a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree with major coursework in environmental science or related interdisciplinary field.

What You Will Do For ESA

• As a Director of Environmental Planning, you will lead large, complex projects and tasks as well as serve as a technical specialist, leveraging your expertise to develop technical approaches and strategies to address project issues for a wide range of complex environmental planning studies, and interdisciplinary projects.
• You will demonstrate a clear understanding of project and client management principles and practices and be responsible for the development of technical documents and creative solutions in accordance with applicable guidelines and requirements, while delivering assignments within budget and schedule.
• You will provide mentorship and support for junior and mid‑level staff, including providing career development guidance while working on projects together and providing constructive feedback when reviewing reports for accuracy and clarity. You will participate in regional leadership and decision‑making relating to the successful operation and growth of the firm. Where necessary, to meet client expectations and technical needs of our more advanced work, you will serve as the primary author of specialized or complex, and often controversial, environmental documents.
• You will represent and be a spokesperson of ESA in the marketplace—you will participate in and lead client meetings, and present at community workshops and public hearings, effectively presenting complex technical information clearly and concisely.
• As a seller‑doer, you will participate in marketing and business development efforts, primarily in a team environment, leveraging our extensive client and project base. Your participation will include contributing to pursuit decision‑making, providing technical input to multi‑disciplinary proposals and targeted marketing materials, performing strategic review of proposals, and participating in interviews.

What’s Special About ESA

Joining ESA means becoming part of a close‑knit team of environmental professionals who contribute to outstanding projects, improve environmental stewardship, and advance a more sustainable and resilient future for our communities and wild places.

At ESA, we provide benefits such as medical, dental, and vision insurance (paid at 70% for you AND your family), annual allocations of company shares through our ESOP, a 401(k) plan with company match, and paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays, to name a few.

We also provide specific programs whether you want to further your technical expertise, sharpen your business acumen, or help lead the next generation of employee‑owners. We want to support you in reaching your career goals through tuition reimbursement, professional development bonuses, and attendance at conferences.

What’s Special About Our Community Development Team

Our Community Development team has built a legacy of success preparing award‑winning, long‑range planning documents for a broad spectrum of communities, providing environmental compliance, clearance, and advancement. We combine our firm’s technical depth in community planning, climate action and adaptation planning, natural resources science and environmental planning with deep knowledge of local regulatory practices and procedures, including the most current legislation and case law, to create value‑added, cost‑effective, and legally defensible solutions for our clients.

ESA is unique in that we have a deep scientific, technical, and regulatory expertise, which we apply to our planning and environmental review projects. We keep project approval and implementation at the forefront, balancing long‑term planning, community attributes, stakeholder objectives, and cost. Our focus is on comprehensiveness and clarity, and the result is that our planning, CEQA, and NEPA documents are frequently recognized by professional organizations with awards for creative approach and quality.

ESA has established multiple pay ranges tailored to the economic factors in the geographies in which ESA staff reside. For this position, the range is approximately as listed based on our anticipated hiring locations as noted in the above job details. Actual compensation is determined by several factors including but not limited to an individual’s related experience, education, skills, and the city in which the applicant lives.

CA Pay Transparency Clause

$170,000—$210,000 USD

Who We Are

We are a 100% employee‑owned environmental consulting firm who values diversity and inclusion and celebrate the differences that make each of us unique. Our culture is built on mutual respect, recognizing that our variety of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives leads to better solutions, which fosters our continued success for our employee‑owners and clients.

In accordance with ESA’s duty and responsibility to provide and maintain a safe workplace that is free of known hazards and to minimize the exposure to potential hazards, any employee who works from an ESA office or conducts any other in‑person ESA work‑related activity is required to submit their proof of vaccination status or have received an approved exemption and accommodation in states which this applies.

If you are an applicant with a disability that requires a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process or are limited in the ability—or unable to use—the online application system and need an alternative method for applying, you may contact our Human Resources Department via email: View email address on click.appcast.io for assistance.

Please include the following in your message so we can promptly address your request:

• Full name
• The best method to contact you (phone number and/or email address)
• Title of Job Position Applied
• Description of your accommodation request

ESA is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to a diverse and inclusive work environment. (EOE M/V/F/D)