AEC Business Unit Leader - Mississippi Region

AEC Business Unit Leader - Mississippi Region

Department: Water/Wastewater

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Jackson, MS

Compensation: $220,000 - $260,000 / year

Description

Waggoner Engineering, Inc. is seeking a Business Unit Leader to join our team. The Business Unit Leader is accountable for the strategic, operational, and financial performance of a defined profit center(s) within a company. This senior leadership role drives sustainable growth, elevates portfolio and profit and loss (P/L) performance, and builds future talent, all while cultivating a purpose-led performance culture and safeguarding the financial, risk, and safety foundations that enable our mission.

This role is specifically designed for the Mississippi Business Unit and is positioned as an enterprise transformation leadership role — not simply a traditional regional operations or seller-doer leadership position. Under Vision 2030, the Mississippi BU must evolve into a scalable enterprise platform capable of supporting growth, operational standardization, acquisition integration, leadership development, and strong portfolio performance discipline.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Growth

• Develop and communicate a clear business unit vision and strategy aligned with company goals and the broader Waggoner and Trilon enterprise direction including Waggoner’s Vision 2030.
• Set market strategy, prioritizing attractive markets, clients, and service offerings to grow the portfolio.
• Drive Business Development with your team to build and strengthen relationships with key clients, partners, and industry influencers.
• Steward pursuit strategy and go/no-go decisions to expand the portfolio and drive profitable growth.
• Lead proactively — anticipate market shifts, capability gaps, and growth opportunities rather than reacting to them.
• Support acquisition integration and growth initiatives, creating enterprise value and alignment with the Waggoner platform.

Success Factors: Pipeline, Backlog, Net Revenue

Portfolio Management

• Provide strategic oversight across the full portfolio of projects, ensuring consistent performance relative to gross margin, schedule, risk exposure, and client satisfaction.
• Oversee monthly “Project Reviews”, working with Operations and Finance, to outperform on quality, client service, and financial performance.
• Maintain strong governance over portfolio budgets, forecasts, and estimates to complete (ETCs), ensuring accuracy and early issue identification.
• Lead timely intervention on underperforming projects, driving action plans, recovery strategies, and change order management.
• Optimize Cost Budget and Direct Labor Multiplier (DLM) across the portfolio through effective labor planning, strategic pricing, rate structures, and fee strategies.
• Implement disciplined portfolio-level pricing strategies including fee types, mark-ups, escalation, and commercial positioning.
• Maintain strong oversight of portfolio-wide risks, ensuring early identification, escalation, and mitigation plans.
• Reduce exposure to claims, disputes, and rework through disciplined contract review, scope clarity, and rigorous governance.
• Drive utilization, DLM, backlog, and portfolio governance rigorously using data, KPIs, forecasting analytics, and leading indicators.
• Create operational consistency and forecasting discipline across the BU.

Success Factors: Cost Budget, Gross Margin, DLM; Recovery Ratio, Conversion Ratio (Gross/Net Revenue Gap)

Enterprise Transformation & Operational Leadership

• Lead organizational and operational transformation of the Mississippi BU into a scalable, high-performance enterprise platform.
• Champion the implementation and adoption of the enterprise operating model and common operating disciplines across the BU.
• Drive change management and organizational alignment, ensuring staff understand and embrace evolving standards and performance expectations.
• Build scalable accountability systems and operational rigor — creating consistent processes, governance frameworks, and performance standards.
• Lead cross-functional enterprise collaboration with Finance, HR, Operations, Strategic Business Development, Health & Safety, and other BU leaders to advance shared goals.
• Support acquisition integration efforts within the BU, ensuring smooth cultural and operational alignment.
• Sharpen the distinction between managing relationships and projects versus building and scaling an enterprise business system.
• Scale the organization while maintaining accountability and execution quality.

Success Factors: Adoption of operating model disciplines, operational consistency scores, integration milestones

Talent Management

• Foster a culture of accountability, empowerment, innovation, and professional growth through active leadership and communication.
• Build and lead a strong BU leadership team that is empowered to produce the results and growth of the BU growth strategy. Lead this team with clarity around performance expectations and accountability for results.
• Lead workforce planning to achieve annual Net Hiring Goals (including adding new net hires to grow team and hiring to backfill).
• Lead talent attraction, retention, and succession planning efforts to secure the future of the BU.
• Build and develop high-performing teams capable of delivering a complex project portfolio.
• Build leadership bench strength — identifying, mentoring, and developing high-potential talent into future BU leaders.
• Constantly assess talent for performance and growth opportunities; coach high-potential talent while also managing out low-performers.
• Build a high-accountability culture with stronger talent assessment and leadership development expectations.
• Optimize allocation of resources for balanced growth, profitability, and utilization.

Success Factors: Net Hiring as driven by recruiting pipeline and retention, eNPS, Utilization

P/L Management, Commercial Performance & Cash Generation

• Oversee financial performance across the portfolio, including revenue, gross margin, overhead recovery, and profitability.
• Work with Finance to drive accurate budgeting, forecasting, and monthly financial reviews to maintain predictable portfolio performance.
• Ensure disciplined controls over work-in-progress (WIP), invoicing, collections, and reduction of AR aging.
• Minimize write-downs, commercial leakage, disputes, and non-billable activities through strong commercial governance.
• Ensure commercial decisions remain aligned with the delegation of authority (DOA) and enterprise standards.
• Use data-driven operational leadership — leveraging KPIs, forecasting, portfolio analytics, and leading indicators to drive performance.

Success Factors: DSO AR & AP, WIP, Contribution Margin, and Write-offs

Risk, Quality & Safety Leadership

• Champion a culture of safety by ensuring all staff and partners operate in compliance with safety requirements and industry regulations.
• Promote and enforce quality standards, peer review processes, and continuous improvement practices across the portfolio.
• Surface risk issues early and develop effective mitigation strategies to address risk to the business.

Success Factors: Lost Time Reporting Frequency Rate, Near Miss & Good Catch reporting and Actions, and Claims

Requirements/Qualifications

Leadership Attributes

• Commercially astute, with deep understanding of portfolio economics, resource strategy, margin levers, and risk allocation.
• Entrepreneurial mindset, seeking growth opportunities and innovative approaches.
• Strategic and systems thinker with ability to manage complexity across diverse projects.
• Enterprise transformation leader — proven ability to lead change, build scalable systems, and align organizations to new operating models.
• People-first leadership, investing in capability, culture, and team empowerment.
• Decisive and accountable with strong problem-solving abilities.
• Credible communicator who builds trust with clients, staff, and executive leadership.
• Data-driven decision-maker who uses KPIs, forecasting, and portfolio analytics to lead proactively.
• Change management expertise — ability to drive organizational alignment and cultural evolution.

Education and Licensure

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Construction Management, Business, or a related field required.
• Master’s degree (MBA, Engineering, or similar) strongly preferred.
• Professional engineering licensure (P.Eng., PE, CEng, PG, etc.) is an asset depending on the service line.

Experience

• 7+ years of progressive experience in engineering, infrastructure consulting, environmental services, or related professional services.
• Demonstrated experience leading organizational transformation, change management, or enterprise-scale operational improvement.
• Experience leading teams and driving talent acquisition, development, and succession planning.
• Demonstrated success managing a portfolio of projects with P&L accountability.
• Proven track record in business development, strategy, and key account management.
• Experience supporting or leading acquisition integration efforts preferred.
• Experience interacting with senior executives, clients, and key stakeholders.
• Knowledge of the Mississippi market and region is a significant advantage.

Technical & Leadership Competencies

• Excellent communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Knowledge of contracting models and commercial negotiation strategies.
• Ability to interpret financial statements and lead data-driven operational decisions.
• Strong understanding of portfolio governance, KPIs, forecasting, and risk frameworks.
• Proficiency in building and scaling accountability systems, operating disciplines, and operational rigor.
• Ability to develop and implement cross-functional enterprise collaboration strategies.

Why Join Our Team

We know work isn't only about what you do, it's also about who you work for and with! Waggoner Engineering provides a fun, family-friendly, and multicultural work environment that supports a work life balance, including:

• WEI Incentive Program
• Healthy Workplace Program
• Employee Referral Bonus
• Competitive Health Benefits
• Career Development and Training
• Flexible/Hybrid Schedule
• Community Service Opportunities

Waggoner Engineering, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, or disability status.

Pay Transparency

The base salary range for this role is indicated in the posting. This range reflects the company’s good faith estimate of the compensation for this position at the time of posting. Final compensation will be determined based on factors such as experience, skills, qualifications, internal equity, and geographic location.