Client Manager - Water Services

Municipal Water Client Leader

Woodard & Curran is seeking a Municipal Water Client Leader to help grow our municipal water market across the Northeast, with emphasis on drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, and water resources. This leadership role is ideal for a technical professional with public-sector experience who is ready to expand from project execution into client strategy, team leadership, and regional growth.

We're looking for an experienced engineer or project manager who wants to deepen client relationships while continuing to lead impactful technical work. The ideal candidate brings strong technical credibility, municipal experience, curiosity, and the drive to build long-term partnerships.

You'll collaborate with colleagues who have deep municipal water expertise, established public-sector relationships, and a strong technical delivery team that turns ideas into successful projects. You'll help grow existing accounts, build new ones, and strengthen our municipal water presence across New England.

What makes this role unique is the breadth of Woodard & Curran's platform. Alongside consulting and engineering, you'll work with our Operations & Maintenance teams that operate water and wastewater facilities, and our Integrated Solutions Division supporting design-build and design-build-operate projects. This creates a direct connection to the real-world challenges our municipal clients face.

You will serve as a strategic advisor to municipalities, helping them navigate infrastructure, regulatory, and funding needs. The role offers strong leadership visibility through direct client engagement and account development, positioning you for accelerated growth.

With a flexible work environment, competitive benefits, and strong bonus potential, this position supports both professional advancement and personal well-being.

As a Client Leader, you will help ensure our technical capabilities remain at the forefront of client engagements and industry expectations. This highly visible role focuses on partnering with large, complex municipalities to identify unmet needs and deliver thoughtful, solution-oriented approaches.

We are looking for a motivated, people-focused municipal water professional who wants to lead, grow, and build something meaningful in the Northeast. The ideal candidate is passionate about working in teams, energized by client engagement, and ready to expand into a relationship-driven leadership role. The ideal candidate has strong technical roots, understands the public-sector environment, and is ready to expand into client leadership, team building, and practice growth.

You will also drive growth critical to the firm's mission, providing a gratifying, safe place to work and expanding opportunities for our employees.

This role is built for someone who is ready for more client ownership, more leadership visibility, more variety in the work, and more opportunity to shape what comes next. You will not be expected to succeed in isolation or build a portfolio from a cold start. Instead, you'll have access to experienced client leaders, established municipal relationships, a strong technical delivery bench, real-world operations expertise, and alternative delivery capabilities that allow you to bring differentiated solutions to our clients.

For the right person, this role provides the chance to expand your impact beyond a narrow technical lane—without stepping away from the meaningful engineering work that drives you. It's an opportunity to grow as a municipal water leader, build trusted client partnerships, develop high-performing teams, and help communities across the Northeast address critical water challenges.

This position also offers a clear pathway to expanded leadership responsibilities, including greater influence over client strategy, regional growth, and practice leadership.

Travel: up to 20% within the New England and Mid-Atlantic region.

Candidate Location: open to remote work locations; preferred New England.

What you will be doing at Woodard & Curran:

• Grow the municipal water practice across drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, and water resources in the Northeast.
• Serve as a trusted advisor by understanding municipal operational, regulatory, funding, and infrastructure challenges.
• Identify client needs and proactively develop solutions aligned with capital planning and long-term priorities.
• Position the firm early for upcoming work through strong client engagement and insight into municipal planning cycles.
• Lead or support project delivery with a focus on quality, responsiveness, and client service.
• Collaborate with technical teams to align solutions with client expectations and deliver high-quality outcomes.
• Lead or support proposals and interviews including scopes, budgets, presentations, and positioning strategies.
• Shape scopes, budgets, and schedules in partnership with clients and internal teams.
• Develop account plans and growth strategies aligned with client needs and regional goals.
• Support healthy account management by helping teams stay aligned on budgets, invoicing, communication, and expectations.
• Strengthening client relationships and creating opportunities for technical teams to engage and grow.
• Participate in conferences to build relationships and stay current on emerging technologies and market drivers.
• Coach and develop staff to support technical and professional growth.
• Contribute to a collaborative team culture focused on client success and high-quality delivery.

What you will need to succeed:

• 10–20 years of municipal water experience — wastewater, stormwater, drinking water, or water resources consulting.
• Bachelor's degree in environmental or civil engineering from an accredited program.
• Strong understanding of municipal decision-making including budgets, boards/commissions, capital planning, procurement, regulatory drivers, and funding programs.
• Ability to understand client needs and project delivery and identify opportunities to add value over time.
• Credibility with public-sector clients and ability to build relationships with engineers, operators, public works leaders, utility directors, and municipal stakeholders.
• Technical strength with interest in broader leadership including client strategy, business development, and regional growth.
• Growth potential without needing an existing book of business but with ambition, emotional intelligence, and initiative.
• People-focused and collaborative mindset with creativity and energy for solving complex municipal challenges.
• Enjoyment of team building and mentoring and bringing the right people together to deliver high-quality solutions.
• Growth mindset with desire for autonomy and visibility and a broader platform to shape their career.
• Experience supporting proposals and client positioning including scopes, budgets, interviews, and presentations.
• Desire to expand beyond technical execution into client strategy, practice growth, and leadership.
• Strong communication and problem-solving skills with the ability to collaborate and build effective teams.
• Motivation to help grow the organization and the ability to inspire, connect, and develop others.

$130,000 - $225,000 a year This role has the option for remote work, and the anticipated pay range is flexible, depending on factors such as the employee's primary work location, skills, experience, and education.