Leadership Director - Property & Buildings

Overview

WSP is seeking an experienced operations and technical lead for our Property & Buildings team in Minneapolis, MN . In this high-impact leadership role, you’ll help grow the P&B team with a focus on complex market sectors like healthcare, commercial, mission critical, industrial, higher education, and science and technology. You will manage the local strategic plan, be responsible for project and office financial performance, drive technical excellence, lead multidisciplinary design teams, manage complex projects, and champion client relationships. You’ll play a pivotal role in developing our people and shaping the future of our office and practice, with significant involvement in the strategic plan to grow the practice and increase project management and business development activities. This position is ideal for accomplished engineers who thrive on strategic thinking, have an entrepreneurial spirit, and collaborative leadership skills within a global firm committed to innovation and growth.

Responsibilities

• Clients – Drive the performance of the business; build and sustain trusted client relationships; serve as the “face of the company” locally and regionally; lead and manage business development initiatives including Requests for Qualifications and Requests for Proposals; compile a comprehensive and realistic scope of work, and prepare a complete and accurate fee estimate for approvals and submittal to clients; proactively manage, track, analyze, and report on actual performance against plan; prepare cost and schedule reporting for clients and internal processes; address change management matters promptly and professionally with clients and internal stakeholders; represent the firm through regular involvement in client and industry events to promote pipeline development; leverage the full suite of offerings across end markets; utilize SMEs to foster new and innovative client delivery; manage local client coordination and cross-selling efforts; lead client meetings, present technical solutions, and develop project scopes and proposals; identify opportunities for practice growth and differentiation.

People & Culture

• Work with local office leads to attract top industry talent by fostering a collaborative environment, valuing inclusion and diversity, and inviting broad, creative thinking—crafting a more attractive place to work, grow, and thrive.
• Emphasize employee training and development to create a unique work experience.
• Inspires and promotes WSP to clients and communities to ensure strong employee engagement and morale.
• Supports programs such as Safety, Sustainability, and Ethics & Compliance.

Operational Excellence

• Optimizes client and employee experience through regular reviews while embracing process improvement.
• Focuses on innovation and collaboration while maintaining and improving quality.
• Develop local growth, forecast, and business development strategy in collaboration with District, Region, and National Business Line Leaders.
• Resolves conflict and other internal/external issues that may arise in the office, among WSP's client base, or on projects.
• Collaborates with regional and district leaders to drive the business, assess and suggest improvements for project performance, oversee overhead expenditures, and focus on KPIs (Sales, Funding, EBITDA, Staff Hiring and Retention, DSO, Utilization, Backlog, Inclusion & Diversity, Guiding Principles).

Expertise

• Leverages broad technical experience to enhance current and new service offerings.
• Fosters development of new and emerging innovations to remain trusted thought leaders.
• Advances the region's strategic direction within the context of the plan and location of responsibility for sustained growth.
• Encourages, supports, and promotes the technical and professional development of local WSP staff.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, or Architectural Engineering; PE license preferred.
• 12+ years of experience in design, including leadership roles.
• Proven track record in business development and client engagement within the property and buildings sector.
• Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills when interacting with engineering and non-engineering audiences.
• High level of self-leadership with attention to detail, multi-tasking, and prioritization in a dynamic environment.

Preferred Qualifications

• At least 10+ years of Project Management experience.
• Experience in Quality Assurance reviews and maintaining high-quality deliverables to clients.

Location & Work Arrangement

• This position is based in the Minneapolis metro area. A flexible, hybrid work arrangement is offered; in-office presence is expected to support collaboration, client engagement, and team leadership. Candidates must reside in or relocate to the Minneapolis metro area; this is not a fully remote position.

Compensation & Benefits

WSP provides a comprehensive benefits package focused on health and financial stability, including medical, dental, vision, disability, retirement savings, paid time off, and parental leave, among others. Expected Salary (all locations): $155,300 - $239,140. WSP USA reserves the right to pay more or less than the posted range based on qualifications and other factors.

About WSP

WSP USA is the U.S. operating company of WSP, a global engineering and professional services firm. We are engineers, planners, technical experts, strategic advisors, and construction management professionals working across buildings, transportation, energy, water, and environment markets. With more than 15,000 employees in over 300 offices, we partner with clients to help communities prosper.

WSP provides a flexible and agile workplace model and offers a comprehensive benefits package. The selected candidate must be authorized to work in the United States.

Notice to Agencies

WSP does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters, employment agencies, or other staffing services. Any unsolicited resumes will become the property of WSP and WSP reserves the right to hire that candidate without any fee or obligation to the recruiter.

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