Environmental Project Manager - Electrical Transmission & Renewable Energy

Grounded in safety, quality, and ethics, our experts lead their fields and guide our work with rigor, a creative spirit, and vision for growth. We draw from more than 20 technical specialties around the globe and are committed to fostering an inclusive community of diverse talents, backgrounds, and expertise. We’re a place to apply your passion and collaborate with top environmental talents on work that’s critical to our clients and the communities they support. 

Stantec has an outstanding record and extensive nationwide portfolio of transmission, wind, solar, and battery energy storage projects that we have helped to bring online. Our team specializes in environmental services and engineering with staff located throughout the country. Stantec has a team of over 3,000 environmental professionals located in over 170 offices throughout the US. We have a team of recognized experts who have dedicated their careers to electrical transmission and renewable energy project development, and we are known and trusted as credible experts. We leverage this diverse team of experienced staff to successfully support projects that include diverse ecosystems, stakeholders, and design requirements. Stantec supports clients during the early stages of routing and siting; followed by regulatory support and permitting; completion of construction; and ongoing operations and maintenance.

Your Opportunity

Stantec’s Environmental Services practice seeks an experienced Environmental Project Manager / Environmental Scientist (Electric Transmission and Renewable Energy) to provide senior-level project management, environmental regulatory, and permitting services with a focus on electric transmission, solar, wind, and BESS clients and their projects, particularly in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ohio. This role is intended for a professional who serves as an internal subject matter expert, applies advanced practical and theoretical environmental knowledge, and works independently under broad guidelines to resolve complex project, regulatory, and client challenges.

Your Key Responsibilities

The main focus of this position is to manage complex electric transmission and renewable energy projects through environmental assessments, permitting, agency coordination, compliance, and reporting with support and collaboration from a robust team of subject matter experts. The successful candidate will exercise independent judgment, initiative, and in-depth evaluation of technical, regulatory, schedule, budget, and stakeholder factors to address unusual or complex issues. Technical expertise related to state regulatory filings, environmental science and permitting, data management, quality review, and multidisciplinary reporting is critical to the role to ensure high-quality deliverables and added value to Stantec’s clients.

Project Management responsibilities include:

• Managing complex projects, schedules, staffing plans, scopes, budgets, risks, and change management activities with a high degree of initiative and independence
• Coordinating with clients, stakeholders, regulatory agencies, and multidisciplinary internal project teams to develop practical, science-based solutions
• Representing clients at public hearings, open houses, regulatory agency meetings, and other forums where technical information must be communicated clearly and confidently
• Performing, overseeing, and providing quality review of technical work, including work prepared by other staff and subject matter experts
• Serving as an advisor and mentor to project teams, and providing direct supervision or technical direction to staff as applicable
• Developing project proposals, scopes of work, budgets, and delivery strategies for medium to complex environmental projects
• Supporting marketing, client relationship development, and business development activities by identifying client needs and opportunities to add value

Environmental, regulatory, and permitting responsibilities include:

• Identifying and evaluating project-specific environmental constraints, engineering design considerations, regulatory requirements, critical issues, permit strategies, and permit matrices
• Coordinating with agency personnel for consultations, data reviews, pre-application meetings, permit strategy discussions, and issue resolution
• Writing, reviewing, and integrating complex, multidisciplinary technical reports for external clients, regulatory filings, desktop assessments, field surveys, and public-facing documents
• Preparing and reviewing environmental permit applications and supporting documentation for federal, state, and local approvals
• Interpreting complex or ambiguous scientific, regulatory, and project information to make evidence-based recommendations and advance project decisions
• Presenting technical information at public meetings, hearings, open houses, conferences, and agency meetings
• Facilitating successful environmental permitting and compliance for multiple and varied projects while maintaining quality, schedule, budget, and client service expectations
• Additional responsibilities may include coordinating, conducting, and/or leading field work and implementing health, safety, security, and environmental practices during project execution

Your Capabilities and Credentials

• Minimum of ten years of related environmental consulting, permitting, regulatory, or project management experience, or an equivalent combination of education and related experience
• Demonstrated experience managing complex electric transmission and renewable energy projects, including electric transmission, wind, solar, battery energy storage, biogas, or related infrastructure projects
• Recognized technical expertise in one or more areas of environmental science, permitting, regulatory strategy, natural resource assessments, routing and siting, environmental compliance, or related disciplines
• Working knowledge of environmental sciences, biology, wildlife science, wetlands, land use, environmental justice, cultural resources, and related technical areas, with the ability to integrate information across disciplines
• Permitting experience with one or more utility regulatory bodies, such as the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, Ohio Power Siting Board, North Dakota Public Service Commission, South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, Illinois Commerce Commission, Iowa Utilities Commission, or Michigan Public Service Commission
• Federal environmental regulation and permitting experience in the Upper Midwest region with various U.S. Army Corps of Engineers districts, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service field offices, and National Environmental Policy Act environmental review processes
• State permitting experience with Departments of Natural Resources, Agriculture, State Historic Preservation Offices, Departments of Health, Pollution Control Agencies, or comparable agencies
• Local permitting experience for Conditional Use/Special Use Permits, highway departments, zoning and planning boards, floodplain administrators, emergency management agencies, or similar local authorities
• Experience implementing or advising on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wind Energy Guidelines tiered protocols for desktop reviews, environmental surveys, consultations, permitting, and compliance
• Ability to work under minimal supervision with broad guidelines, exercise independent judgment, and resolve unusual or complex technical, regulatory, project delivery, or client service issues
• Ability to coach, mentor, advise, and review the work of others to improve project quality, consistency, and team effectiveness
• Demonstrated commitment to health, safety, security, environment, sustainability, ethics, inclusion, accountability, and high-quality client service
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including technical writing as a subject matter expert and the ability to present information in public or client-facing forums
• Willingness and ability to travel up to 15% for agency meetings, open houses, public hearings, site visits, client events, and conferences

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in environmental science, natural resources, biology, planning, environmental studies, or a related field; master’s degree in environmental/natural resources law, environmental science, natural resources, planning, or a related field preferred
• Minimum of ten years of related work experience in environmental consulting, electric transmission or renewable energy permitting, regulatory compliance, natural resource assessments and studies, routing and siting, project management, or an equivalent combination of education and related experience
• Progressively responsible experience managing medium to complex environmental projects, including coordinating multidisciplinary teams, reviewing technical work, managing scope/schedule/budget, and advising clients or project teams on regulatory strategy
• Project and task management experience is required; supervisory, mentoring, staff leadership, or technical advisory experience is preferred
• Professional registration or credentials in the candidate’s discipline, such as Professional Wetland Scientist, Certified Wildlife Biologist, Project Management Professional, or comparable credential, is preferred where applicable

This position will be in a typical office environment working with computers and remaining sedentary for long periods of time. Field work may include exposure to the elements including inclement weather.

This description is not a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that may be required of the employee and other duties, responsibilities and activities may be assigned or may be changed at any time with or without notice.

Stantec is a place where the best and brightest come to build on each other’s talents, do exciting work, and make an impact on the world around us. Join us and redefine your personal best.

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