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Quanta Services

Builds and repairs power grids and utility networks

Manager – Environmental Operations

Environmental EngineeringUpdated on Nov 5
Full-timeTennessee, USANo salary listed

About the Job

Requirements

  • A bachelor's degree in Environmental Science, Ecology, Environmental Planning, Natural Resources, or a closely related field is required.
  • At least 10 years of progressive environmental project management experience, focused on electric transmission or large-scale linear energy infrastructure projects, including at least 3–5 years in a supervisory or team leadership capacity.
  • Expertise across the front-end environmental project lifecycle for transmission infrastructure, including routing and siting studies, GIS constraint mapping, natural and cultural resource surveys, constructability review, and federal and state environmental permitting.
  • Working knowledge of natural and cultural resource survey methodologies, including biological, avian, botanical, wetland, and cultural resource surveys, and the ability to evaluate survey quality, interpret findings, and integrate results into permitting strategy.
  • Command of federal and state environmental permitting frameworks applicable to transmission infrastructure, including NEPA, CWA Section 404, ESA Sections 7 and 10, NHPA Section 106, BLM and USFS authorizations, and state and local land use permitting processes.
  • Project management skills, including schedule tracking, risk identification, budget oversight, and management of multiple concurrent projects across a regional portfolio.
  • Proficiency in GIS and Microsoft Office Suite.
  • Ability to lead without direct authority, make sound decisions under regulatory and schedule pressure, develop junior team members, and facilitate resolution across operating companies, vendors, and client stakeholders.

Responsibilities

  • Serve as the primary point of accountability for major utility clients within an assigned geographic region, building familiarity with client organizational structures, environmental preferences, and reporting requirements, and working across operating companies and vendors supporting project execution.
  • Oversee operating companies and teaming partners delivering the full front-end environmental scope across the regional portfolio.
  • Oversee federal, state, and local environmental permit acquisition for transmission and energy infrastructure.
  • Manage scope execution by operating companies and teaming partners, including scope, schedule milestones, change management, and cost accountability.
  • Manage regional staffing levels and workload distribution, identify resource gaps, and work with the Director to address capacity needs; serve as an escalation point and mentor for project-level staff.
  • Ensure environmental deliverables meet contractual, regulatory, client, and QISG quality standards across active regional projects.
  • Embed environmental task milestones into integrated project schedules and report portfolio status to the Director, PMO.
  • Work with the PMO Director to develop project estimates, risk registers, and proposal content for project pursuits.
  • Serve as the primary liaison and dispute resolution authority between construction operating companies, vendors, subcontractors, and teaming partners on environmental scope matters; mediate scope conflicts, operational disputes, and field-level issues to maintain continuity and protect schedule and budget integrity.
  • Represent QISG in client-facing meetings, progress reviews, and stakeholder forums; serve as the senior escalation point for project-level issues requiring PMO Director engagement.
  • Participate in Regional Lead group meetings to align on cross-portfolio priorities.
  • Oversee GIS-based opportunities and constraints mapping, routing and siting studies, field reconnaissance, public outreach, agency and stakeholder engagement, and data-driven route and site alternatives analysis; ensure deliverables meet QISG quality standards and client and regulatory expectations.
  • Review and approve scope-area deliverables before submission to clients or regulatory agencies, ensuring technical accuracy, completeness, and consistency with the project permitting strategy.
  • Oversee environmental permitting frameworks and activities, including NEPA and state equivalents such as CEQA; BLM ROW Grants and USFS Special Use Permits under FLPMA; CWA Sections 404 and 401 and USACE coordination; ESA Sections 7 and 10; NHPA Section 106 and tribal consultation; Phase I/II ESA; CERCLA; MBTA; the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act; the Coastal Zone Management Act; the Farmland Protection Policy Act; and state and local land use permits and utility commission or siting board processes.
  • Manage operating companies and teaming partners preparing permit applications, environmental reports, and regulatory submittals; monitor permitting progress and identify regulatory risks, schedule threats, and needed strategy adjustments.
  • Select, onboard, and manage third-party environmental consultants, survey firms, and specialty subconsultants in coordination with the Director of PMO, ensuring performance standards and contractual obligations are met.
  • Set expectations for deliverables, reporting cadence, and quality standards; take corrective action as needed and work with PMO and Quanta Professional Services leadership to assess partner performance and identify improvement opportunities.
  • Identify resource gaps and work with the Director to address capacity needs; mentor and develop junior environmental professionals in permitting knowledge, project management, and technical skills.
  • Enforce use of QISG-approved templates and tools and maintain a centralized permitting and deliverables tracker showing permit status, outstanding submittals, and open conditions.
  • Coordinate environmental permitting with land rights and construction teams to align with acquisition timelines and construction readiness milestones; identify, document, and escalate environmental risks affecting schedule, budget, or client commitments.
  • Collaborate with project controls to integrate survey windows, permit submittal dates, and agency review timelines into project schedules, ensuring environmental activities support construction readiness.
  • Prepare and present portfolio-level reports on permitting progress, survey status, budget tracking, risks, and forecast to complete; support development of program-level metrics and dashboards for leadership and clients.
  • Develop environmental project estimates, including staffing models, consultant cost frameworks, and schedule assumptions reflecting regional regulatory conditions and project complexity; contribute environmental risks to project risk registers.
  • Support proposal development with regional expertise on environmental approach, permitting strategy, staffing, schedule, and cost inputs.
  • Partner with construction leadership, project management, and legal to resolve contractual ambiguities and performance disagreements; track recurring dispute patterns and recommend process or contractual changes to reduce recurrence.

Desired Qualifications

  • A master's degree is preferred.

About the Company

Quanta Services

Builds and repairs power grids and utility networks

Quanta Services builds, upgrades and repairs the power lines, substations, pipelines and communications networks that utilities, power producers and large energy users rely on. It runs its own training school, Northwest Lineman College, which prepares workers for electric line work at campuses in several states. Quanta works through regional operating companies that handle engineering, construction, storm restoration and routine upkeep for their customers. Clients pay under long-term master service agreements for ongoing work and under fixed-price or cost-based contracts for large projects. Quanta was founded in 1997 by combining four electrical contractors and is based in Houston, Texas.

Company size
10,001+
Company stage
IPO
Headquarters
Houston, TX
Founded
1997

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