Associate Director - Preparedness Services

Job Description

AECOM Advisory is seeking an Associate Director to build and lead a Preparedness Services offering within our Disaster Recovery practice. Preparedness Services helps governments, utilities, transit agencies, infrastructure operators and other mission-critical organizations keep essential functions running through disruption, and recover them quickly when they cannot. The role sits at the intersection of preparedness, emergency operations and organizational performance, and it is designed for a leader who can both deliver and originate this work.

AECOM Advisory is AECOM’s management consulting Global Business Line. Building on AECOM’s operational expertise in infrastructure design and delivery, we are a trusted adviser to senior-level clients and executive teams on their most pressing enterprise and strategic needs. We serve the full value chain of clients active in infrastructure, the built environment and community vibrancy, including national and sub-national governments, regulatory entities, city agencies, utilities, transit agencies, infrastructure operators and investors. Our global team of approximately 400 professionals includes business and policy analysts, economists, commercial strategists, technology architects, and human capital and change management practitioners. We help clients define strategy, improve operational performance and integrate digital systems to generate measurable value for stakeholders and impact for communities.

The Role

As an Associate Director in AECOM Advisory’s Disaster Recovery practice, you will establish Preparedness Services as a distinct, growing line of business. You will originate and capture new work, lead the teams that deliver it, and shape the methods, tools and thought leadership that define our offering. You will work in close partnership with the East Region Disaster Recovery leadership, the Advisory Regional Business Line Leader, and the national practice team, and you will be accountable for both client outcomes and commercial performance.

Preparedness Services will initially be anchored in U.S. federal civilian clients, with deliberate extension to state and local governments, critical-infrastructure operators and international clients as responsibilities for preparedness and continuity shift across levels of government.

Business Development and Capture

•      Define and execute pursuit campaigns for Preparedness Services, including market analysis, white-space assessment, client insight development and competitive positioning.

•      Serve as Capture Manager for proposal responses: narrative development, technical solution design across multiple teams, pricing, team and subcontractor definition, internal risk review and compliance.

•      Originate and shape opportunities in continuity of operations, continuity of government, business continuity, emergency operations center (EOC) readiness and preparedness exercises through industry presence, client relationships and professional networks.

Engagement Delivery

•      Lead multiple delivery teams of 5–8 Consultants and Senior Consultants across inter-dependent workstreams, providing outline, supervision and quality control over scope, assumptions, analyses and insights.

•      Lead delivery of preparedness engagements such as readiness program assessments and maturity models, plan and program development, business impact analysis, essential-function identification, EOC design, staffing and operations, and readiness reporting.

•      Design and oversee training, testing and exercise programs, including discussion-based and operations-based exercises, with both notice and no-notice formats, and an after-action to improvement-plan to re-exercise cycle that demonstrably closes gaps.

•      Design rigorous assessments that gather complex information from disparate sources, organize it into clear observations and produce practical, prioritized recommendations.

Client Leadership

•      Lead client interactions on delivery progress and insight validation, including with C-suite and senior management stakeholders, and brief senior leaders in clear, executive-ready formats.

•      Facilitate workshops, executive working groups and stakeholder alignment sessions, including multi-agency and multi-jurisdiction coordination.

•      Manage inputs upward and laterally from regional leadership, Directors, Client Account Managers and technical experts to flag key delivery choices, considerations and risks across technical scope, client satisfaction and commercial constraints.

Practice Development

•      Build the Preparedness Services methodology, reusable tools and intellectual property, and contribute thought leadership that positions AECOM Advisory in this market.

•      Integrate Preparedness Services with the Disaster Recovery practice’s full-lifecycle capabilities, and with AECOM’s wider technical platforms.

•      Support practice operational performance, including staffing, utilization and hiring.

•      Coach and mentor junior staff in core consulting skills.

Required Competencies

•      Strong interpersonal skills, a client-service mindset and the ability to act as a trusted adviser to senior leaders.

•      Poise, maturity and sound judgment in high-tempo, high-context, high-consequence environments, including the ability to brief senior leadership and navigate dynamic stakeholder and diplomatic considerations.

•      Structured problem-solving: the ability to frame ambiguous challenges using issue trees, hypothesis-driven analysis, operating model design and governance frameworks, and to turn them into implementable pathways.

•      Exceptional narrative development, written and verbal communication, with the ability to distill key insights for C-suite and senior management audiences.

•      Self-directed and anticipatory, comfortable leading across a highly matrixed organization and managing multiple concurrent engagements or programs.

•      Strong commercial acumen and a willingness to hold an informed point of view on enterprise challenges involving people, process and technology.

•      Collegial team player who works well within a small, motivated team of diverse consulting professionals.

•      Domain expertise in at least two of the following:

Emergency and crisis operations, including EOC management, operational staffing and surge capacity, situational assessment and reporting.

Exercise design, delivery and evaluation, including notice and no-notice programs and improvement-planning cycles.

Continuity of operations, continuity of government or business continuity planning and program management.

Preparedness and readiness assessment, including performance measurement and executive decision dashboards.

Organizational assessment, operating model design, governance reform and performance improvement.

Resilience strategies and frameworks, including mitigation and disaster recovery program design.

Qualifications

Required:

• A Bachelors degree (preferably in a STEM discipline) and at least 10 years of management consulting and/or related industry experience. 

Preferred:

• MBA, or other Master’s degree in Operational Research, Management, Management Science, Finance, Economics, Systems Engineering and/or related fields.
• Fluency with Microsoft Office Suite, especially Excel
• Strong technical skills, including experience with one or more of the following software packages:
• ArcGIS and other spatial analysis tools
• Quantitative/statistical programs such as R or Python
• Evaluation of financial cashflows, particularly public finance, via Excel.

Additional Information

• This position will not offer sponsorship now or in the future.

At AECOM, we are committed to maintaining a secure and trustworthy recruitment process and take any fraudulent hiring activity seriously. To support this commitment, all newly hired employees are required to attend an in-person Day 1 onboarding at an AECOM office location as a condition of employment.

About AECOM 

AECOM is proud to offer comprehensive benefits to meet the diverse needs of our employees. Depending on your employment status, AECOM benefits may include medical, dental, vision, life, AD&D, disability benefits, paid time off, leaves of absences, voluntary benefits, perks, flexible work options, well-being resources, employee assistance program, business travel insurance, service recognition awards, retirement savings plan, and employee stock purchase plan. 

AECOM is the global infrastructure leader, committed to delivering a better world. As a trusted professional services firm powered by deep technical abilities, we solve our clients’ complex challenges in water, environment, energy, transportation and buildings. Our teams partner with public- and private-sector clients to create innovative, sustainable and resilient solutions throughout the project lifecycle – from advisory, planning, design and engineering to program and construction management. AECOM is a Fortune 500 firm that had revenue of $16.1 billion in fiscal year 2025. Learn more at aecom.com. 

What makes AECOM a great place to work 

You will be part of a global team that champions your growth and career ambitions. Work on groundbreaking projects - both in your local community and on a global scale - that are transforming our industry and shaping the future. With cutting-edge technology and a network of experts, you’ll have the resources to make a real impact. Our award-winning training and development programs are designed to expand your technical expertise and leadership skills, helping you build the career you’ve always envisioned. Here, you’ll find a welcoming workplace built on respect, collaboration and community—where you have the freedom to grow in a world of opportunity. 

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we believe in your potential and are here to help you achieve it. All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines. 

Compensation: 160000 to 210000 (USD) (YEARLY)