Director, Public Agency & Geospatial Programs

NV5 is a provider of engineering and consulting services to public and private sector clients, delivering solutions through six business verticals: Testing, Inspection & Consulting; Infrastructure; Utility Services; Environmental Health Sciences; Buildings & Program Management; and Geospatial Technology. With offices nationwide and abroad, NV5 helps clients plan, design, build, test, certify, and operate projects that improve the communities where we live and work.

As engineers, architects, construction/program managers, environmental professionals and beyond, we play a significant role in shaping our communities through the services we provide. We are looking for passionate, driven individuals to join our team focused on Delivering Solutions and Improving Lives.

The Director, Public Agency & Geospatial Programs, establishes and grows NV5's land surveying and GIS practice in the municipal and utility markets. The role is a seller-doer: it originates and retains agency relationships, holds professional licensure authority for the work those relationships produce, and builds the project management and geospatial team that delivers it.

A central element of the role is serving as Contract City Surveyor for municipal clients — acting as the agency's professional land surveyor of record, reviewing and certifying subdivision maps and land records, advising city staff on boundary, right-of-way, and Subdivision Map Act matters, and representing the agency's interests before developers, engineers, and consultants.

The role is also NV5's bridge between professional land surveying and enterprise GIS, accountable for helping agency clients build authoritative geospatial systems grounded in sound survey control and for converting that trusted-advisor position into multidisciplinary work across NV5 service lines.

Core Accountabilities

• Growth, retention, and delivery performance for the assigned public agency and geospatial portfolio.
• Origination and retention of municipal, county, special district, and utility client relationships.
• Professional practice authority: review, certification, and sealing of maps, legal descriptions, and land-records documents within the scope of California PLS licensure.
• Contract City Surveyor service delivery and agency satisfaction.
• Geospatial program leadership: enterprise GIS strategy, land-records systems, and survey-to-GIS data integrity for agency clients.
• Development of a project management and GIS team serving public agencies.

Key Responsibilities

1. Market Development and Client Leadership

• Build and execute a market plan for municipal, county, special district, and utility clients across the assigned geography, including target agencies, service offerings, and pursuit calendar.
• Establish and maintain relationships with City Managers, Public Works Directors, City Engineers, planners, utility asset owners, and consulting engineers; serve as the trusted technical advisor those clients call first.
• Identify emerging agency needs and translate them into NV5 service offerings — including surveying, GIS modernization, utility asset management, public works support, and related geospatial solutions.
• Lead pursuit strategy for On-Call, contract surveyor, and program agreements: go/no-go recommendation, technical approach, staffing plan, and pricing inputs.
• Drive cross-selling across NV5 service lines (Infrastructure/Transportation, Power, Water, Environmental, Geospatial, Inspection/Integrity) once an agency relationship is established.

2. Contract City Surveyor and Professional Practice

• Serve as Contract City Surveyor or agency surveyor of record where NV5 holds that engagement, acting in the agency's interest and in compliance with applicable law.
• Review, approve, sign, and certify Final Maps, Parcel Maps, Records of Survey, Corner Records, Certificates of Compliance, legal descriptions, easement documents, and offers of dedication.
• Advise agency staff, developers, engineers, and consultants on subdivision design, boundary resolution, easement interpretation, right-of-way determination, monument preservation, and title conflicts.
• Ensure compliance with the California Subdivision Map Act, the Professional Land Surveyors' Act, the Streets and Highways Code, and applicable local ordinances while balancing legal requirements with agency and applicant schedules.
• Attend agency staff, planning, developer, and council or commission meetings as the engagement requires.
• Establish review turnaround standards and quality assurance procedures for all map-checking and land-records work performed under the engagement.

3. Collaboration with NV5 Licensed Professionals and Business Units

• This role does not operate as an isolated practice. The incumbent is expected to work in close and routine collaboration with the Professional Land Surveyors within the Geomatics business unit and with Geomatics and related business unit leaders across the country.
• Serve as an internal technical resource for boundary resolution, conflicting evidence analysis, easement and right-of-way interpretation, Subdivision Map Act application, and land-records research — supporting PLS colleagues in any region on request, whether the project falls within the incumbent's own portfolio.
• Consult with PLS staff and Survey Managers on complex boundary determinations, monument recovery strategy, and defensibility of survey conclusions prior to certification.
• Contribute to pursuits led by other business units and regions: provide public agency market intelligence, municipal contracting and procurement insights, technical approach language, GIS integration strategy, and key personnel qualifications for proposals and Statements of Qualification.
• Support national and cross-BU pursuits requiring California licensure, an agency-side perspective, or survey-to-GIS subject-matter expertise; serve as a named key person on proposals where appropriate.
• Participate in the Geomatics leadership operating rhythm by sharing standards, lessons learned, and quality practices with peer Directors and Vice Presidents; contribute to firmwide standards for boundary practice and geospatial data integrity.
• Seek out and defer to the technical judgment of the PLS of record on projects where another licensee holds responsible charge, and reciprocally make one's licensure and expertise available to those licensees.

4. Geospatial Program Leadership

• Lead the design and delivery of enterprise GIS programs for agency clients — including land records, parcel fabric, asset management, field data collection, and operational dashboards.
• Ensure geospatial deliverables are grounded in sound survey control and defensible land-records practices, so that agency data supports confident decision-making across engineering, planning, public works, utilities, emergency management, and code enforcement.
• Advise clients on maximizing the value of GIS platforms they already own and on migration to cloud-based solutions that reduce long-term maintenance costs.
• Establish internal standards for survey-to-GIS integration, automation, and quality control; coordinate with NV5 Geospatial and IT on platform, licensing, and data governance.

5. Delivery and Project Controls

• Own the operating plan for the assigned portfolio: growth, delivery performance, backlog coverage, staffing, and utilization.
• Maintain project controls discipline — defined scope, schedule, budget-to-actual, change management, documented risk, and closeout — in accordance with NV5 standards and the approved system of record.
• Drive billing and cash discipline: timely invoicing, WIP aging control, and collections support, in partnership with Finance and Project Managers.
• Monitor project performance, implement recovery actions on at-risk work, and provide accurate monthly forecasts with documented variance drivers.

6. People Leadership and Team Build

• Recruit, lead, and develop a team of Project Managers and geospatial staff serving public agencies; define roles, expectations, and accountability.
• Mentor staff in land surveying practice, GIS integration, the Subdivision Map Act, municipal development codes, public works processes, and client relationship management.
• Provide strategic direction and remove technical and commercial obstacles; empower staff to make decisions within defined authority.
• Conduct performance reviews and development plans on cycle; maintain succession coverage for licensure-dependent responsibilities.

7. Quality, Compliance, and Risk

• Establish and enforce QA/QC standards for all surveying, mapping, and geospatial deliverables produced by the practice.
• Maintain awareness of licensure obligations, professional standards, and contractual terms that affect survey deliverables and NV5's risk exposure.
• Ensure contract administration discipline: scope clarity, change order capture, and documentation that protects the project and limits claims exposure.
• Comply with NV5 and client safety programs; promptly escalate significant quality, licensure, contractual, or reputational risk to the SVP.

Operating Rhythm

• Weekly: client and agency touchpoints, pursuit pipeline review, project controls check (scope, schedule, budget, blockers), billing readiness.
• Monthly: performance roll-up and forecast, KPI scorecard, backlog and staffing alignment, map-check turnaround review, cross-sell pipeline update.
• Quarterly: agency account plan refresh, business review with the SVP, team development and succession review, technology and platform roadmap review.
• Annually: market plan and operating plan development; licensure, continuing education, and professional organization commitments.

Key Interfaces

• Senior Vice President, Geomatics (BU Leader): plan performance, staffing strategy, escalations, delegated authority.
• Vice Presidents and Directors, Geomatics, and Geomatics business unit leaders nationally: consultation, pursuit support, and PLS technical contribution.
• Professional Land Surveyors across the business unit: boundary resolution, evidence analysis, and certification consultation.
• Client agency leadership: City Managers, Public Works Directors, City Engineers, planning and utility staff.
• Developers, consulting engineers, title companies, attorneys, and licensed surveyors submitting work for review.
• NV5 Business Development, Marketing, and sister service lines; Finance and Project Controls; Quality, HR, IT, and Safety as required.

Decision Rights and Escalation

• Exercises independent professional judgment on boundary resolution, map sufficiency, and certification within California PLS licensure; this authority is not delegable and is not subject to commercial pressure.
• Approves the pursuit strategy, technical approach, and staffing plans for the assigned portfolio within delegated authority.
• Recommends pricing and contract terms; escalates deviations from standard terms, risk thresholds, or margin requirements per the delegation of authority.
• Approves project delivery and recovery plans for at-risk work; engages the agency directly to reset expectations and secure change orders.
• Declines to certify or seal any document that does not meet professional or legal standards and escalates immediately.
• Escalates conflicts of interest, licensure exposure, and significant contractual or reputational issues to the SVP without delay.

Qualifications

1. Required

• California Professional Land Surveyor (PLS) license in good standing.
• 15+ years of progressive land surveying experience, including significant responsibility for subdivision mapping, boundary resolution, right-of-way, and land records.
• Demonstrated experience serving or working directly with public agencies — municipalities, counties, special districts, or utilities.
• Working authority in the California Subdivision Map Act, Professional Land Surveyors' Act, Streets and Highways Code, and municipal development codes.
• Demonstrated leadership of multidisciplinary teams, including hiring, performance management, budgeting, and organizational development.
• Proven ability to build client relationships and originate work; comfort operating as the face of the practice with agency executives.
• Willingness and ability to serve as an internal technical consultant to PLS colleagues and business unit leaders in other regions.
• Working knowledge of enterprise GIS and its integration with professional survey practice.
• Valid California driver's license and ability to travel throughout the assigned region.

2. Preferred

• Geographic Information Systems Professional (GISP) certification.
• Prior service as County Surveyor, City Surveyor, Contract City Surveyor, or equivalent agency surveyor of record.
• Experience with Esri ArcGIS Enterprise, ArcGIS Online, Parcel Fabric, Survey123, and workflow automation (Python, Power Automate).
• Experience with operating-budget ownership, including performance improvement and cost control.
• Familiarity with UAS, LiDAR, and reality-capture workflows in a public infrastructure context.
• Active participation in CLSA, NSPS, URISA, or comparable professional organizations; conference presentation or publication record.
• Multi-state licensure applicable to NV5's western markets.

Education and Licensure

• Bachelor's degree in surveying, geomatics, civil engineering, geography, or a related field preferred. Equivalent experience combined with California PLS licensure satisfies this requirement; any equivalency determination is documented in the personnel file.
• California PLS required. GISP and additional state licensure preferred. Continuing education is sufficient to maintain licensure and professional standing.

Conflict of Interest and Professional Conduct

• Where NV5 acts as Contract City Surveyor, the incumbent represents the agency's interest and maintains independence from applicants, developers, and consultants submitting work for review.
• Discloses any actual or potential conflict of interest — including prior public employment, post-employment restrictions, and personal or financial interests — to the SVP and to NV5 Legal before accepting an engagement.
• Does not exercise certification or approval authority on any project in which independence is compromised.

The pay range for this California position is $174,720- $235,040 per year; however, base pay offered may be higher or lower depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience of the candidate. Full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the position offered. This information is provided per California Senate Bill 1162. Base pay information is based on market location. Applicants should apply via the NV5 careers site.

NV5 offers a competitive compensation and benefits package including medical, dental, life insurance, PTO, 401(k) and professional development/advancement opportunities.

NV5 provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. NV5 complies with applicable state and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.