Job Title: Principal Environmental Consultant (Seller-Doer)
Job Description
This Principal-level environmental consulting role combines business development leadership with hands-on technical project execution. You drive revenue growth, own key client relationships, and lead complex environmental investigations, remediation, and compliance projects while maintaining active involvement in both strategy and delivery. The position is a true hybrid, with approximately 40-50% of your time dedicated to business development and 50-60% focused on billable project execution.
Responsibilities
Originate and personally close new environmental consulting engagements by building a strong pipeline, leveraging existing relationships, and converting opportunities into revenue-generating projects.
Own client accounts from initial pursuit through long-term relationship management, focusing on expanding the private-sector client base, including developers, attorneys, and industrial clients.
Lead client strategy and account growth by understanding client needs, identifying new opportunities, and positioning services that deliver measurable value.
Serve as the primary point of contact for key clients, ensuring excellent communication, responsiveness, and the ability to translate relationships into sustained revenue.
Own projects end-to-end, from scoping and proposal development through execution, delivery, and closeout, ensuring alignment with client expectations and regulatory requirements.
Maintain active involvement in project execution, not just oversight, by providing technical leadership on site investigations, remediation, compliance, and environmental monitoring.
Provide technical oversight and quality control, including report review, data interpretation, and preparation of clear, well-structured technical documents and regulatory submittals.
Lead multidisciplinary project teams, coordinating engineers, geologists, and field staff to deliver high-quality work on time and within budget.
Scope, budget, and manage projects, including tracking schedules, controlling costs, and adjusting plans to meet changing conditions and client priorities.
Maintain 50-60% billable utilization on active project work while balancing business development responsibilities and internal leadership commitments.
Interface directly with regulatory agencies such as DTSC, RWQCB, and EPA, advocating for clients, negotiating project approaches, and driving favorable outcomes.
Guide environmental investigations and remediation efforts, including groundwater and soil evaluations, feasibility studies, and operation and maintenance activities.
Ensure regulatory compliance across environmental projects, including environmental field work, environmental monitoring, and environmental compliance programs.
Support and mentor team members, sharing expertise in civil and environmental engineering, environmental science, and construction-related environmental work.
Contribute to the growth of the Southern California practice by identifying new revenue streams, supporting ongoing project delivery, and strengthening the firm's regional presence.
Essential Skills
Demonstrated business development capability as a seller-doer, with a track record of personally originating and closing environmental consulting work.
Ability to generate approximately $300K-$500K or more in revenue in the first year by building and converting a robust client pipeline.
Proven client ownership and relationship management skills, with experience expanding private-sector client bases and turning relationships into sustained revenue.
Broad environmental consulting background, including site investigation, site assessment, site characterization, remediation, and regulatory compliance.
Hands-on experience with environmental field work such as groundwater sampling, soil evaluation, and environmental monitoring.
Strong technical execution skills, including technical oversight, report writing, and preparation of clear, detailed environmental and engineering reports.
Experience managing project budgets, schedules, and scopes, with the ability to lead projects from initiation through completion.
Direct experience interfacing with regulatory agencies such as DTSC, RWQCB, and EPA, including negotiation and advocacy on behalf of clients.
Project leadership experience, including scoping, budgeting, and managing multidisciplinary teams to ensure high-quality delivery.
background in operation and maintenance of remediation systems and feasibility study development for environmental projects.
Solid understanding of environmental compliance requirements and the ability to design and implement compliance strategies.
15-20+ years of environmental consulting experience, with progressively increasing responsibility and leadership.
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Environmental Science, Geology, Civil Engineering, or Environmental Engineering.
Strong technical writing and communication skills, with the ability to produce professional, well-organized reports and deliverables.
Ability to balance revenue generation with technical delivery, maintaining high billable utilization while driving new business.
Self-starter mindset, capable of operating independently from day one and making sound decisions with limited oversight.
Strong collaborator and communicator who works effectively within multidisciplinary teams and supports a team-oriented environment.
Additional Skills & Qualifications
California Professional Geologist (PG) or Professional Engineer (PE) license preferred, but not required.
Advanced degree such as an MS or PhD in a relevant discipline is a plus.
Existing professional network in Southern California, particularly with developers, attorneys, industrial clients, or landfill projects.
Experience with remediation technologies and approaches, including groundwater remediation, ozone sparging, soil vapor extraction (SVE), and related systems.
background in civil engineering, environmental engineering, environmental science, or construction-related environmental work.
Knowledge of OSHA and HAZWOPER requirements and their application to field and remediation activities.
Experience working within employee-owned or full-service engineering and environmental consulting firms is beneficial.
Ability to thrive in a less bureaucratic environment with high agility, impact, and opportunities for strategic input.
Demonstrated commitment to continuous learning and professional development, staying current with industry practices and regulations.
Work Environment
The role is based in an urban office setting in Irvine, California, within a rapidly growing office that has expanded from a small team to approximately 30 professionals over the past several years, making it one of the largest offices in the firm. You join a multidisciplinary team that includes multiple Professional Engineers, a Professional Geologist, and several Geologists-in-Training, offering strong technical depth and peer collaboration. The environment emphasizes teamwork, open communication, and collaborative decision-making, with senior leaders present in the office most days to provide guidance, mentoring, and support. Work follows a hybrid model, with a typical 40-hour work week and an expectation of about 3-4 days in the office, while allowing flexibility to work from home as long as responsibilities are met. Employees can adjust their schedules, generally arriving between 7:00 and 8:30 a.m., with the option to leave earlier and finish the day at home, and typical hours run from around 8:00/8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Fieldwork is concentrated in the Los Angeles area, with projects extending from Los Angeles to San Diego, including complex remediation projects such as ozone sparging, soil vapor extraction, and systems designed for enhanced bioactivity. Team members balance field and office work, creating a dynamic and engaging mix of site activities and technical analysis. The culture is positive, inclusive, and team-oriented, with a strong emphasis on collaboration, mutual support, and candid communication. The office has intentionally built a culture where people are not required to come in every day, yet they choose to do so because of the strong teamwork and engaging atmosphere. Employees are encouraged to contribute ideas, speak their minds, and influence strategy and execution, benefiting from a less bureaucratic environment than many large firms. The company offers flexibility in work arrangements, supports personal appointments, and promotes continuous learning and development. As an employee-owned firm, team members have opportunities to purchase stock and participate in the long-term success of the organization, reinforcing a shared-ownership mindset and a strong sense of commitment to client service and project excellence.
Job Type & Location
This is a Permanent position based out of Irvine, CA.
Pay and Benefits
The pay range for this position is $200000.00 - $250000.00/yr.
As an employee-owned firm, EKI offers a unique company culture with a corporate commitment to maintaining a positive work/life experience. EKI provides excellent compensation and comprehensive benefits packages, including career advancement opportunities, outstanding training opportunities, incentive compensation including bonuses, retirement benefits through an Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP) and 401(k) profit-sharing contributions, and group medical, vision, and dental benefits.
Workplace Type
This is a hybrid position in Irvine,CA.
Application Deadline
This position is anticipated to close on Aug 18, 2026.
About Actalent
Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 20,000 consultants and 5,000 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500. We are proud to be an Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firm for our engineering design services and a ClearlyRated Best of Staffing® winner for both client and talent service.
The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law.
If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, such as the modification or adjustment of the job application process or interviewing process due to a disability, please email actalentaccommodation@actalentservices.com for other accommodation options.
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