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WRA is seeking a Landscape Architecture Director to lead our Landscape Architecture Group within our interdisciplinary Riverscapes and Shorelines Team. The desired candidate will collaborate and engage both internally and externally to lead, support, and deliver a diverse range of design projects focused primarily on ecological restoration, with the capability to support parks and open space and community resilience projects as needed.  

You will join our team of restoration design professionals and scientists, including engineers, landscape architects, fluvial geomorphologists, hydrologists, and ecologists. Our projects span a variety of ecosystems and types across California including San Francisco Bay tidal marshes and living shorelines, Sierra Nevada meadow restoration, Northern California Coast floodplain and salmonid restoration, California Central Coast estuary restoration, and Bay Area and Southern California urban stream rehabilitation. Additionally, our team is actively growing and pursuing restoration work in Oregon. We are passionate about restoring riverine and coastal systems that support healthy and resilient natural and human communities, and are invested in the entire restoration process from initial site selection to performance monitoring and adaptive management. We also frequently collaborate with our parks and open space and community resilience teams to integrate ecological restoration with recreation and educational opportunities such as trails, gathering spaces, and interpretive features, as well as tackling challenges such as sea-level rise and wildfire resiliency.

WRA has a diverse portfolio of projects and clients, including decades-long private clients, public agencies, and non-profit organizations. In addition to our technical expertise, we help clients meet their goals and visions by providing grant fund cultivation, preparing financial models, partnering with investors, engaging stakeholders, and facilitation services. 

We envision you working in-person at one of our San Francisco Bay Area offices or in a hybrid arrangement or remote location in this region of California. Other locations may be considered on a case by case basis. Regardless of your work arrangement, in-person, remote, or hybrid, you will be excited to collaborate with staff in many technical disciplines across the company.

At WRA, you will have 3 major areas of impact:

1. Technical Skills:

• Provide guidance on the design strategy for seasonal wetland, tidal wetland, river, and riparian restoration projects
• Oversee the production of conceptual plans, construction drawings, technical specifications, and cost estimates for use in all design phases.
• Apply knowledge of California native plant communities, soils, hydrology, and construction in restoration planning and design.
• Provide construction administration and management services, including field observation of grading, planting, and other landscape design components.

2. Leadership:

• Utilize restoration experience to provide technical oversight of restoration conceptual plans, construction drawings, specifications, cost estimates, and relevant soil and hydrologic analyses.
• Mentor landscape architects and designers in grading, planting, irrigation, and restoration design using AutoCAD and Civil 3D software.
• Oversee project managers and design staff to ensure work quality and that projects meet budgets and deadlines.
• Foster collaboration within an interdisciplinary team.

3. Business Development:

• Develop regional recognition through networking and events, such as attending and presenting at conferences.
• Advise clients on project issues to build business.
• Lead and support new proposal efforts.

To be successful in this role, you will need:

• To be currently licensed as a Landscape Architect in the U.S. with the ability to obtain California licensure within 6 months of hiring.
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience providing landscape architectural services with demonstrated success designing and implementing seasonal wetland, tidal wetland, river and/or riparian restoration.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in landscape architecture at a university or college that is accredited by the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board.
• Strong written and verbal communication abilities.
• A passion for ecological restoration and connecting people from diverse backgrounds and locations with the outdoors and open spaces.
• Familiarity with California ecosystems and regulatory environment.
• Experience supervising and mentoring junior staff.
• Experience developing a portfolio of work.
• A valid driver’s license and reliable transportation (while WRA has fleet vehicles that can be reserved for field use, during busy field seasons a truck may not be available).