About this role
LEAD A TEAM WORTH LEADING
You know the pattern. In most consulting firms, the best biologists get promoted into management, handed a dozen direct reports on top of a full billable load, and told to figure it out. Supervision becomes the thing that happens after 5 p.m. Careers stall. Good people leave.
Sequoia Ecological Consulting is doing something different, and we built this role to prove it.
We’re hiring a Technical Services Manager whose first job — not side job — is people. You’ll be the one stable, dedicated, capable leader for our technical staff from the Project Manager tier through our newest field biologists: their supervisor, their advocate, and the person who makes sure their careers actually move. This is a leadership role with real authority, real protected time for supervision and development, and the full backing of our Director of Technical Services and Principals.
If you’ve spent your consulting career believing that strong teams are built, not found — and you want a firm that will invest in you building one — keep reading.
WHY THIS ROLE IS DIFFERENT
• People leadership is the job. Your performance is measured on team cohesion, retention, development, and delivery — not on how many hours you personally bill. You’ll carry meaningful project work, but with dedicated, protected time for supervision, coaching, and career development
• You’ll lead a strong bench. Sequoia’s technical staff are talented, credentialed, and hungry to grow — permitted biologists, rising project managers, and sharp early-career scientists who want a leader invested in their next step
• The structure is built for you to succeed. Technical direction is set by our Director of Technical Services and Principals; ownership boundaries are clearly defined so you can lead without turf battles. You focus on what you do best: developing people and solving delivery problems
• Development here is real, not a slide deck. You’ll work with Sequoia University, our published Career Architecture, and defined promotion criteria — including Designated Biologist development — so advancement for your team is concrete, transparent, and achievable
• There’s a path up. This role is a proving ground for future division leadership, with advancement to Director of Technical Services open to those who demonstrate sustained excellence
WHAT YOU’LL DO
Reporting to the Director of Technical Services, you will own staff supervision, performance management, career development, workload balance, and project-level problem solving for our technical staff. Day to day, that means:
• Serve as the primary supervisor for technical staff at the Project Manager tier and below, owning staffing decisions, workload balance, and day-to-day personnel matters
• Hold regular one-on-ones and be a reliable, present first point of contact for your team’s questions, concerns, and growth
• Run performance management that people trust: reviews on schedule, meaningful goals, honest coaching, and recognition that lands
• Make advancement real by ensuring staff get the assignments, training, credentials, and mentorship their next role requires
• Identify hiring needs proactively — anticipating growth, workload, and attrition before they become gaps — and own recruiting, interviewing, and hiring for your team
• Balance assignments so utilization targets are met and field and office schedules fit each person’s role and level
• Identify and resolve project-level staffing and delivery issues, escalating division-level and client-facing decisions to the Director
• Reinforce the technical standards, quality expectations, and compliance practices set by the Director and Principals, consistently and fairly across the team
WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR
A proven people leader from the environmental consulting industry. Strong technical credentials are welcome and valued, but the deciding qualifications are leadership, management skill, and consulting fluency. This role doesn’t need to be the strongest scientist in the room — it needs to be the strongest leader: the person our technical staff trust with their workload, their development, and their careers.
You’ll need:
• 7+ years of progressive leadership experience, including direct supervision of professional staff — hiring, reviews, coaching, corrective action, and career development
• Experience recruiting, interviewing, and hiring professional staff, and identifying hiring needs proactively based on workload, growth, and team capacity
• Substantial environmental consulting experience, with a working understanding of how consulting teams, project delivery, utilization, and client service actually operate
• A demonstrated record of building, developing, and retaining professional teams
• Experience implementing leadership development, training, or mentoring programs
• Working knowledge of CEQA, NEPA, and the federal and California Endangered Species Acts, sufficient to lead technical professionals credibly
• Excellent organizational, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills, including the ability to have direct, fair, and timely conversations
• A bachelor’s degree in biology, ecology, environmental science, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and industry experience
Great to have, not required:
• Deep technical expertise in one or more of Sequoia’s practice areas
• Designated Biologist status or equivalent agency-recognized qualifications
• A master’s degree
• Experience with multi-business-line or matrixed project delivery
WHY SEQUOIA
Sequoia Ecological Consulting is a certified woman-owned environmental consulting firm of about 70 people, headquartered in Walnut Creek with offices across Northern and Southern California. We provide biological resources, regulatory permitting, and environmental compliance services to public agencies, utilities, and private clients across the state — the projects that shape California’s infrastructure, water, energy, and open space.
We’re big enough to work on the state’s most consequential projects and small enough that you’ll know everyone’s name — and everyone will know what you did for their career. We are investing deliberately in how our people are supervised, developed, and supported: a published Career Architecture with transparent promotion criteria, Sequoia University for structured training, defined credential and Designated Biologist pathways, and now this role, created specifically so every technical staff member has a leader who owns their growth.
Our culture is collaborative, high-performing, and professional — and fiercely protected. People come to Sequoia to do excellent science with people they respect, and they stay because the firm keeps its promises about development. You would be the person at the center of keeping those promises.
WHERE THIS ROLE LEADS
The Technical Services Manager who excels here — building a cohesive, high-performing team, lifting retention and engagement, and developing a strong bench of qualified and designated staff — is building a case for division leadership. Advancement to Director of Technical Services is a firm-level decision that reflects readiness to own program financial performance, client relationships, and division strategy. We’d love to hire the person who gets there.
READY TO LEAD?
Apply through our careers page with your resume and a brief note about a team you built and what became of the people on it. That story will tell us more than any list of certifications.
Sequoia Ecological Consulting is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status. $140,000-$160,000