Technical Director, Geotechnical

Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. We are more than 36,000 people, in over 70 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.

Role description

Arcadis is seeking a seasoned Technical Director with deep geotechnical and geo-structures expertise to provide strategic leadership and direction for our design team across Western Canada. This role will spearhead the delivery and growth of complex infrastructure projects including road, rail, and port developments, encompassing heavy civil structures, deep foundations, and major bridges in B.C., Alberta, and nationwide.

The ideal candidate is a proven senior leader with a strong technical reputation, exceptional client relationship skills, and a track record of driving multi-disciplinary teams to excellence. You will leverage Arcadis’s global design and engineering capabilities to influence project outcomes from high-level concept through detailed design and construction, ensuring technical innovation and operational excellence.

Role accountabilities

In this role, you will provide visionary leadership and program oversight, guiding contributions to some of the most high-profile infrastructure projects in the region and across Canada. You will be responsible for overseeing geotechnical input on major undertakings such as tunnels, transit infrastructure, heavy civil works, and port facilities. Your leadership will be critical in setting technical standards for the region, reviewing complex design elements, and resolving advanced geotechnical challenges, ensuring the consistent delivery of excellence in all project phases.

You will lead large, complex projects from inception through completion, defining work scopes, developing budgets and schedules, managing risks, and ensuring technical quality and innovation throughout. As the principal technical authority for geotechnical engineering, you will mentor and develop senior engineers and technical staff, fostering a culture of continuous learning, technical excellence, and high performance within the team. Your oversight will ensure rigorous quality control of advanced engineering calculations, numerical models, technical reports, specifications, cost estimates, and procurement documentation.

In this capacity, you will collaborate closely with multidisciplinary teams, including civil, structural, and bridge engineers, and interface regularly with clients, contractors, and regulators to ensure project success. Managing project portfolios will be integral to your responsibilities, ensuring profitability, client satisfaction, timely delivery, and compliance with all regulatory and company standards.

Finally, in this role you will represent Arcadis as a technical leader at industry events, technical committees, and client forums, enhancing the company’s reputation in the geotechnical engineering field. Your ability to build trusted relationships, drive technical innovation, and deliver sustainable solutions will be central to the continued growth and success of Arcadis’s Design & Engineering business across Canada.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering; Master’s or PhD in Geotechnical Engineering or related discipline strongly preferred
• 20+ years of progressive experience in geotechnical and geo-structures engineering, with extensive involvement in major infrastructure projects across roads, rail, transit, and port sectors
• Proven senior leadership experience managing multi-disciplinary teams and complex project portfolios at a regional or national level
• Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) registration in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, or another Canadian jurisdiction, with eligibility to obtain registration in additional provinces as required
• Strong expertise in interpreting ground investigations, developing geotechnical design parameters, and leading the preparation and review of Geotechnical Interpretative Reports (GIR) and Geotechnical Design Reports (GDR)
• Proven design experience with deep and shallow foundations, retaining structures, deep excavations, tunnels, slopes and embankments, and a range of ground improvement techniques
• Demonstrated capability in geotechnical seismic engineering, including liquefaction assessment, mitigation strategies, and seismic numerical modelling using PLAXIS or equivalent advanced tools
• Experience with marine or port structures, offshore geotechnics, soft soils, or rock engineering is considered a strong asset
• High level of familiarity with advanced geotechnical and numerical modelling tools, such as PLAXIS, RS Pile, LPile, APile, SHAFT, GROUP, Seep/W, Slope/W, Slide2, CPeT-IT, CLiq, LiqSV, Settle3, and related analytical platforms
• Strong understanding and application of relevant industry standards including the Canadian Foundation Engineering Manual (CFEM 2023) and the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code (CSA S6-19 / S6-25)
• Demonstrated ability to lead innovation in design methodologies, ground investigation strategies, and risk mitigation
• Exceptional communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management skills with a track record of building trusted client relationships
• Strong business acumen with experience in project financial management, resource allocation, and strategic growth initiatives
• Excellent technical writing skills and experience producing high-impact reports, presentations, and proposals

Why Arcadis?

We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It’s why we are pioneering a skills-based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.

You’ll do meaningful work, and no matter what role, you’ll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark, on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.

Together, we can create a lasting legacy.

Join Arcadis. Create a Legacy.

Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We are an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. Women, minorities, people with disabilities and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. We are dedicated to a policy of non-discrimination in employment on any basis including race, creed, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship status, disability, veteran status, or any other basis prohibited by law.

Salary Range

The salary range for this position is $162,000 - $212,000. The base salary represents Arcadis’ hiring range for this position. Actual salaries will vary and will be based on various factors, such as location, skills, experience, and qualification for the role.

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