Senior Environmental Planner

Overview

ABOUT THE POSITION

Senior Environmental Planner

VHB is seeking a Senior Environmental Planner to join our Atlanta, Georgia office. Our environmental planning team strives for a culture in which team members are excited about their work, supported professionally and personally, encouraged to be creative and innovative, and have opportunities to contribute to and learn about the diverse markets in which we work. Consistently named among the “Best Civil Engineering Firms to Work For” by CE News magazine, VHB is committed to providing a challenging, dynamic, and rewarding work environment. Our staff enjoy opportunities to grow professionally and work on interesting projects.

VHB provides environmental services to state and federal departments of transportation, transit and rail agencies, airport owners/operators, municipalities, energy clients, institutions, building developers, and other entities. VHB offers our clients strong project management support, technical analyses, and short and long-term planning solutions to meet environmental regulatory requirements, identify and achieve sustainability goals, and to understand the effects of our built environment.

VHB is hiring a senior professional who has strong project and task management experience leading the preparation of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documentation for State and Federal agencies, with a particular emphasis on the Georgia Department of Transportation.  VHB’s Atlanta-based environmental team includes 70 staff with a broad range of integrated experience, including environmental planning, ecological studies, cultural resource studies, air/noise studies, and others. We are looking for applicants that have a strong understanding of our full range of environmental services to foster our cross-collaborative culture and support our growing backlog.

Responsibilities:

• Support multi-disciplinary environmental projects in transportation, and manage multiple ongoing environmental planning tasks and projects
• Track project deliverable progress in multiple systems and coordinate completion across teams
• Independently prepare and review National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documentation
• Build relationships with clients, project managers, colleagues, and sub‑consultants
• Conduct environmental planning analyses, including using GIS to prepare mapping
• Coordinate and communicate with internal and external project team members
• Lead and support business development activities as needed, including preparing scopes of work, fee estimates, and schedules
• Facilitate stakeholder meetings, public workshops, and public hearings, as needed
• Provide quality assurance and quality control for NEPA documents produced by other staff
• Support senior management team
• Provide strong coaching, mentoring, and everyday feedback to junior planning staff

Skills and abilities:

• Excellent verbal, written and interpersonal communication skills
• Capacity to manage multiple tasks simultaneously and set priorities
• Detail-oriented and highly organized
• Team-oriented with strong capability to motivate others
• Must demonstrate an ability in collaborative problem-solving with stakeholders, clients, and teammates
• Thorough understanding of technical environmental impact analysis methods
• Must be a highly motivated self-starter 
• Experience with broad range of environmental studies and regulations, including environmental justice and Title VI, Section 4(f), Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, and Section 106
• Capable of coordinating and performing multiple tasks among teams
• Demonstrated leadership and mentoring skills required
• Ability to travel, if required

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant environmental discipline (environmental science, environmental biology, ecology, wildlife management, cultural resources, NEPA, and related disciplines)
• 11-15 years of experience in environmental consulting, including strong project management skills
• Extensive experience with NEPA Regulations, state of Georgia rules and regulations (including GEPA and Buffer Variance Regulations), Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, National Historic Preservation Act

Building what’s next, together.

Our people make the difference. We foster a technology-empowered, people‑driven, future‑ready culture where agility, innovation, and collaboration shape how we work every day.

When you join VHB, you’ll find:

• Meaningful work on complex projects with real community impact
• A collaborative, inclusive culture that values curiosity and shared success
• Support to grow your skills and lead through change
• Learning and development supported by evolving tools and technologies, including AI
• Best-in-class benefits and a flexible, hybrid work environment

We’re growing across the East Coast and are consistently recognized as a great place to work. Ready to shape what’s next? Learn more about what sets our employee experience apart and connect with us.  

VHB is a proud Equal Opportunity Employer. Since our founding, we have intentionally fostered a culture of inclusion and belonging, supported by deep-rooted core values, one of which is diversity. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or other characteristics protected by law.

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