Project Manager – Transmission Projects

Environmental Science Associates (ESA) is a 100% employee-owned environmental consulting firm. We plan, design, permit, mitigate, and restore for projects across our communities, infrastructure systems, open spaces, and wildlands. We are 50 years strong in 21 offices across California, the Pacific Northwest, and the Southeastern United States.

ESA is looking for a highly motivated Project Manager to lead transmission projects, including overhead and underground lines, substations, grid‑modernization work, and related electrical infrastructure. In addition to excellent client‑service skills and the ability to build long‑term relationships with utilities and energy‑infrastructure partners, the candidate excels in identifying strategic direction, supporting business‑development initiatives, and recognizing high‑value transmission opportunities.  This role is ideal for a collaborative, delivery‑focused professional eager to help advance grid reliability and clean‑energy infrastructure in the West. The ideal candidate brings 10+ years of experience and a bachelor’s or master’s degree in environmental management, planning, project management, or a related field. He/She shall lead transmission and grid‑infrastructure projects from early concept through construction support. The ideal candidate is passionate about enabling the clean‑energy transition and brings full life‑cycle transmission experience, including: early feasibility and constraints screening; siting and routing studies (alternatives development, fatal‑flaw/constraints analysis, route comparison and selection, and constructability understanding); managing environmental field studies, conducting data‑driven impact analyses; permitting strategy and execution across federal, state, and local authorities; right‑of‑way (ROW) strategy and coordination; and environmental compliance during pre‑construction and construction (mitigation, monitoring, reporting).

Who You Are

• Strong knowledge of the full transmission project lifecycle, from early study areas and corridor development through routing, siting, design, permitting, construction, compliance, and O&M.
• Experience in ISO/RTO transmission needs assessments and planning processes, how transmission projects are identified, studied, prioritized, and approved, and where project development must align with interconnection, reliability, and policy‑driven needs.
• Has experience managing the full project life cycle, from proposals through day‑to‑day execution and closeout.
• A minimum of 10 years of relevant experience and a bachelor's degree.
• A deep understanding of the regulatory landscape governing transmission infrastructure and a track record of managing complex, multi-disciplinary projects throughout the life cycle, not just task or phase management.
• Understand the big picture and how project development, construction, operations, and maintenance of transmission projects work.
• Develops project strategy, brings ideas to evolving grid‑infrastructure needs.
• Is proficient with project management tools (MS Project, Smartsheet, etc.), builds predecessors and successors across all phases of electric transmission projects and captures routing, environmental studies, agency reviews, land/ROW, procurement interfaces, outage windows, and construction compliance.
• Is proactive, organized, and skilled at anticipating challenges before they arise.
• Demonstrates strong client‑service instincts and builds trusted, long‑term relationships.
• Excels at managing scope, schedules, and tracking budgets to keep projects on target.
• Delivers high‑quality work products with rigorous attention to detail.
• Communicates clearly, both in writing and verbally, while collaborating effectively with technical teams, permitting staff, and project partners.
• Is a proactive communicator with clients and project team members.
• Is comfortable managing a wide range of tasks beyond core technical expertise.
• Has a proven track record in proposal writing and business development, including leveraging an existing network.
• Able to travel to project team meetings, clients, leadership, site visits, agency meetings, and public stakeholder engagements in support of projects and clients.

What You Will Do for ESA

Business Development & Strategy

• Lead or support the development of proposals, scopes, schedules, and budgets; contribute to contract negotiations as needed.
• Participate in client meetings, industry events, and conferences to represent ESA and promote our transmission‑infrastructure services.
• Leverage your professional network and build and maintain strong relationships with utility partners, engineering firms, contractors, and regulatory agencies to support business development and grow ESA’s transmission portfolio.
• Engage with clients to understand needs, identify pursuits, and gather intel to pre‑position the firm for success.
• Adept at identifying opportunities within the transmission sector, including emerging regulatory and regional trends that influence project viability and competitive positioning.

Project Leadership & Execution

• Manage the full life cycle, from conceptual planning and proposal development through construction support and closeout, with an emphasis on transmission‑specific sequencing.
• Oversee project scope, schedule, budget, and quality, ensuring deliverables meet ESA’s standards and are completed on time and within budget.
• Develop and maintain integrated, logic‑linked schedules.
• Proactively identify risks and critical path (e.g., survey seasons, special‑status species windows, cultural discoveries, outage constraints, landowner access, supply‑chain lead times) and drive mitigation and recovery strategies.
• Lead preparation, review, and QA/QC of technical documents: routing studies, alternatives analyses, constraints/fatal‑flaw assessments, environmental technical reports, permit applications, mitigation plans, and compliance plans. Ensuring accuracy, clarity, and regulatory defensibility.

Siting & Routing, Environmental Studies, and Compliance

• Understand and lead your team through siting and routing from opportunity screening through preferred route selection, including criteria development, GIS‑based constraints and sensitive habitat mapping, comparative evaluations, constructability.
• Scope and manage environmental field studies (biological, cultural, wetlands/waters, visual/noise, air/GHG, EMF summaries, soils/erosion, hazardous materials), safety, and data management.
• Translate study results into clear impact analyses, avoidance/minimization measures, and mitigation strategies; integrate resource constraints into the route and schedule.
• Lead environmental compliance during pre‑construction and construction: develop and implement mitigation monitoring and reporting plans (MMRPs), environmental training, contractor compliance checklists, stop‑work and variance procedures, and closeout documentation.

Permitting & Interagency Coordination

• Develop permitting roadmaps and manage end‑to‑end approvals with local, state, and federal agencies (e.g., CUPs, coastal/shoreline or scenic permits where applicable, Section 404/401, Section 7/10 consultations, cultural resources reviews, right‑of‑entry/survey permits, encroachment and crossing permits).
• Coordinate with counties, cities, public works, state land departments, state utility commissions (where applicable), federal land managers, and other stakeholders.

ISO/RTO Transmission Needs, Planning & Interconnection Awareness

• Understand how ISO/RTO planning identifies transmission needs (reliability, deliverability, and policy‑driven), how projects enter the needs assessment, are evaluated, and potentially selected for development.
• Coordinate project assumptions and understand route feasibility with utility planning and, where relevant, interconnection queue status to ensure consistency between permitting deliverables and grid‑planning needs.

What’s Special About ESA

At ESA, we spend our days helping to keep the environment in balance, and we want to help keep your life in balance too—by providing benefits such as medical, dental, and vision insurance (paid at 70% for you AND your family), a 401(k) plan with company match, an employee stock ownership program, and paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays, to name a few.

No matter what stage you are at in your career, we provide opportunities for continued growth, development, and recognition. Whether you want to further your technical expertise, sharpen your business acumen, or help lead the next generation of employee-owners, we want to support you in reaching your career goals. We believe these efforts will not only benefit you, but will also benefit all ESA colleagues and clients. Specific programs we offer include tuition reimbursement, professional development bonuses, and attendance at conferences.

Who We Are 

We are a 100% employee-owned environmental consulting firm who values diversity and inclusion and celebrate the differences that make each of us unique. Our culture is built on mutual respect, recognizing that our variety of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives leads to better solutions, which fosters our continued success for our employee-owners and clients. 

In accordance with ESA’s duty and responsibility to provide and maintain a safe workplace that is free of known hazards and to minimize the exposure to potential hazards, any employee who works from an ESA office or conducts any other in-person ESA work-related activity is required to submit their proof of vaccination status or have received an approved exemption and accommodation in states which this applies. 

If you are an applicant with a disability that requires a reasonable accommodation to complete any part of the application process or are limited in the ability—or unable to use—the online application system and need an alternative method for applying, you may contact our Human Resources Department via email: humanresources@esassoc.com for assistance.

 Please include the following in your message so we can promptly address your request:

• Full name
• The best method to contact you (phone number and/or email address)
• Title of Job Position Applied
• Description of your accommodation request

ESA is an Equal Opportunity Employer, committed to a diverse and inclusive work environment. (EOE M/V/F/D)