Senior Natural Resource Economist

Stantec’s economics practice is growing, driven by the increasing demand of our existing clients to incorporate economic analysis into resource management decisions. As a thought leader in the industry, Stantec brings together top engineers, scientists, and planners to assist our clients with difficult resource allocation decisions. The increasing complexity of resource allocations decisions is driving a significant increase in the need to incorporate economic analysis into well-informed decision making. Stantec professionals are answering this need by staffing up our economics team.

Stantec’s economists work together with top engineers, scientists, and planners to conduct holistic evaluations of societies’ interactions with the natural and built environments. With Business Lines in the following industries : Energy; Water; Transportation; Mining, Minerals & Metals; Buildings; Community Development; Federal Government and Construction Management, our 35,000 employees work to understand natures’ cycles and systems, to help optimize resource allocation decisions for resiliency, efficiency, and sustainability. Stantec is a place to satisfy your passion for economics by collaborating with top technical talents on work that is critical to our clients and the communities they support. Come grow with us!

Your Opportunity

This position is a client facing and staff leadership position with our Management Consulting Team (MTC). As a consultant within the MTC, you will have the opportunity to grow our business and mange teams that will create, design, and implement economic analyses that help our federal, state, and local government clients to make informed resource management decisions. Projects will include cost benefit analyses, national economic development analyses, ecosystem service valuation, and regional economic impact statements. This position is flexible as to location and can be remote.

Your Key Responsibilities

Support business development in Nature Based Solutions (NbS), Climate Solutions, Coastal Resilience, Ecosystem Restoration, Energy Transition, Sustainability and International Development by telling the economic story of projects such as groundwater remediation, wetlands restoration, water quality regulations, carbon offsets, or air quality regulations to name a few.

Manage research teams to evaluate economic and financial feasibility of both traditional structural projects, as well as nature-based solutions where appropriate. An example structural project is development of models and facilities to protect built infrastructure from flooding; a non-structural solution might include restoration of a wetland designed to manage storm runoff and act as an ecological filter through physical and biological treatment.

Train junior staff in both technical skill development as well as workload management skills.

Serve as an active member of multiple teams performing tasks such as.

Maintain and grow client relationships and lead business development efforts in responding to client requests, RFQs, and RFPs.

Serve as an independent reviewer of analyses prepared by peers or junior staff to ensure technical accuracy and appropriateness of methods and tools being utilized as well as solutions being evaluated.

In many cases, serve as the project manager for client engagements, ensuring delivery of high-quality services on time and within budget.

Meet performance goals and objectives as assigned regarding client-specific demands, stated delivery milestones, quality standards, project management framework, mentoring junior staff, and all training activities.

Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

Managing research teams both technically and operationally.

Working knowledge of and interest in industry standard methods of valuing ecosystem services and nature based solutions.

Proficiency with Microsoft Office Excel including quantitative modeling and analysis, managing large datasets, PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Microsoft Teams and other business systems required.

Experience with additional data analysis tools is a plus, including but not limited to SQL Management Studie, Power BI / Tableau, GIS, IMPLAN, Python, R, etc.

Excellent written and oral communication and presentation skills.

Self-starter capable of efficiently and proactively working independently as well as with a geographically dispersed team.

Intense attention to details as deliverables are open to public review and scrutiny.

Willing to travel as needed. Travel may be up to 10 percent to 15 percent depending on the assignment.

Traits and Attributes of Top Performers

Intellectual curiosity : Top performers are driven to ask why things work or don’t work currently and how we might address this—even if, or especially if, this thinking falls outside of conventional wisdom. We need bold thinkers willing to challenge assumptions and develop new solutions.

Lifelong learners : This field provides ample opportunities to develop new skills and tools, and to combine left and right brain thinking to combine economics, modeling, and an understanding of public perception to solve complex problems. There are few “routine” answers. The most successful candidates have a genuine desire to learn continually to solve our clients’ problems and improve the communities we serve.

Analytical problem solvers : Top performers understand (or are capable of quickly learning) how different factors, variables, and policies result in corresponding economic and financial impacts. They understand how to make appropriate simplifying assumptions and how to model complex systems accurately.

Collaboration and co-creation : Successful candidates work effectively on a team, across disciplines with individuals of diverse cultures and abilities in a cooperative and generative manner. Willing to step in and take on additional responsibility for the good of the entire team.

Creativity and adaptability : Top performers think about a task or a problem in a new or different way, to create strategies for disruption, breakthrough, and transformation.

Strategic and systematic thinking : Top performers synthesize different sides of an issue by examining a range of options and outcomes, considering the interconnectedness of elements as parts of a whole system. Utilizing economic principles, to build intellectual frameworks that guide decisions, solve problems, support innovation, and inform analysis and action.

Entrepreneurial mindset : Strong candidates will both seek and thrive on all opportunities and risks; Top performers leverage tenacity and optimism to innovate, effect change, break orthodoxies and create new value for clients.

Sincere desire to please our clients : Top performers actively strive to please our clients. They possess a sincere drive to ensure our clients feel confident in our performance and deliverables. They provide rigorous, error-free, and unbiased advisory services, recognizing that these efforts play a vital role in advancing both the client’s and the planet’s long-term sustainability. Because driving change takes time and effort, top performers tap into this deeper motivation to stay committed and effective in their work.

Education and Experience

A combination of education and experience will be considered for the successful candidate for this position.

A PH.D in economics with fifteen+ years of experience in consulting.

Work experience could include, natural resource economic consulting, or work with federal, state or regional agencies, NGOs and private firms.

This description is not a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that may be required of the employee and other duties, responsibilities and activities may be assigned or may be changed at any time with or without notice.

Stantec is a place where the best and brightest come to build on each other’s talents, do exciting work, and make an impact on the world around us. Join us and redefine your personal best.

Primary Location : United States | CA | Walnut Creek

Organization : 2248 Water-US M&T Consulting-Walnut Creek CA

Employee Status : Regular

Travel : No

Schedule : Full time

Job Posting : 12 / 09 / 2025 02 : 09 : 51

Req ID : 1002279

#additional

Stantec provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified employees and applicants for future and current employment and prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, genetic information, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. We prohibit discrimination in decisions concerning recruitment, hiring, referral, promotion, compensation, fringe benefits, job training, terminations or any other condition of employment. Stantec is in compliance with laws and regulations and ensures equitable opportunities in all aspects of employment. At Stantec we are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to all. If you require reasonable adjustments to be made during the recruitment process then please inform a member of our Talent Acquisition team.

#J-18808-Ljbffr