Biological Resources Group Manager

Who do we want to join our team?

Pinyon Environmental, Inc. (Pinyon), eagerly invites motivated people to join our growing team. Pinyon prides itself on its culture—our team is dedicated to each other and the communities in which we live, work, and serve. We are actively hiring people who are excited about developing themselves and creating a long-lasting and fulfilling career. At Pinyon, successful team members are creative problem solvers and life-long learners. Pinyon eagerly tackles challenging problems for our clients (our motto is, “we run towards the problem”) and we strive to keep staff engaged by bringing in meaningful and interesting projects for our staff to work on for great clients. 

Although we work in a fast-paced environment, we strive to appropriately balance workloads for all our employees—our goal is to keep our employees engaged with meaningful work, while preventing burnout. At Pinyon we value curiosity, and you will have the opportunity to explore careers paths here without getting siloed into one specialty. We honor a flexible work environment that is focused on providing you with opportunities to achieve your career and life objectives, while helping our clients design and build environmentally sustainable projects. Our firm is extremely proud of a culture founded in the principal values of character, efficiency, personal responsibility, quality, responsiveness, team, and timeliness. We have a passion for the environment and our communities, and we are proud to work on some of the most visible, unique, challenging, and rewarding projects in the Western United States and beyond. You will join a team of highly respected professionals and a highly regarded firm with an outstanding reputation. We continuously strive to create a fun and collaborative work environment that makes us all excited to come to work every day.   

About this Position

We are seeking a candidate to lead Pinyon’s Biological Resources Group. This person will be responsible for leadership functions such as general supervision, workload balance, advancing career development, identifying training opportunities, and overall leadership of the biology team members. Pinyon has identified that three core functions must occur within each technical group, as described below. The ideal candidate must fill the leadership function at a minimum. They can also fill the other functions, or at their discretion, delegate those functions to others in the group (or possibly outside the group) by capitalizing on strengths, career goals, and aptitudes of the team members. This posting intends to fill the leadership function first; the group leader will then work with the biology team to identify—based on group needs, strengths, aptitudes, and interests—how to best fill the other functions as appropriate.  

Group Manager: This leadership function entails the following core responsibilities: 

• Provide leadership for technical group (leadership means creating a positive culture of the group, advancing Pinyon’s strategic goals, clearly and positively messaging corporate objectives, and allowing staff to grow through goal setting, reinforcement, and frequent feedback)
• Supervise technical staff and participate in performance reviews and approve timesheets
• Be responsible for verifying that those individuals meet expectations and proficiencies, and that staff professionals are setting appropriate goals that encourage professional growth and career objectives 
• Resolve conflict, both internally and externally, related to projects including schedule, budget, and expectations
• Provide input into staffing and hiring needs
• Identify need for project staff by actively managing existing workload, backlog, and pipeline
• Maintain positive internal and external client relations
• Work collaboratively with project managers to assign tasks and balance workload 
• Be a member and contributor of the Project Delivery Leadership Team 
• Report directly to the Project Delivery Team Principal
• Confirm that the other essential group functions are being addressed efficiently and effectively

Technical Lead: The technical lead function entails the following core responsibilities: 

• Ensure that Pinyon’s work products follow appropriate laws/regulations/standards 
• Identify state-of-the art technologies, innovative technical delivery, and changes in those areas in coordination with the Innovation Team 
• Identify and direct the development of SOPs, templates, forms, etc., and be responsible for verifying that the group maintains corporate quality expectations and increases efficiencies related to subject
• Train junior staff on technical concepts and procedures related to subject 
• Potentially manages projects and engages with clients regularly within projects or outside project
• Complete technical review of documents
• Essential responsibilities from a technical perspective include, but are not limited to:

Business Development: The business development function entails the following core responsibilities: 

• In conjunction with other Pinyon team members assist in developing an effective marketing strategy for the technical group across multiple market areas and geographies, emphasizing maintaining core services, and growing emerging services within the group
• In conjunction with other Pinyon team members, assist with coordination of marketing strategies with clearly identified goals and metrics 
• Develop sound technical approaches and fees for proposals, particularly larger and more complex pursuits 
• Interface and collaborate with Pinyon’s Strategic Implementation team to identify key growth objectives by market, geography, and technical service area

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Bachelor’s degree in environmental discipline (e.g., environmental science, biology, environmental planning, environmental engineering)
• 5-plus years of biological resources project experience, ideally with 2-plus years of leadership experience
• Knowledge and experience with corelated regulations and clearances such as Section 404 Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Senate Bill 40, and Colorado Noxious Weed Act
• Contribute as an author and/or strategic advisor on environmental planning documents such as NEPA Environmental Impact Statements or Environmental Assessments, biological evaluations/assessments, monitoring reports, wetland delineation reports and develop mitigation plans and documents to address project impacts
• Provide quality assurance / quality control (QA/QC) review of technical documents prepared by others from disciplines noted above
• Manage biology tasks (coordinating field logistics, overseeing surveys, and managing field staff)
• Actively participate in capture planning, client development, proposal development and interviews in collaboration with marketing and leadership teams
• Analytical data review, interpretation, and report preparation
• Employment is contingent upon the results of a background check

Application Process

To express your interest in this position, visit https://pinyon-env.net/careers/, choose the position you’re interested in applying, click "Apply Now" on the right, and submit the form. The cover letter should clearly describe and demonstrate how the candidate’s experience, including management, communication and technical skills, would allow them to independently and successfully lead the biology team. If you require reasonable accommodation for the application process, please contact Employee Services by email at careers@pinyon-env.com or by phone at 303.980.5200.

Summary of Benefits

Pinyon offers a comprehensive range of benefits including accrued vacation, sick, and paid holidays; 100% employer paid premium health insurance through United Health; life insurance; long term disability; ESOP and employer matching 401k. Pinyon also offers several bonus programs including an overtime bonus program, profit share program, and a spot bonus program. 

EEO Statement

Pinyon 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 status as a protected veteran.

About Pinyon

Pinyon was established in 1993 by Lauren Evans, PE, and she has grown Pinyon from a one-woman outfit based out of her garage, to a thriving and growing environmental consulting firm. The firm now employs over 100 environmental professionals and support personnel and has expanded from its headquarters in Lakewood, Colorado to include branch offices in Loveland and Colorado Springs, Colorado, as well as a satellite office in Tempe, Arizona. Pinyon is a client-centric environmental consulting firm that works towards collaborative solutions to advance our clients’ needs while protecting environmental health and safety. Pinyon supports private and public sector projects for commercial and industrial, energy, public works, federal, and transportation clients. Our team is energized by working in a flexible, fast-paced, and collaborative environment – solving complex problems for our clients. Given the depth and breadth of our technical team, we are the go-to firm for permitting and compliance on the local level and looking to expand our NEPA qualifications across multiple market sectors. Pinyon is committed to continue to expand our portfolio of projects both in our current geographies and elsewhere in the United States.