Geospatial and Digital Innovation Development Leader

True Environmental is seeking a hands-on technical leader to drive geospatial, digital, and AI innovation into everything we do. Working directly with engineers, scientists, GIS staff, and project managers across our six practice groups (Natural Resources and Regulatory Services, Mining, Environmental, Engineering, Water Resources, and Federal) you will learn how each team delivers its work and build the tools, platforms, and workflows that make that work faster, more accurate, and more valuable to clients in the Transportation and Infrastructure, Water, Energy, Power and Utilities, Mining, Industrial, Environmental, and Natural Resources markets.

You will be the firm’s U.S.-based technical authority for enterprise GIS, geomatics, and digital solutions across all practices, and the person who turns emerging technology into everyday practice. You will design the geodatabases, write the scripts, build the applications, integrate the data feeds, and apply AI in a manner that improves how we compile data, detect change, and deliver results. Just as importantly, you will train project teams to use what you create, so innovation reaches every project. Alongside our technical leadership, you will represent the firm in front of clients and present at industry conferences, and you will coordinate with digital technology leaders in Canada to identify, develop, and leverage tools across True. The position reports to the Chief Operating Officer and works in a matrixed relationship with practice leads across the firm.

What You Will Do

Cross-Practice Technical Leadership

• Act as the U.S. technical lead for geospatial and digital solutions, supporting all six practice groups: Natural Resources and Regulatory Services, Mining, Environmental, Engineering, Water Resources, and Federal.
• Partner with each practice to map current workflows, identify where spatial data and automation can remove manual effort or improve decision quality, and prioritize a development backlog.
• Establish firm-wide standards for geodatabase design, metadata, data governance, QA/QC, and deliverable formats so geospatial output is consistent regardless of practice or office.
• Coordinate with digital technology leaders in Canada to identify, develop, and leverage tools across True, aligning platforms and avoiding duplicated development.
• Serve as technical reviewer for geospatial deliverables and provide expert input on proposals when practices need a defined digital scope.

Product and Platform Development

• Design and build enterprise geodatabases, web-mapping applications, custom dashboards, and digital-twin platforms that integrate 2D/3D mapping, asset inventories, document repositories, point clouds, BIM/Revit models, and inspection and monitoring records.
• Develop repeatable analytical tools and workflows for recurring project needs, for example: cut/fill and dredging analysis, discharge and runout modeling, routing and constraint analysis, contaminant plume and exceedance visualization, impervious surface and flood-exposure analysis, and automated regulatory reporting (figures, tables, EDDs).
• Build and maintain field data collection applications (Survey123, Field Maps, Fulcrum, or custom) and the pipelines that move field data into enterprise databases and client deliverables.
• Integrate real-time and external data sources (IoT sensors, AIS, weather and environmental feeds, bathymetric and LiDAR scans) into living data products.
• Automate with Python, SQL, JavaScript, ModelBuilder, and FME; convert legacy CAD/MicroStation, Access, Excel, and PDF data into spatially enabled databases.

Innovation and Technology Evaluation

• Evaluate and pilot emerging capabilities, including GeoAI and LLM-assisted data compilation and metadata generation, automated defect and change detection from imagery and point clouds, open-source geospatial stacks, cloud deployment, and immersive/XR visualization, and establish practical, governed paths to adoption.
• Direct reality-capture programs in coordination with field teams: terrestrial and bathymetric LiDAR, sonar, UAS photogrammetry and inspection.
• Identify project-built tools that can be hardened into reusable firm assets or client-facing products.

Client Representation, Enablement, and Training

• Together with technical leadership, represent the firm in front of clients and present at industry conferences, user groups, and professional associations.
• Develop SOPs, written and video tutorials, and training programs so practice staff can use and maintain the tools you build.
• Mentor GIS analysts and developers across practices on development practices, database design, and scripting; you will influence and guide, not line-manage, these staff.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Geography, Geospatial Science, Environmental Science/Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Authorized to work in the United States without current or future sponsorship.
• 20+ years of progressive geospatial and application-development experience, with substantial time as technical lead on multidisciplinary projects in an environmental, engineering, AEC, or public-sector setting.
• GISP certification (or ability to obtain within 12 months).
• Deep expertise in the Esri platform: ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Enterprise/Server, ArcGIS Online, Experience Builder, Survey123, Field Maps, 3D/Spatial Analyst.
• Proven development skills: Python, SQL (PostgreSQL/PostGIS, SQL Server), JavaScript (Esri JS API, Leaflet, Node.js), and relational database design.
• Demonstrated track record of building web applications, dashboards, and enterprise GIS infrastructure that measurably improved delivery efficiency or client decision-making.
• Experience integrating field data collection platforms with enterprise geodatabases and downstream modeling or reporting tools.
• Ability to work across disciplines: elicit requirements from non-GIS staff, explain technical trade-offs clearly, and deliver tools people actually adopt.
• Comfortable presenting to clients, agencies, and industry audiences.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience developing digital-twin or asset-management platforms integrating point clouds, BIM, and inspection data (ports, utilities, transportation, or facilities).
• Hands-on reality-capture experience: LiDAR, bathymetric/sonar survey, UAS operations (FAA Part 107), photogrammetry, 3D modeling.
• Open-source geospatial and cloud experience (QGIS, MapServer, GeoServer, PostGIS; Azure or AWS).
• Experience applying AI/ML or LLM-assisted tooling to geospatial data compilation, defect detection, or metadata generation.
• Integration experience with EAM/BIM platforms (e.g., Maximo, Autodesk Forma) and CAD/MicroStation conversion via FME.
• Experience with 3D visualization, immersive/XR, or interactive training content for stakeholder engagement.
• Experience working across distributed, multi-office, or cross-border teams.

Why True Environmental

• Experience developing digital-twin or asset-management platforms integrating point clouds, BIM, and inspection data (ports, utilities, transportation, or facilities).
• Hands-on reality-capture experience: LiDAR, bathymetric/sonar survey, UAS operations (FAA Part 107), photogrammetry, 3D modeling.
• Open-source geospatial and cloud experience (QGIS, MapServer, GeoServer, PostGIS; Azure or AWS).
• Experience applying AI/ML or LLM-assisted tooling to geospatial data compilation, defect detection, or metadata generation.
• Integration experience with EAM/BIM platforms (e.g., Maximo, Autodesk Forma) and CAD/MicroStation conversion via FME.
• Experience with 3D visualization, immersive/XR, or interactive training content for stakeholder engagement.
• Experience working across distributed, multi-office, or cross-border teams.
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