Practice Lead, Natural Sciences & Forestry

Practice Lead Natural Sciences & Forestry

Technical leadership of PRIs combined Natural Sciences & Forestry practice

Location: Kelowna Penticton Vancouver or Surrey BC

Reports to: Chief Technology Officer
Full-time Senior leadership

About the opportunity

PRI is seeking an experienced Practice Lead to provide technical leadership for our combined Natural Sciences & Forestry practice. This is a senior leadership role for a seasoned natural-resource professional from either a biological sciences or a professional forestry background who is energized by raising the technical bar mentoring practitioners across disciplines and building a practice known for the quality rigour and integrity of its work.

As Practice Lead Natural Sciences & Forestry you will own the technical excellence quality and capability of two closely related natural-resource science disciplines: our biology ecology and environmental sciences work and our professional forestry work. These disciplines share clients field programs and projects and bringing them together under one practice lets the firm serve natural-resource and land clients seamlessly. You will be a senior technical authority for the practice the mentor who develops emerging practitioners into confident registered professionals and the standard-bearer who ensures every deliverable reflects sound science and stands up to regulatory and professional scrutiny. You will work in close partnership with our commercial leaders who own client relationships and business growth so that you can focus your energy where it matters most: the quality of the work and the strength of the team.

PRIs Natural Sciences & Forestry practice partners with First Nations and Indigenous tenure holders provincial and federal agencies licensees developers utilities municipalities and industrial clients across British Columbia and beyond. On the natural sciences side the practice delivers biology and ecology habitat and species assessments aquatic and terrestrial studies vegetation and wildlife work and environmental field programs. On the forestry side it delivers forest management planning silviculture prescriptions and surveys timber development and cruising forest health and wildfire and fuel management. Together they form an integrated natural-resource science capability.

How this role works at PRI

PRI operates through a matrix of technical practices and commercial sectors. Practice Leads own the technical axis: technical excellence quality management discipline capability staffing and people development. Commercial sector leaders own client relationships pursuits and business growth. This structure means our Practice Leads can concentrate on what drew them to the profession in the first place excellent work and strong teams while being genuinely supported on the commercial side. As Practice Lead youll be a senior technical resource on major pursuits and client relationships but you wont carry sales targets or sole commercial accountability.

What youll own

Technical leadership and quality

Serve as a senior technical authority for the Natural Sciences & Forestry practice providing expert oversight on complex projects professional submissions and technically challenging assignments across both disciplines.

Provide and ensure through senior discipline leads rigorous technical review and professional sign-off across natural sciences deliverables (habitat and species assessments ecological studies monitoring programs) and forestry deliverables (forest management plans silviculture prescriptions timber development forest health and wildfire assessments).

Ensure all deliverables meet PRIs quality standards professional practice requirements and applicable provincial and federal regulatory frameworks.

Own and continuously improve the practices technical standards field protocols methodologies and quality management systems across both disciplines.

Establish and lead consistent technical review processes at key project milestones working alongside Project Managers who own project delivery.

Discipline capability and resourcing

Own the technical capability of the practice across both disciplines the field expertise methods and skills the team needs to deliver excellent work now and as the practice grows.

Lead the practice through senior discipline specialists. Where your own registration and expertise sit in one discipline (biology or forestry) you will rely on develop and empower a senior lead in the other ensuring both disciplines are held to the same high standard.

Maintain labour forecasts utilization targets and workload planning across offices and field seasons in coordination with commercial sector leaders and Project Managers.

Coordinate technical resources across multidisciplinary teams partner firms contractors and seasonal field crews to staff projects for success.

Lead regular practice meetings that build technical community across both disciplines share knowledge and maintain alignment across offices.

People and team development

Mentor coach and develop biologists ecologists environmental scientists foresters forest technologists and field staff across multiple offices and specializations.

Develop and support senior discipline leads who provide technical depth in their respective areas building a leadership bench within the practice.

Support recruitment and hiring of technical staff and lead succession planning for key technical roles across both disciplines.

Support emerging professionals toward . R.P.F. R.F.T. and other relevant registrations including articling mentorship and professional development.

Identify training needs and contribute to internal technical training and field-safety programs.

Foster a collaborative accountable high-performing team culture that unites both disciplines and aligns with PRIs values.

Technical support to business development

Serve as a senior technical resource on major pursuits and proposals providing technical strategy credibility and content across both disciplines that helps win work.

Support strong client relationships as a trusted technical advisor working alongside the commercial leaders who own the client relationship and the pursuit.

Support the firms Indigenous partnerships as a technical resource on First Nations natural-resource forestry and stewardship initiatives in coordination with the firms Indigenous Partnerships function.

Identify emerging technical service opportunities and capability gaps across the combined practice and advise leadership on where to invest to grow.

Contribute to thought leadership and marketing that showcases PRIs natural sciences and forestry expertise and multidisciplinary capabilities.

Innovation and continuous improvement

Champion the adoption of new methods tools and technologies including remote sensing LiDAR drone-based inventory and survey and AI-enabled approaches to analysis and classification that improve the quality efficiency and value of the practices work across both disciplines.

Stay current with evolving legislation professional practice standards and industry best practices in both natural sciences and forestry and bring that knowledge back into the practice.

Who were looking for

We are looking for a natural-resource science leader grounded in either biology/ecology or professional forestry who combines deep technical expertise a genuine passion for developing people across disciplines and the judgment that comes from years of registered practice. You care about the quality of the science and the growth of the team and you are comfortable leading a discipline adjacent to your own through a strong senior specialist.

Required qualifications

Professional registration as an . R.P.F. . . or equivalent in British Columbia or eligibility for registration.

Bachelors degree in Biology Ecology Forestry Forest Sciences Environmental Science Natural Resource Management or a related discipline. Graduate degree an asset.

Minimum 10 years of natural sciences or forestry experience with progressively increasing technical responsibility.

Minimum 5 years of technical leadership or team leadership experience including mentoring technical review resource planning or practice development.

Strong knowledge of natural-resource and/or forestry legislation professional practice standards and regulatory frameworks in British Columbia.

Demonstrated experience leading technical teams and providing senior review across multiple concurrent projects and field programs.

A collaborative leadership style and the maturity to lead a discipline adjacent to your own by relying on and developing senior specialists.

Excellent written verbal and interpersonal communication skills and a genuine commitment to technical excellence professional integrity and client service.

Preferred qualifications

Experience spanning or working closely across both biological sciences and forestry disciplines.

Experience working collaboratively with First Nations on natural-resource forest tenure and stewardship initiatives.

Experience across multiple service areas including habitat and species assessment ecological studies forest management planning silviculture forest health or wildfire and fuel management.

Familiarity with GIS remote sensing LiDAR and drone-based field data collection and analysis.

Experience supporting multidisciplinary environmental land development infrastructure or natural-resource projects.

Experience developing quality management systems technical standards and internal training programs.

Why PRI

At PRI we believe exceptional consulting begins with exceptional people. We empower our technical leaders with meaningful responsibility the support to succeed and the opportunity to shape the future of their practice without asking them to carry sales quotas at the expense of the work they love.

As Practice Lead Natural Sciences & Forestry youll find:

A structure designed to let technical leaders lead technically with genuine commercial support so you can focus on the work and the team.

The opportunity to build and shape an integrated natural-resource science practice uniting biology ecology and forestry under one roof.

A practice with deep and genuine First Nations partnerships and meaningful stewardship work.

A multidisciplinary environment that encourages collaboration across natural sciences forestry environmental geomatics and engineering disciplines.

A firm that is actively investing in innovation including remote sensing LiDAR and AI-enabled tools that make our peoples work better.

Competitive compensation comprehensive benefits and genuine support for ongoing professional development.

PRI is a multidisciplinary engineering and natural sciences consulting firm with offices across British Columbia Alberta and Ontario. We are an equal-opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and inclusive team. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates and we particularly encourage applications from Indigenous professionals.