Vice President - Finance (#2452)

The Client

Williams Engineering is an entrepreneurial, mid-sized, full service engineering firm providing civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, building science, and environmental/geotechnical engineering to a diverse client base across Western Canada. The depth and breadth of their offering, their size and the entrepreneurial spirit of the firm creates unique advantages for clients and the team. Williams Engineering has the intellectual horsepower, the systems and abilities to handle a project scope of up to $50 million in size thus enabling them to support a broad cross section of clients for multiple and diverse project sizes. This in turn creates opportunities for the team to be challenged, allowing flexibility, creativity, innovation and personal growth.

Being growth and people focused has created excellent opportunities for individual, team and corporate development. In addition to numerous professional recognition awards, Williams Engineering was voted one of Alberta’s Best Workplaces in 2009 and 2010. With over 200 employees, they are committed to working together to achieve common goals and capturing and sharing of knowledge throughout the company. They are committed to giving back to the communities that supports them. Corporately and individually, they volunteer their time, money, and expertise to numerous local not-for-profit organizations, causes, and foundations.

For more information on Williams Engineering, please visit: www.williamsengineering.com.

The Position

Based in Yellowknife, NT and reporting to the CEO, the Regional Director (RD) will be a key strategic player as part of the senior leadership team. The successful candidate will have full P&L responsibility for the region and will be accountable for the leadership, operations, business development and general administrative management of the region. This role requires a leader who can engage and support the team, enhance the culture, be entrepreneurial, create opportunities and drive efficiencies to support their clients and maximize profits. This is an exciting opportunity for the right person to take a strong region to the next level by executing the strategy, achieving growth, driving a successful team and enhancing Williams Engineering’s position as an industry leader.

Key accountabilities include:

• Developing and executing business and marketing plans for the region, in alignment with the Corporate Strategic Plan;
• Understanding the market in the region and anticipating the effect on the business;
• Proactively developing and executing plans to deal with market fluctuations;
• Achieving performance targets for the region (i.e. Utilization, WIP, Contribution Margin, AR, Revenue, Client Satisfaction, Employee Engagement) and make necessary adjustments to meet and/or exceed these targets;
• Recruiting and retaining top talent;
• Acting as a Relationship Manager for key and target clients;
• Developing lasting relationships with client personnel that foster deep routed client ties;
• Communicating effectively with clients to identify needs and evaluate alternative solutions;
• Communicating clearly with the team and Corporate office to ensure goals and objectives are achieved;
• Continually seeking opportunities to increase customer satisfaction and deepen client relationships;
• Building a knowledge base of client's business, organization and long term objectives;
• Overseeing the region’s Project Managers and regularly reviewing the financial performance and customer satisfaction level of projects;
• Leading the preparation of proposals for major projects, attend client and business development meetings as required;
• Supporting corporate position by acting as a local representative of the corporate vision, culture, policies and values;
• Maintaining and supporting exceptional client service principals and practices;
• Managing, motivating, training and mentoring direct reports according to company policies and guidelines;
• Developing direct reports’ career paths and providing performance feedback; and
• Working with Human Resources to develop and deliver in-house technical training on areas of expertise.

Success Factors:

• Success will be measured on achieving the following:
• The ability to engage and align the team towards the corporate objectives;
• Building relationships with past clients and positioning the organization to attract new clients;
• Moving the organization outside the comfort zone to take on more diverse and challenging projects;
• Achieving the performance targets as laid out in the corporate scorecard; and
• Ability to market WEC services from every branch and utilizing employees in every location to achieve company objectives.

• The opportunity to be a leader in an employee-owned organization that can compete with large corporate engineering firms but that have the entrepreneurial spirit and nimbleness of a non-bureaucratic, client focused entity;
• The ability to shape the business and be rewarded for your achievements;
• Flexibility to manage and grow the region in any way you wish providing it aligns to the companies strategy; and
• The ability to work on diverse and interesting projects.

The Candidate

It is important that the successful candidate possesses the following education, experience, and personality:

Education:

• P. Eng. or C.E.T. designation is a definite asset;
• Application knowledge of systems and programs (including, Deltek Vision, MS Office, discipline specific drafting/design software, etc.); and
• Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering or diploma in Engineering Technology or a related field.

Experience:

• A minimum of 10 years in Engineering, construction or a related industry is required;
• At least 5 years of experience in a senior leadership role;
• Previous experience working in the North is required;
• Experience working with mining clients on infrastructure and related projects is a definite asset; and
• A strong understanding in the area of at least one engineering discipline.

Personal Characteristics:

• Strong analytical and problem solving skills with the ability to see and articulate the big picture;
• The ability to recognize and accurately define problems and solutions by collecting data and establishing facts to draw valid conclusions;
• Strong relationship and change management skills;
• Excellent interpersonal skills; a person who listens well, respects diversity of opinions and has an open, clear and succinct communication style;
• Strong business acumen, exemplary work ethic and an ability to motivate and lead by example;
• A self-starter with a highly energetic, results oriented work style;
• A definite business presence complemented with personal drive, resourcefulness, maturity, honesty and integrity and sound business judgment;
• Strong presentation and project management skills;
• A results oriented and decisive individual with the ability to delegate effectively;
• A people oriented leader with a reputation for successfully attracting, mentoring and motivating a team and who is prepared to lead by example;
• Effective organizational and time management skills in handling multiple priorities, performing a variety of tasks, and meeting required deadlines;
• Strong contacts in the engineering community and a persuasive presentation and communication style;
• Experience and good judgment to plan and accomplish ambitious but achievable goals;
• Ability to represent the company to the staff, clients and community by ensuring the best image is presented; and
• An understanding of basic revenue models, P/L, and cost-to-completion projections and makes decisions accordingly.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT
ANDREW ROSS AT (780) 432-5490 Ext. 406, OR
RENE TARDIF AT (780) 432-5490 Ext. 430
CONROY ROSS PARTNERS LIMITED