Managing Director - Forensics & Building Diagnostics

Managing Director - Building Diagnostics | Chicago

A leading international engineering consultancy is looking for a Managing Director to take the reins of its Chicago diagnostics practice. The office already has the people, the platform and the brand. What it doesn't have yet is the market-facing leader to give it direction and build it into one of the firm's flagship locations. That is the job.

Why this firm, and not the other twelve you've been called about

The business was founded in the early 1930s and has grown into a privately held firm of more than 1,000 people across dozens of offices in multiple countries. Ownership sits with full-time employees rather than a private equity sponsor.

They made their name on landmark structural work, including some of the most recognisable sports and entertainment venues in the country, and they've never really let go of the big stuff since.

But here's the part most people miss. The diagnostics group, not the design arm, is the firm's most profitable service line. It was founded around 25 years ago by a senior hire who arrived from a top forensics consultancy and brought his building diagnostics expertise with him. It started with twelve people. He went on to become CEO of the entire firm within roughly 15 years of joining. If you want to know what the ceiling looks like here for somebody who builds something, that's your answer.

The growth story you'd be joining

The forensic and diagnostics business has gone from roughly $5M to $12M, then to around $20M, with a target close to $40M inside five years. The group sits at around 230-250 people with an ambition to reach 500. They hit their five-year growth vision two years early and immediately set a new organisational structure and a longer-term plan running to 2032.

Leadership genuinely believes the forensic group could eventually become the largest in the company.

Why Chicago specifically

Chicago is one of the firm's two priority leadership markets alongside New York.

The office opened a few years ago and has since added a full structural practice alongside diagnostics, led by a name well known in the city's tall buildings community. So you'd be inheriting a real cross-discipline platform, not starting from a laptop and a phone list.

The office has manpower. What it needs is vision, direction and somebody the Chicago market actually knows. This is a build role, not a seat to fill.

What you'd actually be doing

• Own the P&L for Chicago diagnostics: financial planning, budgeting, profitability, and a credible market plan you've written yourself
• Operate as a genuine seller-doer. Originate, follow up and close work, not just attend conferences and make introductions
• Build and mentor a team, then build the team after that. Manage hiring, onboarding and development
• Grow and defend key client relationships across building enclosures, forensic analysis, restoration & renovation, and parking
• Sit on corporate councils and shape firm-wide strategy, not just local delivery
• Prepare your own successors. Succession is an explicit expectation, not an afterthought

What they're looking for

A commercially minded technical leader with a strong design and project management foundation, able to operate at the pace of a top-tier consultancy. Strategic thinker who can translate a national vision into a regional plan. PE or SE licensure expected. Leadership, commercial capability and cultural fit weigh as heavily as the technical CV.

They are hiring a small number of senior people properly rather than filling seats at volume.

On the office itself. Central Loop location. The team walks the river at lunch, picnics in the park system in summer, and will tell you the boat architecture tours are non-negotiable.