Principal - Building Diagnostics & Restoration

Principal, Building Diagnostics & Restoration | Chicago | $214,240 to $273,000 (PLUS UP TO 100% BONUS!)

Confidential search | Shareholder-level | On-site and in-field

Most Principal roles in Chicago are really just senior technical roles with a business development target bolted on. You inherit someone else's client list, you chase the same facade ordinance work everyone else is chasing, and the firm takes the upside.

This is not that.

I'm working with a national engineering and architecture practice on a Principal hire for their diagnostics and restoration group in Chicago. Roughly 60 people in the Loop office, part of a firm of around 800 nationally. They design, they investigate failures, and they repair the buildings worth saving. Building enclosure consulting, enclosure commissioning and roofing sit at the centre of this group.

What actually makes this one different

You'd be Principal-in-Charge on complex, high-risk work with genuine independence over what you take on. Project selection, contracting, scope, risk, fees. That is your call, not a committee's. The brief explicitly includes opening new markets, clients and practice areas, so if you have a niche you have wanted to build out properly, there is room and appetite for it here.

The technical platform behind you is the real differentiator. They own a materials testing and research laboratory that is central to how the business operates, not a marketing asset. When a failure investigation needs hard evidence rather than engineering judgement, the lab answers it. That is a serious weapon when you are sat across from opposing counsel.

Nearly everyone at this firm is licensed. It tells you more about the technical bar than any award list would.

The money, properly explained

• Base of $214,240 to $273,000 depending on whether you come in at Associate Principal, Principal or Senior Principal
• They pay for extra direct hours worked. In consulting engineering at this level that is close to extinct
• Profit sharing and 401(k) with discretionary company contribution on top
• Substantial employer contribution to medical premiums. Historically around 95 percent covered for an individual and 80 percent for a family
• Annual discretionary bonus, plus tuition reimbursement, paid parental leave, fertility and family forming benefits

Shareholding is part of the deal at this level, so you own a piece of what you build.

What you'd be doing

• Leading complex, high-profile projects across new design and the evaluation, investigation and repair of existing buildings
• Running your own portfolio end to end, including contracting, risk and fee collection
• Senior technical leadership on building envelope malfunctions and failures
• Directing design and construction phase services, advising engineers, architects and contractors
• Acting as primary client contact on major engagements and generating sustained external work
• Supporting litigation, claims and expert services with authoritative technical judgement
• Peer reviewing deliverables and mentoring across reporting lines
• Industry visibility through publications, committees and speaking

What they need from you

• Degree in Engineering, Architecture or Architectural Engineering, advanced degree preferred
• 15+ years in an A/E or construction management environment
• Illinois PE or RA
• Multi-year track record as Principal-in-Charge or equivalent
• A book of business you can genuinely bring, and a name clients already know (min 700k annual)