Principal Jobs at Arcadis with Visa Sponsorship
Principal jobs at Arcadis sit at the intersection of technical leadership and client advisory work, spanning disciplines from engineering to environmental consulting. Arcadis has a consistent track record of sponsoring international professionals for senior roles, making it a realistic target if you're building a long-term U.S. career in consulting.
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Get Access To All JobsINTRODUCTION
Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. We are more than 34,000 people, in over 30 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.
ROLE DESCRIPTION
Arcadis is seeking a dynamic Principal Water Treatment Planning Engineer/Manager to join our Resilience Water Planning Practice in Southern California. This individual will lead water quality and treatment planning projects, guide long-term strategy development, and support the delivery of complex, multidisciplinary planning projects. The role also includes mentoring a high-performing team of planners, engineers, and scientists.
ROLE ACCOUNTABILITIES
In this role, you will collaborate closely with the regional leadership, national practice leaders, market sector leads, and client account managers to shape the future of water and recycled water planning across Southern California. You will support municipal and utility clients as they navigate evolving regulatory requirements, climate uncertainty, water supply resilience challenges, and infrastructure investment needs.
Responsibilities include:
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Lead Water Quality and Treatment Planning: Direct comprehensive water and recycled water quality and treatment planning efforts, including treatment processes for regulatory compliance (e.g., groundwater and surface water treatment), operations evaluations (e.g., filter assessments or disinfection approaches), distribution system water quality improvement (e.g., nitrification prevention and corrosion control). Develop strategies to address long-term challenges related to water quality and treatment reliability, reuse, sustainability, resilience, and regulatory compliance.
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Lead Water and Recycled Water Treatment Improvements and Operations: Lead water and recycled water treatment evaluations of existing infrastructure and plan improvements to improve operability, water quality, and infrastructure reliability. Support water and recycled water treatment utility start-up and commissioning and operations troubleshooting.
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Represent Clients/Utilities during Design and Construction: Support municipalities/utilities as the Owner’s Agent on alternative delivery projects. Lead water quality evaluations and review designer treatment approaches, basis of design, and calculations. Lead the development of performance guarantees and the associated start-up and commissioning requirements. Support start-up and commissioning activities to represent the owner’s interests.
-
Strategic Advisory & Policy Support: Provide technical leadership on water policy, regulatory frameworks, and planning best practices. Advise clients on climate adaptation, drought resilience, water recycling, and sustainability initiatives.
-
Support Business Development: Partner with Area Managers and Account Leaders across Southern California to develop and implement client engagement strategies. Build and maintain strong client relationships, identify and pursue strategic opportunities, and represent the firm at key industry events and conferences.
-
Project Leadership & Delivery: Oversee multidisciplinary planning projects, ensuring deliverables are completed in alignment with scope, schedule, budget, and Arcadis quality standards. Provide technical guidance and quality assurance on planning analyses and documentation.
-
Capital & Asset Planning: Lead development of capital improvement plans and asset investment strategies, incorporating risk-based prioritization, lifecycle costing, funding strategies, and alignment with long-term planning objectives.
-
Professional Leadership: Actively participate in state and local professional associations to strengthen the Arcadis brand and expand networks. Contribute to industry committees and thought leadership initiatives.
-
Develop and Inspire Talent: Mentor and develop water planning professionals, support recruitment efforts, and foster a collaborative, inclusive, and growth-oriented team culture.
Travel (up to 20%) is anticipated across Southern California for client and project meetings, team engagement, planning initiatives, and participating in industry events.
QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelors’ degree in Civil, Environmental, or Chemical Engineering or a related field
- 12 years of progressive experience in water resources planning, water system planning, or related fields
- Professional Engineer (PE) license.
Key Skills & Preferred Qualifications:
Master’s degree in Civil or Environmental Engineering, MBA, or a related field preferred. Professional Engineer (PE) license in California preferred. A minimum of 15 years of progressively responsible experience in water resources, water planning, or related consulting services is preferred. Proven ability to lead multidisciplinary teams, manage client relationships, and successfully deliver large, complex water planning projects. Deep understanding of California’s regulatory environment and the municipal water and recycled water utility market. Demonstrated experience partnering with municipal agencies and utilities to develop and implement long-term planning, resilience, and sustainability strategies.
COMPENSATION
- Salary range: $170,000 - $220,000/year. Actual salaries will vary and are based on several factors, such as experience, education, budget, internal equity, project and location.
Arcadis offers benefits for full time and part time positions. These benefits include medical, dental, and vision, EAP, 401K, STD, LTD, AD&D, life insurance, paid parental leave, reward & recognition program and optional benefits including wellbeing benefits, adoption assistance and tuition reimbursement. We offer nine paid holidays and 20 days PTO that accrue per year.
Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We are an equal opportunity employer. We are dedicated to a policy of non-discrimination in employment on any basis including race, creed, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship status, disability, veteran status, or any other basis prohibited by law.
INTRODUCTION
Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. We are more than 34,000 people, in over 30 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.
ROLE DESCRIPTION
Arcadis is seeking a dynamic Principal Water Treatment Planning Engineer/Manager to join our Resilience Water Planning Practice in Southern California. This individual will lead water quality and treatment planning projects, guide long-term strategy development, and support the delivery of complex, multidisciplinary planning projects. The role also includes mentoring a high-performing team of planners, engineers, and scientists.
ROLE ACCOUNTABILITIES
In this role, you will collaborate closely with the regional leadership, national practice leaders, market sector leads, and client account managers to shape the future of water and recycled water planning across Southern California. You will support municipal and utility clients as they navigate evolving regulatory requirements, climate uncertainty, water supply resilience challenges, and infrastructure investment needs.
Responsibilities include:
-
Lead Water Quality and Treatment Planning: Direct comprehensive water and recycled water quality and treatment planning efforts, including treatment processes for regulatory compliance (e.g., groundwater and surface water treatment), operations evaluations (e.g., filter assessments or disinfection approaches), distribution system water quality improvement (e.g., nitrification prevention and corrosion control). Develop strategies to address long-term challenges related to water quality and treatment reliability, reuse, sustainability, resilience, and regulatory compliance.
-
Lead Water and Recycled Water Treatment Improvements and Operations: Lead water and recycled water treatment evaluations of existing infrastructure and plan improvements to improve operability, water quality, and infrastructure reliability. Support water and recycled water treatment utility start-up and commissioning and operations troubleshooting.
-
Represent Clients/Utilities during Design and Construction: Support municipalities/utilities as the Owner’s Agent on alternative delivery projects. Lead water quality evaluations and review designer treatment approaches, basis of design, and calculations. Lead the development of performance guarantees and the associated start-up and commissioning requirements. Support start-up and commissioning activities to represent the owner’s interests.
-
Strategic Advisory & Policy Support: Provide technical leadership on water policy, regulatory frameworks, and planning best practices. Advise clients on climate adaptation, drought resilience, water recycling, and sustainability initiatives.
-
Support Business Development: Partner with Area Managers and Account Leaders across Southern California to develop and implement client engagement strategies. Build and maintain strong client relationships, identify and pursue strategic opportunities, and represent the firm at key industry events and conferences.
-
Project Leadership & Delivery: Oversee multidisciplinary planning projects, ensuring deliverables are completed in alignment with scope, schedule, budget, and Arcadis quality standards. Provide technical guidance and quality assurance on planning analyses and documentation.
-
Capital & Asset Planning: Lead development of capital improvement plans and asset investment strategies, incorporating risk-based prioritization, lifecycle costing, funding strategies, and alignment with long-term planning objectives.
-
Professional Leadership: Actively participate in state and local professional associations to strengthen the Arcadis brand and expand networks. Contribute to industry committees and thought leadership initiatives.
-
Develop and Inspire Talent: Mentor and develop water planning professionals, support recruitment efforts, and foster a collaborative, inclusive, and growth-oriented team culture.
Travel (up to 20%) is anticipated across Southern California for client and project meetings, team engagement, planning initiatives, and participating in industry events.
QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelors’ degree in Civil, Environmental, or Chemical Engineering or a related field
- 12 years of progressive experience in water resources planning, water system planning, or related fields
- Professional Engineer (PE) license.
Key Skills & Preferred Qualifications:
Master’s degree in Civil or Environmental Engineering, MBA, or a related field preferred. Professional Engineer (PE) license in California preferred. A minimum of 15 years of progressively responsible experience in water resources, water planning, or related consulting services is preferred. Proven ability to lead multidisciplinary teams, manage client relationships, and successfully deliver large, complex water planning projects. Deep understanding of California’s regulatory environment and the municipal water and recycled water utility market. Demonstrated experience partnering with municipal agencies and utilities to develop and implement long-term planning, resilience, and sustainability strategies.
COMPENSATION
- Salary range: $170,000 - $220,000/year. Actual salaries will vary and are based on several factors, such as experience, education, budget, internal equity, project and location.
Arcadis offers benefits for full time and part time positions. These benefits include medical, dental, and vision, EAP, 401K, STD, LTD, AD&D, life insurance, paid parental leave, reward & recognition program and optional benefits including wellbeing benefits, adoption assistance and tuition reimbursement. We offer nine paid holidays and 20 days PTO that accrue per year.
Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We are an equal opportunity employer. We are dedicated to a policy of non-discrimination in employment on any basis including race, creed, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship status, disability, veteran status, or any other basis prohibited by law.
See all 232+ Principal Jobs at Arcadis
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new Principal Jobs at Arcadis.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding Principal Jobs at Arcadis
Frame your credentials around U.S. specialty occupation standards
Principal roles at Arcadis require a degree that directly aligns with the technical discipline you'll be leading. Document the connection between your field of study and your specific practice area before outreach, since USCIS scrutinizes specialty occupation claims for senior consulting titles.
Target Arcadis practice areas with active project pipelines
Arcadis hires Principals to lead revenue-generating client engagements, so your strongest angle is demonstrating demand for your discipline in infrastructure, water, or environment. Aligning your background to their publicly announced project wins signals you can step into a billable leadership role immediately.
Search verified sponsorship-friendly Principal openings on Migrate Mate
Filter for Principal roles at Arcadis on Migrate Mate to surface positions where visa sponsorship has been confirmed. This saves you from applying blindly and lets you prioritize requisitions that are already set up for international candidates.
Clarify which visa category fits your citizenship before interviews
Arcadis sponsors across multiple nonimmigrant categories. Australian citizens should raise the E-3 pathway and Canadian citizens the TN visa early, since both avoid the H-1B lottery and can move to an offer faster, which matters when you're filling a principal-level gap on an active project.
Understand how PERM affects your long-term sponsorship timeline
If Arcadis offers EB-2 or EB-3 sponsorship for your Principal role, the DOL PERM labor certification process typically runs six to twelve months before your I-140 petition can be filed. Negotiate when that process starts relative to your hire date, not after your first performance review.
Prepare for an LCA prevailing wage conversation at the offer stage
DOL requires Arcadis to pay at least the prevailing wage for your role's geographic location before filing an H-1B petition. Principal-level prevailing wages for consulting roles in major metros can be high, so confirm the offered salary meets the DOL threshold for your specific work location before accepting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Arcadis sponsor H-1B visas for Principals?
Yes, Arcadis sponsors H-1B visas for Principal-level roles. As a large professional services firm, Arcadis participates in the H-1B cap lottery each April and also files cap-exempt petitions when applicable. If you're already in valid H-1B status with another employer, Arcadis can file an H-1B transfer without waiting for the next lottery cycle.
How do I apply for Principal jobs at Arcadis?
Apply through Arcadis's careers portal or find open Principal positions on Migrate Mate, which surfaces roles where sponsorship has been confirmed. Tailor your application to the specific technical discipline and practice area, and clearly articulate your client-facing project leadership experience. Principal hires at Arcadis typically go through multiple rounds including a technical and a leadership interview.
Which visa types does Arcadis commonly use for Principal roles?
Arcadis sponsors H-1B, H-1B1 visa, TN visa, and J-1 visas for nonimmigrant status, and supports EB-2 and EB-3 Green Card pathways for long-term sponsorship. F-1 OPT and CPT are also supported, which means recent graduates moving into a Principal role from a prior position at the company can stay covered during the transition to a full H-1B filing.
What qualifications does Arcadis expect for Principal-level hires?
Principal roles at Arcadis generally require a bachelor's or advanced degree in a relevant engineering, environmental, or technical discipline, plus substantial years of project leadership experience in a consulting or client advisory environment. USCIS requires the role to qualify as a specialty occupation, so your degree field and your specific practice area need to align directly, not just broadly.
How long does the visa sponsorship process take after an offer from Arcadis?
For H-1B cap cases, timing depends on the April lottery, with an October 1 start date at the earliest. H-1B transfers for candidates already in status can be filed and approved in a few weeks under regular processing, or faster with USCIS premium processing. TN and E-3 visas can often be obtained at a port of entry or consulate within weeks of receiving a certified LCA from DOL.