H-1B Visa Development Director Jobs
Development Director roles qualify for H-1B sponsorship as specialty occupations requiring a bachelor's degree or higher in a directly related field. Employers file the LCA with DOL before submitting Form I-129 to USCIS. Most large nonprofits, universities, and healthcare systems actively sponsor this title.
See All Development Director JobsOverview
Showing 5 of 8,595+ Development Director jobs
Have you applied for this role?
Have you applied for this role?
Have you applied for this role?
Have you applied for this role?
Have you applied for this role?
See all 8,595+ Development Director jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new Development Director roles.
Get Access To All JobsThis Opportunity
WSP has an exciting opportunity for a highly skilled Senior Technical & Sub-Regional Development Director (STRDD) with deep experience and expertise in the Property & Buildings sector, based in San Francisco, CA.
WSP Property and Buildings business line has seen sustained growth across multiple sectors in the last two decades with a variety of complex challenges. WSP brings a wide range of services and talented indications to answer these challenges. Come join our team and grow your career using your skills and experience to prepare our Northern California operation for the next one hundred years of innovation.
To respond to this growth, WSP’s Property and Building Business has an opportunity for a Senior Leader to join our team in California Region and beyond. This is a growth position for motivated candidates looking to expand their influence in the building industry. As a Senior Technical & Sub-Regional Development Director (STRDD), you will have the opportunity to develop and grow relationships in multiple market sectors, develop strategy, lead pursuits, and multidiscipline engineering teams. This position is an exciting opportunity for a candidate to join our California teams of experienced professionals in a leadership role and grow a team focused on Future Ready solutions.
Role & Responsibilities:
The Senior Technical & Sub-Regional Development Director (STRDD) is a dual-accountability executive role that combines sub-regional growth leadership with recognized senior technical authority. The role is responsible for driving top-line growth, shaping the regional market strategy, and providing technical leadership and credibility across complex, high-profile projects.
This position integrates client development, strategic growth, technical excellence, and selective project leadership to support sustainable, diversified growth aligned with the One WSP strategy and Client Care program.
Sub-Regional Growth & Market Development
- Drive sub-regional revenue growth across all P&B services, sectors, and Centers of Excellence.
- Develop and expand senior-level client and partner relationships.
- Identify, shape, and position strategic pursuits from an active, high-quality pipeline.
- Maintain strong P&B market visibility and brand presence within the sub-region.
Strategic Planning & Integration
- Lead development and execution of the sub-regional/local growth plans, aligned with Northern California regional P&B strategy.
- Integrate regional priorities into the broader One WSP and Client Care frameworks.
- Coordinate with Regional Development Director, Market Sector Leaders (locally), Sub-Region Local Business Leads (LBLs), and other regional and national Business Line Leaders.
Senior Technical Leadership:
- Function as a recognized technical authority within one or more core P&B disciplines or complex building typologies.
- Provide senior technical oversight on high-risk, signature, or technically complex projects.
- Shape technical approaches during pursuits to differentiate solutions and manage delivery risk.
- Mentor senior staff and support development of technical depth and succession pipelines.
Client Care & Account Leadership
- Lead execution of the P&B Client Care strategy within the region.
- Serve as overall account leader for select priority clients.
- Support additional accounts as a senior technical and growth advisor.
- Strengthen long-term client trust through combined technical credibility and relationship leadership.
Pursuits, Projects & Delivery Engagement
- Provide senior leadership on major pursuits, proposals, and interviews.
- Serve selectively as Principal-in-Charge on complex or strategic projects, maintaining delivery credibility and quality oversight.
- Ensure technical standards, quality, and risk management expectations are upheld across priority work.
Leadership, Talent & Governance
- Serve as a core member of the Regional Leadership Team.
- Support identification, development, and recruitment of talent required to deliver growth and technical excellence.
- Deliver against nationally aligned growth and performance metrics, including pipeline health, organic growth, and client feedback.
Critical Success Factors:
- Excellent communication skills (both written and verbal) and ability to build long-term, meaningful relationships with clients. Ability to translate complicated technical information into sales messages.
- Ability to think strategically and creatively, and craft approaches to challenging problems.
- Technical or A/E/C sales background required.
- Collaboration and a partnering approach.
- Excellent leadership and development skills.
- Excellent mentoring skills.
- Ability to influence and gain buy-in from clients and our team.
- Demonstrated Change Management skills and experience.
- Demonstrated knowledge of operational management skills and experience.
Who You Are
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, or closely related discipline.
- 15+ years of relevant post education experience in engineering, mechanical, and infrastructure design in the commercial sector.
- Engineer license required (multi-state preferred).
- Advanced proficiency with mechanical engineering principles, practices, process, design/build, standard of care, and the application to permitting and project work-related issues.
- Extensive advanced proficiency with building and infrastructure design.
- Advanced knowledge of relevant mechanical engineering and construction laws, codes, regulations, compliance practices, and record-keeping requirements, and the business impact upon the organization.
- Demonstrated ability with establishing, implementing, and managing multiple larger-scale discipline-related programs, documents, projects, and practices for a line(s) of business.
- Excellent leadership and interpersonal communication skills with the ability to manage staff, and effectively, persuasively, and tactfully interact with employees at all levels of the organization.
- Strategic lateral thinking and strong analytical skills with diligence and prioritization of responsibilities in a pressure work environment.
- Ability to elicit cooperation from a wide variety of sources, including senior management, clients, and company-wide staff, including those with whom no formal hierarchical relationship exists.
- Strong ability to quickly adapt to change and demonstrate flexibility to a variety of schedules and hours to meet business needs.
- Advanced knowledge and proficiency with office automation, load calculations, discipline-specific design software (i.e., AutoCAD, CAM), technology, math principles, predictive models, spreadsheets, and tools used in the corporate environment.
- Proven history of upholding workplace safety and ability to abide by WSP’s health, safety and drug/alcohol and harassment policies.
- Occasional travel may be required depending on project-specific requirements.
Preferred Qualifications
- Sustainability certification.
- 20+ years of relevant post education experience in engineering discipline and prior mechanical design experience.
- Strong experience in managing the review and approval of documents and discipline-specific deliverables, certifications, processes, and plans in a multi-project environment is highly desirable.
WSP Benefits:
WSP provides a comprehensive suite of benefits focused on providing health and financial stability throughout the employee’s career. These benefits include coverage related to medical, dental, vision, disability, and life; retirement savings; paid sick leave; paid vacation (or other personal time); paid parental leave; and paid time off for purposes of bereavement, voting, and/or attendance at naturalization proceedings.
Compensation:
Expected Salary (Colorado only): $194,900 - $310,860
WSP USA is providing the compensation range that the company in good faith believes it might pay and/or offer for this position within the state of Colorado, based on the successful applicant’s education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities in addition to internal equity and specific geographic location. WSP USA reserves the right to ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant’s sex or other status protected by local, state, and/or federal law.
About WSP
WSP USA is the U.S. operating company of WSP, one of the world's leading engineering and professional services firms. Dedicated to serving local communities, we are engineers, planners, technical experts, strategic advisors and construction management professionals. WSP USA designs lasting solutions in the buildings, transportation, energy, water and environment markets. With more than 15,000 employees in over 300 offices across the U.S., we partner with our clients to help communities prosper.
WSP provides a flexible and agile workplace model while meeting client needs. Employees are also afforded a comprehensive suite of benefits including medical, dental, vision, disability, life, and retirement savings focused on providing health and financial stability throughout the employee’s career.
At WSP, we want to give our employees the challenges they seek to grow their careers and knowledge base. Your daily contributions to your team will be essential in meeting client objectives, goals and challenges. Are you ready to get started?
WSP USA (and all of its U.S. companies) is an Equal Opportunity Employer Race/Age/Color/Religion/Sex/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/National Origin/Disability or Protected Veteran Status.
The selected candidate must be authorized to work in the United States.
NOTICE TO THIRD PARTY AGENCIES:
WSP does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters, employment agencies, or other staffing services. Unsolicited resumes include any resume or hiring document sent to WSP in the absence of a signed Service Agreement where WSP has expressly requested recruitment/staffing services specific to the position at hand. Any unsolicited resumes, including those submitted to hiring managers or other business leaders, will become the property of WSP and WSP will have the right to hire that candidate without reservation – no fee or other compensation will be owed or paid to the recruiter, employment agency, or other staffing service.
This Opportunity
WSP has an exciting opportunity for a highly skilled Senior Technical & Sub-Regional Development Director (STRDD) with deep experience and expertise in the Property & Buildings sector, based in San Francisco, CA.
WSP Property and Buildings business line has seen sustained growth across multiple sectors in the last two decades with a variety of complex challenges. WSP brings a wide range of services and talented indications to answer these challenges. Come join our team and grow your career using your skills and experience to prepare our Northern California operation for the next one hundred years of innovation.
To respond to this growth, WSP’s Property and Building Business has an opportunity for a Senior Leader to join our team in California Region and beyond. This is a growth position for motivated candidates looking to expand their influence in the building industry. As a Senior Technical & Sub-Regional Development Director (STRDD), you will have the opportunity to develop and grow relationships in multiple market sectors, develop strategy, lead pursuits, and multidiscipline engineering teams. This position is an exciting opportunity for a candidate to join our California teams of experienced professionals in a leadership role and grow a team focused on Future Ready solutions.
Role & Responsibilities:
The Senior Technical & Sub-Regional Development Director (STRDD) is a dual-accountability executive role that combines sub-regional growth leadership with recognized senior technical authority. The role is responsible for driving top-line growth, shaping the regional market strategy, and providing technical leadership and credibility across complex, high-profile projects.
This position integrates client development, strategic growth, technical excellence, and selective project leadership to support sustainable, diversified growth aligned with the One WSP strategy and Client Care program.
Sub-Regional Growth & Market Development
- Drive sub-regional revenue growth across all P&B services, sectors, and Centers of Excellence.
- Develop and expand senior-level client and partner relationships.
- Identify, shape, and position strategic pursuits from an active, high-quality pipeline.
- Maintain strong P&B market visibility and brand presence within the sub-region.
Strategic Planning & Integration
- Lead development and execution of the sub-regional/local growth plans, aligned with Northern California regional P&B strategy.
- Integrate regional priorities into the broader One WSP and Client Care frameworks.
- Coordinate with Regional Development Director, Market Sector Leaders (locally), Sub-Region Local Business Leads (LBLs), and other regional and national Business Line Leaders.
Senior Technical Leadership:
- Function as a recognized technical authority within one or more core P&B disciplines or complex building typologies.
- Provide senior technical oversight on high-risk, signature, or technically complex projects.
- Shape technical approaches during pursuits to differentiate solutions and manage delivery risk.
- Mentor senior staff and support development of technical depth and succession pipelines.
Client Care & Account Leadership
- Lead execution of the P&B Client Care strategy within the region.
- Serve as overall account leader for select priority clients.
- Support additional accounts as a senior technical and growth advisor.
- Strengthen long-term client trust through combined technical credibility and relationship leadership.
Pursuits, Projects & Delivery Engagement
- Provide senior leadership on major pursuits, proposals, and interviews.
- Serve selectively as Principal-in-Charge on complex or strategic projects, maintaining delivery credibility and quality oversight.
- Ensure technical standards, quality, and risk management expectations are upheld across priority work.
Leadership, Talent & Governance
- Serve as a core member of the Regional Leadership Team.
- Support identification, development, and recruitment of talent required to deliver growth and technical excellence.
- Deliver against nationally aligned growth and performance metrics, including pipeline health, organic growth, and client feedback.
Critical Success Factors:
- Excellent communication skills (both written and verbal) and ability to build long-term, meaningful relationships with clients. Ability to translate complicated technical information into sales messages.
- Ability to think strategically and creatively, and craft approaches to challenging problems.
- Technical or A/E/C sales background required.
- Collaboration and a partnering approach.
- Excellent leadership and development skills.
- Excellent mentoring skills.
- Ability to influence and gain buy-in from clients and our team.
- Demonstrated Change Management skills and experience.
- Demonstrated knowledge of operational management skills and experience.
Who You Are
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, or closely related discipline.
- 15+ years of relevant post education experience in engineering, mechanical, and infrastructure design in the commercial sector.
- Engineer license required (multi-state preferred).
- Advanced proficiency with mechanical engineering principles, practices, process, design/build, standard of care, and the application to permitting and project work-related issues.
- Extensive advanced proficiency with building and infrastructure design.
- Advanced knowledge of relevant mechanical engineering and construction laws, codes, regulations, compliance practices, and record-keeping requirements, and the business impact upon the organization.
- Demonstrated ability with establishing, implementing, and managing multiple larger-scale discipline-related programs, documents, projects, and practices for a line(s) of business.
- Excellent leadership and interpersonal communication skills with the ability to manage staff, and effectively, persuasively, and tactfully interact with employees at all levels of the organization.
- Strategic lateral thinking and strong analytical skills with diligence and prioritization of responsibilities in a pressure work environment.
- Ability to elicit cooperation from a wide variety of sources, including senior management, clients, and company-wide staff, including those with whom no formal hierarchical relationship exists.
- Strong ability to quickly adapt to change and demonstrate flexibility to a variety of schedules and hours to meet business needs.
- Advanced knowledge and proficiency with office automation, load calculations, discipline-specific design software (i.e., AutoCAD, CAM), technology, math principles, predictive models, spreadsheets, and tools used in the corporate environment.
- Proven history of upholding workplace safety and ability to abide by WSP’s health, safety and drug/alcohol and harassment policies.
- Occasional travel may be required depending on project-specific requirements.
Preferred Qualifications
- Sustainability certification.
- 20+ years of relevant post education experience in engineering discipline and prior mechanical design experience.
- Strong experience in managing the review and approval of documents and discipline-specific deliverables, certifications, processes, and plans in a multi-project environment is highly desirable.
WSP Benefits:
WSP provides a comprehensive suite of benefits focused on providing health and financial stability throughout the employee’s career. These benefits include coverage related to medical, dental, vision, disability, and life; retirement savings; paid sick leave; paid vacation (or other personal time); paid parental leave; and paid time off for purposes of bereavement, voting, and/or attendance at naturalization proceedings.
Compensation:
Expected Salary (Colorado only): $194,900 - $310,860
WSP USA is providing the compensation range that the company in good faith believes it might pay and/or offer for this position within the state of Colorado, based on the successful applicant’s education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities in addition to internal equity and specific geographic location. WSP USA reserves the right to ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant’s sex or other status protected by local, state, and/or federal law.
About WSP
WSP USA is the U.S. operating company of WSP, one of the world's leading engineering and professional services firms. Dedicated to serving local communities, we are engineers, planners, technical experts, strategic advisors and construction management professionals. WSP USA designs lasting solutions in the buildings, transportation, energy, water and environment markets. With more than 15,000 employees in over 300 offices across the U.S., we partner with our clients to help communities prosper.
WSP provides a flexible and agile workplace model while meeting client needs. Employees are also afforded a comprehensive suite of benefits including medical, dental, vision, disability, life, and retirement savings focused on providing health and financial stability throughout the employee’s career.
At WSP, we want to give our employees the challenges they seek to grow their careers and knowledge base. Your daily contributions to your team will be essential in meeting client objectives, goals and challenges. Are you ready to get started?
WSP USA (and all of its U.S. companies) is an Equal Opportunity Employer Race/Age/Color/Religion/Sex/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/National Origin/Disability or Protected Veteran Status.
The selected candidate must be authorized to work in the United States.
NOTICE TO THIRD PARTY AGENCIES:
WSP does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters, employment agencies, or other staffing services. Unsolicited resumes include any resume or hiring document sent to WSP in the absence of a signed Service Agreement where WSP has expressly requested recruitment/staffing services specific to the position at hand. Any unsolicited resumes, including those submitted to hiring managers or other business leaders, will become the property of WSP and WSP will have the right to hire that candidate without reservation – no fee or other compensation will be owed or paid to the recruiter, employment agency, or other staffing service.
See all 8,595+ Development Director jobs
Sign up for free to unlock all listings, filter by visa type, and get alerts for new Development Director roles.
Get Access To All JobsTips for Finding H-1B Visa Sponsorship in Development Director
Document your degree-to-role alignment
USCIS scrutinizes Development Director petitions because the title can span multiple disciplines. Gather transcripts, job descriptions, and any continuing education certificates that tie your specific degree field directly to fundraising strategy or donor relations work.
Target employers with cap-exempt status
Universities, teaching hospitals, and nonprofit research institutions are cap-exempt H-1B employers. Focusing your search on these organizations means your employer can file anytime, skipping the annual April lottery entirely.
Search verified H-1B sponsors on Migrate Mate
Pull up Development Director openings on Migrate Mate and filter by employers with confirmed LCA filing history for this role. That filing history tells you the employer has navigated the DOL certification step before, not just that they're open to sponsoring.
Request a prevailing-wage check before negotiating
Run your target title and location through the OFLC Wage Search before your offer conversation. Your employer's LCA must certify a wage at or above the DOL prevailing wage for your specific SOC code and metro area, so knowing that floor protects you.
Clarify the I-129 filing timeline at the offer stage
Ask whether your employer uses premium processing, which USCIS adjudicates within 15 business days. For cap-subject roles, confirm the petition will be filed in the April registration window well before your current status expires.
Use the O*NET profile to anchor specialty occupation claims
If USCIS issues an RFE questioning whether Development Director qualifies as a specialty occupation, the O*NET occupation profile for this role documents the degree requirements and typical educational attainment, giving your employer concrete evidence to respond with.
Development Director jobs are hiring across the US. Find yours.
Find Development Director JobsDevelopment Director H-1B Visa: Frequently Asked Questions
Does a Development Director role qualify as an H-1B specialty occupation?
Yes, if the position requires a bachelor's degree or higher in a specific field such as nonprofit management, business administration, communications, or a related discipline. The employer must demonstrate that the degree requirement is standard for the role, not just preferred. USCIS may issue an RFE if the job description is too broad, so a well-drafted LCA and petition letter matter.
Which types of employers most commonly sponsor H-1B visas for Development Directors?
Universities, hospital systems, large nonprofits, and foundations are the most active sponsors because many qualify as cap-exempt H-1B employers, allowing them to file year-round without entering the lottery. To find employers with verified LCA filing history for this title, search Development Director openings on Migrate Mate and filter by sponsorship activity.
Can I transfer my H-1B to a new Development Director role without waiting for a new lottery?
Yes. H-1B portability lets you start working for a new employer as soon as your new employer files a transfer petition, as long as you're maintaining valid H-1B status. The new employer still needs to file a certified LCA with DOL and submit Form I-129 to USCIS, but you don't re-enter the cap or lottery.
What documentation should I prepare for an H-1B petition as a Development Director?
You'll need academic transcripts and diplomas, a detailed job description tying the role to your degree field, and a support letter from your employer explaining why the position requires a specialized degree. If your degree is from outside the U.S., a credential evaluation from a NACES-approved agency is typically required before USCIS will accept it.
How does the DOL prevailing-wage requirement affect Development Director offers?
Your employer's LCA must certify that your offered wage meets or exceeds the DOL prevailing wage for your specific occupation code and work location. Development Director wages vary significantly by metro area and employer type, so the wage floor set by DOL's OFLC Wage Search for your city will directly affect what your employer can legally offer on the petition.
See which Development Director employers are hiring and sponsoring visas right now.
Search Development Director Jobs