Land Development Civil Engineer

London, Ontario | Full-Time, Permanent | On-Site

There are plenty of civil engineering roles where you design the work, issue the drawings and move on to the next project.

This isn’t one of them.

Blackridge Search Group has been retained to recruit a Land Development Civil Engineer for an established, multi-generational residential land developer in the London area.

This is an opportunity to move closer to the owner and the outcome.

Reporting directly to the COO, you’ll work across the full lifecycle of active residential development projects - from engineering design and approvals through servicing, construction, cost control and municipal coordination.

You won’t simply review what consultants produce.

You’ll be expected to understand the design, challenge it where appropriate, improve it where possible, and help ensure what gets built makes sense technically, operationally and financially.

What You’ll Be Responsible For

Civil Design & Technical Leadership

• Prepare, review and contribute to civil engineering design for current and future residential development projects
• Work with servicing, grading, stormwater management, roadworks and municipal infrastructure design
• Review engineering drawings and technical submissions for constructability, cost and execution risk
• Identify opportunities to simplify designs, reduce unnecessary cost and improve project outcomes
• Work collaboratively with external consulting engineers while providing strong internal engineering capability
• Support municipal approvals and technical requirements prior to construction

Construction Execution

• Provide hands-on engineering oversight across active development phases
• Coordinate servicing, roadworks and infrastructure installation
• Attend sites and lead meetings with contractors, consultants and other project stakeholders
• Monitor construction progress, schedules and contractor performance
• Identify risks, delays and field issues early and drive practical solutions
• Track deficiencies and corrective actions through resolution
• Help ensure construction aligns with approved drawings, municipal requirements and project objectives

Cost & Commercial Oversight

You’ll also be expected to think beyond the drawing set.

That means:

• Monitoring construction costs against approved budgets
• Reviewing change orders, field changes and contractor requests
• Understanding the cost implications of engineering decisions
• Identifying value-engineering opportunities
• Challenging unnecessary complexity or over-engineering
• Helping the business make sound technical decisions with commercial consequences in mind

Municipal & Consultant Coordination

You’ll work directly with:

• Municipal engineering departments and inspectors
• Civil and specialty engineering consultants
• Contractors
• Planners
• Environmental, geotechnical and hydrogeological professionals
• Builders and other project stakeholders

You’ll help coordinate inspections, approvals, servicing requirements, deficiencies, close-out and eventual assumption activities.

What They’re Looking For

You are a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) licensed in Ontario with a strong foundation in residential land development.

Ideally, you bring approximately 5–10 years of relevant Ontario experience and understand what happens both on the drawing and in the field.

Your background may currently be with:

• A land development engineering consultancy
• A residential developer
• A municipality
• A multidisciplinary civil engineering firm

You should have:

• A degree in Civil Engineering or a related discipline
• Ontario P.Eng. designation
• Strong knowledge of residential land development
• Experience with servicing, grading, stormwater management, roads and municipal infrastructure
• Civil design capability, including AutoCAD Civil 3D
• Experience reviewing and coordinating engineering drawings
• Exposure to construction administration and field execution
• Experience managing consultants and contractors
• Strong understanding of project schedules and construction costs
• Knowledge of Ontario municipal approvals and subdivision development processes
• Strong written and verbal communication skills

Experience with Procore or similar construction-management systems is an asset.

The Person Behind the P.Eng.

Technical capability matters, but South Winds is deliberately building a small internal team.

They need someone who can operate without layers of corporate structure around them.

You’ll likely be successful here if you:

• Take ownership rather than wait for direction
• Ask good questions
• Spot problems before they become expensive problems
• Can challenge a consultant or contractor professionally when something doesn’t make sense
• Balance engineering theory with practical construction realities
• Understand that the “best” engineering solution also needs to make sense from a cost and development perspective
• Are comfortable moving between drawings, meetings, municipal discussions and active construction sites
• Stay calm and decisive when projects get complicated
• Want to understand the broader development business, not only your individual engineering discipline

Why This Role Is Different

For an engineer coming from consulting, this is an opportunity to see what happens after the drawings leave your desk.

You’ll work directly for the developer and have visibility into:

Design → approvals → budgeting → procurement → construction → servicing → municipal coordination → completion.

You’ll work directly with senior leadership and have meaningful influence over how projects are engineered and delivered.

The company has an established residential development pipeline and is intentionally bringing more engineering expertise in-house as it moves through current and future development phases.

This is not about becoming another layer between the developer and its consultants.

It is about becoming a trusted internal technical resource who can design, question, solve and execute.

Interested?

Blackridge Search Group is conducting this search on a retained basis.

If you’re a land development engineer who has spent several years advising developers from the consulting side and you’ve wondered what it would be like to sit on the other side of the table, I’d particularly like to speak with you.

Applications and conversations will be handled confidentially.