Engineering and inspection executive search

Retained search across construction engineering and inspection, from field inspection and materials testing through quality assurance and owner representation. Vice president to C‑suite.

Key roles we place ↓

Overview

What we do in engineering and inspection

Metric Geo places senior and executive leaders across construction engineering and inspection, covering field inspection, materials testing, construction quality assurance and owner representation on infrastructure programs. The work spans CEI consultancies, the prime engineering firms alongside them and the owners and agencies they deliver for. Searches are retained and run from vice president through C-suite.

In CEI the people are the bid. Firms are scored on named individuals an agency has already accepted, so one resignation can put a whole program at risk, not just a schedule. We keep track of that population continuously, which is why clients come to us to protect a program as often as to grow a business.

Roles

The roles we place in engineering and inspection

VP Construction Services Multi-contract leadership across inspection and quality programs.
Senior Project Manager Program level accountability for an inspection contract.
Resident Engineer On site engineering authority for a major program.
Director of Materials Testing Laboratory and field testing leadership across programs.
Head of Quality Assurance Construction quality standards, audit and agency reporting.
Director of Business Development Agency relationships, pursuit selection and positioning.
Regional Manager Office or regional profit and loss leadership.
Chief Operating Officer Operational leadership across contracts and offices.
Director of Cost Management Owner side cost planning, estimating and commercial control.

+ many others

Within this sector

What engineering and inspection covers

Construction Inspection

Field inspection leadership across highway, transit and utility programs.

Materials Testing

Laboratory and field materials leadership and certification.

Construction Quality Assurance

Quality programs, documentation and agency reporting.

Owner Representation

Program management on behalf of the owner or agency.

Market

Hiring in engineering and inspection right now

Hiring in this market is driven almost entirely by what agencies have funded. When a state or authority awards a large program, every firm on the bench pursues it and the same qualified inspectors and resident engineers get approached within the same two weeks. The firms that win are usually the ones who had the people already.

Certification is the hard constraint. An agency will accept named individuals with specific qualifications and nobody else, so a firm cannot simply hire an able engineer and put them forward. That narrows most of these searches to a defined list before we start, which we would rather establish in week one than discover later.

Succession is the quiet risk. A lot of resident engineers and senior inspectors are near the end of long careers, and the route in is slow enough that the layer behind them is thin. Firms that are not actively developing it will find it decides their capacity within a few years.

Common questions

Engineering and inspection hiring questions

The questions clients ask most often before briefing an engineering or inspection search.

How long does an engineering or inspection search take?

We work to seven days to a shortlist on most briefs. How long the search takes after that depends on the role and on notice periods, so we set out a realistic timeline with you at the start.

Do you work retained or contingent?

Retained. Our engineering and inspection consultants have spent years building relationships in this market, so most shortlists start from people we already know, and talent mapping, backed by our marketing reach, covers the rest of the market so nobody credible gets missed. Retained is what lets us give that kind of time to one brief.

Do you place below vice president?

Our focus is vice president and above, but we do take on director and senior manager searches where the role is critical, such as a resident engineer on a major program, or a senior inspector an agency has already approved. What matters is whether it is a hire you cannot afford to get wrong.

Can you find people an agency will already accept?

That is usually the whole brief. We work from the qualification and certification requirements first, which tells us how many people realistically exist before anyone is approached. It is a shorter list than most firms expect, and knowing the number at the start changes how a client plans the hire.