Environmental Scientist & Planner

Discover Your Next Chapter with Ayres!

Are you passionate about merging high-quality environmental services with community planning? Ayres is seeking a motivated professional with interdisciplinary skills in both environmental science and planning to join our Development Services Division. This unique role offers the chance to work on projects that span environmental investigation, regulatory compliance, land use planning, and community redevelopment, all within a team that values work-life balance and professional growth. We are seeking a professional that can bridge between both the planning and environmental fields within our organization, who is highly motivated, able to work well with both technical and design professionals and enjoys community interaction and engagement.

About the Role: This position brings together Ayres’ four-pronged approach to development services—landscape architecture, planning, environmental work, and economic development, allowing you to contribute to projects from conceptualization to completion. As part of our team, you’ll work with technical leads and project managers on community-focused, Brownfield revitalization, and land planning projects across the West and beyond. You will play a key role in revitalizing communities by helping redevelop contaminated sites, supporting planning initiatives, and promoting sustainable environmental practices.

Responsibilities: On any given day, you’ll:

• Lead and support environmental site assessments, groundwater monitoring, soil sampling, and remediation tasks for Brownfield and other community redevelopment projects.
• Assist in drafting and implementing long-range and comprehensive community plans, zoning ordinances, and land use policies, ensuring projects align with local government regulations.
• Coordinate and conduct environmental and planning assessments, community engagement activities, and data analysis to inform planning decisions.
• Prepare technical reports, regulatory compliance documents, and community planning reports, including visual aids like figures, maps, and tables.
• Contribute to grant research and writing to secure funding for environmental and community planning projects.
• Engage in community-focused work by collaborating on brownfield, housing, place-making, and other initiatives that enhance quality of life.
• Travel for local and national assignments as needed, with potential overnight stays.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in environmental science, Community/Urban Planning, or a closely related field.
• 1-3 years of relevant experience in environmental consulting or community planning, including tasks like site assessments, land use planning, zoning code interpretation, and community engagement.
• Familiarity with regulatory frameworks (e.g., NEPA/WEPA, RCRA, CERCLA, NR 700 series) and planning principles (e.g., land use strategies, zoning, comprehensive planning).
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat Pro, with adaptability to specialized planning or environmental software.
• Strong communication, organizational, and technical writing skills, tailored to both scientific and planning audiences.
• Valid driver’s license and the ability to work both independently and collaboratively across varied project assignments.

Preferred Skills and Experiences:

• Master’s degree in Environmental Science, Urban/Community Planning, or a related field.
• Specialized skills in Brownfield revitalization, comprehensive plans, community redevelopment, economic development, multi-modal transportation planning.
• Environmental compliance work (i.e., SPCC, air permit/monitoring, stormwater management) a plus.
• 40-hour HAZWOPER certification and/or ACM inspector certification.
• Strong visual communication skills, with the ability to create graphic designs for planning documents using hand sketches or software.
• Experience in grant writing and funding research for environmental and planning projects.

Benefits of being part of the Ayres team:

• Health/dental/vision insurance offering affordable plans with flexible coverage options
• Short-term and long-term disability
• Development
• • Paid membership dues to professional organizations
  • Paid licensing exam/prep course for professional certification
  • Encourage/reimburse for professional registrations and certifications.
• Work/Life Balance
• • Generous Paid Time Off (PTO)
  • Paid holidays [including two floating holidays]
  • Flexible work schedules
• Financial
• • Flexible spending plans and Health Savings Account (HSA) options
  • 401(k) with company match
  • Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP)
• Social
• • Peer recognition program and mentor programs
  • Young Professionals [YP] networking groups
  • Sporting events, dragon boat races, annual parties, summer picnics, and more!

Location: This position can be based in Fort Collins, Colorado, or Cheyenne, Wyoming, with a hybrid model that may include in-office and remote work.

Why Ayres? Joining Ayres means becoming part of a collaborative and dynamic team dedicated to impactful community projects. If you’re an environmental scientist with a keen interest in planning, or a planner passionate about environmental sustainability, we’d love to hear from you!

Our good-faith compensation approach is fair and equitable, and takes into consideration only permissible factors including, but not limited to, market data, education, training, skills, and experience, and geographic location where the work is performed. A salary range for this posting is $55000 - $75000. The foregoing salary range represents what the company believes, in good-faith, it will pay for the posted opportunity. The individual selected for this role will be evaluated with the compensation factors in mind and placed appropriately.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)