SumCo Eco-Contracting

ZRG has been engaged to recruit a Director of Recruiting & Employee Success for SumCo Eco-Contracting.  

For more details about this opportunity, please view the position profile by clicking on the cover image below.

Position:

SumCo Eco-Contracting is a rapidly growing ecological restoration and heavy civil construction firm working across New England and the Mid Atlantic to deliver nature-based solutions including dam removals, living shorelines, flood plain restoration, and resilient infrastructure.

SumCo Eco-Contracting is seeking a Director of Recruiting & Employee Success to build and lead best-in-class, human-centered HR functions that support their field crews and professional staff as the company scales.

This is a strategic and hands-on leadership role responsible for shaping the systems, culture, and people practices that will allow SumCo Eco to grow from approximately 75 employees to 100 and beyond while maintaining a strong, value-driven, safety-first culture.

As a member of the Executive Leadership Team, this role reports to Managing Principal & Co-Founder, Chad Sumner, and partners closely with Finance, Operations, and Business Development. The Director of Recruiting & Employee Success will lead the evolution of the HR structure, ensuring the company is compliant, safe, high-performing, and a truly great place to work.

Key Responsibilities:

Talent Acquisition and Workforce Pipeline

• Build and lead a continuous recruiting engine for both craft and salaried roles.
• Develop innovative sourcing strategies including referrals, trade schools, unions, co-op programs, and university partnerships.
• Establish and scale internship and early talent pipelines including co-ops, seasonal crews, and emerging leaders.
• Improve time-to-hire while strengthening candidate quality and experience.

Onboarding, Development and Career Pathways

• Design and implement a structured onboarding experience that connects employees to our mission, safety culture, and teams from day one.
• Build clear career pathways for field and office staff, including advancement from crew to leadership roles.
• Lead performance management systems including goal setting, feedback loops, and review cycles.
• Support leadership development across all levels including crew leads, project managers, and emerging managers.

Safety, Compliance and Risk Stewardship

• Champion a safety-first culture in partnership with field leadership, ensuring alignment between HR practices and job site realities.
• Ensure compliance with multi-state employment laws, prevailing wage requirements, and labor regulations across New England.
• Partner with Operations and Safety leads to support training, incident response, and continuous improvement.
• Serve as a trusted advisor on sensitive employee relations and workplace issues.

Culture, Engagement and Employee Experience

• Partner with leadership to actively shape, reinforce, and evolve SumCo Eco’s culture.
• Ensure employees at all levels feel seen, supported, and connected to the company’s mission.
• Lead initiatives around employee engagement, communication, recognition, and company events.
• Implement and track employee engagement metrics including eNPS with clear follow-through actions.

HR Operations, Systems and Scale

• Build scalable HR infrastructure to support growth to 100 employees and beyond.
• Evaluate and optimize HRIS systems including Bamboo HR or alternatives to support reporting and employee experience.
• Use data and analytics to inform hiring, retention, and workforce planning decisions.
• Partner with Finance on payroll coordination, benefits alignment, and workforce forecasting.

About Company:

SumCo Eco-Contracting is a specialized civil and ecological construction firm founded in 2006, servicing all of New England from their Wakefield, MA headquarters and servicing New Jersey, Delaware, and eastern Pennsylvania from their Jackson, NJ regional office. The company focuses on ecological improvement and environmental construction projects, serving public, private, and nonprofit owners in collaboration with engineers, scientists, regulators, and other stakeholders. Their core mission centers on building resilient, sustainable landscapes and infrastructure that benefit communities and natural systems alike, tackling work that restores, enhances, or protects ecological function.

The breadth of services offered by Sumo Eco-Contracting spans ecosystem restoration and mitigation, dam removal and river restoration, coastal stabilization, infrastructure and resiliency, marine dredging and construction, park development, native plant community establishment, and site remediation.

These services reflect the firm’s emphasis on nature-based solutions and environmentally focused construction, from fresh water wetlands and salt marsh projects to board walks, bridges, storm water systems, and contaminated soil remediation. Their crews are largely self-performing, meaning SumCo Eco directly executes much of the construction work, subcontracting commoditized sub trade work (paving, CIP concrete, electrical, trucking, etc.) and partnering with engineering and consulting firms for permitting and design.

Over the years, SumCo Eco-Contracting has expanded its capabilities and reach, including through strategic additions of experienced ecological construction teams such as NETCO and The Dawson Corporation, which broadened their expertise in coastal and habitat restoration services. The company has completed hundreds of projects—such as dam removals, wet land restorations, river connectivity work, and infrastructure improvements—that underscore its commitment to enhancing environmental resilience and functional landscapes.

SumCo Eco’s work has earned industry recognition and reflects a sustained focus on collaborative, high-impact ecological construction throughout the region.

Location:

Wakefield, MA

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 10+ years of progressive HR experience, including leadership and team oversight.
• Experience in construction, environmental services, or other field-based industries preferred.
• Strong knowledge of multi-state compliance, labor practices, and workforce regulations.
• Proven ability to build recruiting pipelines and scale teams.
• Strong coaching mindset with the ability to influence across field teams and executive leadership.
• Experience implementing or optimizing HR systems and processes.

Work Environment:

• High‑visibility role onsite at head quarters, 5 days weekly, with flexibility for 1 remote day.
• Limited travel required.

First Year Success Metrics:

• Established a reliable, continuous recruiting pipeline supporting approximately 20 to 30 hires across field and salaried roles.
• Reduced hiring timelines while improving candidate quality and retention.
• Implemented structured onboarding and performance management systems.
• Defined and launched clear career pathways and development programs.
• Strengthened alignment between HR practices and field safety and operations.
• Launched and operationalized employee engagement tracking with measurable improvement.
• Defined and began implementing a scalable HR team structure to support growth through 2030.

Why this Role Matters:

SumCo Eco-Contracting’s growth potential is currently limited only by its capacity across field and office roles. Meeting their growth goals depends on attracting qualified personnel into positions across the organization and supporting their success at an individual level. With the strategic focus on individual employee success, retention becomes an outcome rather than a goal in its own right.

As Director of Recruiting & Employee Success, you will help build a company where safety is non-negotiable, people are developed, growth creates opportunity, and employees are proud to be part of the work they do.