Our Firm
Our Values
Central began in 2015 with zero clients, zero capital, and a single founder with an idea that was centered around an unconventional approach within a very conventional industry. Stephen Eagar started with a simple aim to be a reliable firm that clients love to work with and employees love to work for. We now find ourselves alongside strong employees and industry partners, completing major projects on a nationwide scale.
Today, we are a strong group of more than 30 geotechnical, environmental, and A/E professionals. Our reach and list of agency partners is as robust as ever, and we are hungry to continue to prove our adaptability and responsiveness by mobilizing our expertise as needed to support our clients’ projects. All moving forward together, we continue to see the results of our unique approach as we help our clients and employees achieve success in their personal and professional lives.
REMAINING HUMBLE
We’ve strived to create an engineering firm that encourages our employees on all levels to leave their egos at the door, and values contributions and suggestions from anyone. We rely on trust to form a solid social foundation that allows for productive conflict, in turn fostering commitment and accountability. It’s how we obtain our best results, and ensures that nobody feels undervalued or overlooked. Amplifying the voice of others instead of talking louder ourselves has been a hallmark of our growth.
PURSUING COLLABORATION
Structured in a way to prevent employees from feeling ‘siloed’ inside their own departments, our interdisciplinary approach allows for more holistic and broad idea of learning. Anyone in our office can be looped into an ongoing project if there’s an element related to their experience and expertise. Additionally, we emphasize the importance of ongoing education, internal training and mentoring, and how a diverse group of perspectives helps us to find the best solutions.
EMPOWERING EACH OTHER
Our team members feel heard and appreciated—and so do our clients—increasing the equity each person feels in the body of work that the firm is producing as a whole. Employees are given stewardship over their own tasks and workflows, allowing for a free and open exchange of ideas without fear of “wasting another department’s time”. All employees, their contributions, and their insights are considered invaluable by our firm’s Leadership and Principals.
The “Org Chart” at Central
Top-down management is broken. Values-based decision-making and a foundation of trust is how our organization thrives. Our team is a “team of teams” and no one team is viewed as “more important” than the other when it comes to the firm reaching its goals.
Our Teams
Support Team — Support staff connect all teams to each other and to the company as a whole. They act as business managers, maintaining business function and ensuring the technical teams have the tools they need to complete client work.
Business Development — This team leads and implements company outreach strategies, while supporting proposals and representing the firm to the outside world. All teams are involved with Business Development.
Field Team — This role operates primarily in the field, representing our firm and our clients on job sites, collecting data and ensuring quality control onsite during exploration and construction. Our laboratory services are joined with this team.
Design Team — The operational hub of the firm. This role interacts with our clients, organizing and managing client relations at the project level. This team of PMs and senior management focuses all team efforts on project success from initial proposal through construction summary letters. This team primarily works within project scope, schedule, and budget details.
Principals In Charge — Principals are ultimately responsible for the efforts of the work we produce for clients and for the overall success of the firm. Our Principals in Charge are also leaders, mentors, and friends—while maintaining strong relationships within the community of private and public clients.
Culture
Our purpose is to competently and compassionately mentor and support our teammates and customers to achieve their individual and collective goals in an environment emphasizing learning, growing, and responsiveness – and it shows.
Pay in our firm is at or above the competitive wage for the positions we employ, annually compared against the ACEC Regional Salary Survey. We do not discriminate in our pay rates, and they are based solely on experience and expertise. It is our management philosophy to allow employees to “run”, helping to hone their broadening skillset, under the guidance of experienced senior-level engineers and geologists.
Benefits
Additional benefits include generous Paid Time Off, healthcare and vision, 3% match on our 401(k) plan, parking, and other bonuses such as “Clock-Out Hangout” happy hour, lunches out, 12 holidays, and company-funded field trips. Also, because we are a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned company, an additional holiday is given at either Thanksgiving or Veteran’s Day, allowing a four-day weekend at the employee’s discretion.
Central also practices continual review of our insurance and benefits packages, to ensure that our offerings are as feature-heavy and cost-effective as possible. Our goal is to provide the highest quality of benefits available.