Everything needs to slope away from the house, so you need to create higher elevation near the house, or dig it out away from the house. The brick is on a concrete block foundation.

So in this scenario, would it be best to dif some of that out and install a water proof membrane? Trying to figure out how to salvage this job and the money invested in it.

Why does it need salvaging? Is your basement flooding? Brick is not sponge, it really doesn’t absorb much water. When your house was built and the land around it graded and the foundation backfilled, was it done correctly? If so, you just need to keep rainwater (and snowmelt) from pooling against your house. You do not need a waterproof membrane unless you are in a swampy area where your whole yard just says wet.

I'm located in northern Virginia with heavy clay soil that remains sodden for months on end. grading isn't enough here, typically crawl spaces are encapsulated and a sump pump is installed. Excavating the soil to add a waterproof membrane to the exterior is more costly than encapsulating the interior. Get quotes from several foundation companies before moving forward. Good luck.

Yes your dirt is too high. You are supposed to have 4-6 inches of foundation above the soil line.

It also looks like you covered the vents to the crawl space.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2016/aug/13/dealing-with-a-house-foundation-that-seems-to-be-b/

The brick is covering a crawl space as OP stated, and there are exterior vents to aid in moisture. In some regions with shallow foundations where brick is popular (e.g. Georgia), houses are built with the brick extending down to the concrete footing, so some of the brick is under the soil (because there is no concrete stem wall). Brick (referring to face brick) is porous, an undisputed fact. And capillary action is physics that cannot be avoided.

If a crawl space has water or heavy moisture with a high exterior grade, and evidence of wet walls, it is smart to change grade or waterproof (better than damproof) the wall. Crawlspace drainage is smart too, exterior drainage even better, but it would be incomplete work to install either drainage yet keep allowing water to come in through the wall (hence the waterproofing if a wall remains below grade). Encapsulation involves only changing a vented crawlspace to a non-vented crawlspace (essentially making it a "short basement").

The work that was done is unclear why and how much it cost, and it is hard to tell slope in pictures. But if landscaping was removed, most of the soil will settle. Probably not enough in some areas, like next to the sidewalk. And, probably not uniformly settling around where root balls once were. As long as there is a consistent 6" drop across 10' away from house, the soil can be easily moved with rakes and shovels to both lower the height against the house, provide adequate drainage yet not exacerbate crawlspace infiltration or dirtying/pooling on the sidewalk.