Geotechnical Engineer - Transportation Engineer 5 (In-Training)
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Construction Division, Geotechnical Office is currently seeking a motivated candidate to fill a geotechnical engineer vacancy. The candidate selected for this position will be responsible to conduct geotechnical investigations, which includes setting up geotechnical drilling and testing, interpreting the results, conducting geotechnical design, and communicating the results both orally and in writing. The candidate selected for this position will serve as the geotechnical liaison between the Geotechnical Office and other WSDOT offices or consultants working on the projects. For mega projects and alternative contract projects (Design Build), the candidate will be responsible for developing contract documents such as geotechnical data and geotechnical baseline reports for WSDOT, or guiding and reviewing such documents produced by consultants, as well as contract language for special contract requirements. This person will be responsible to ensure that departmental policies are followed in the development of those projects and that the geotechnical aspects of the projects are consistent with standards of practice and national codes.
Note: This is an in-training position that offers a career path and on-the-job training. This position allows you to progress through the Transportation Engineer field, and achieve the goal class of a Transportation Engineer 5. Candidates will be considered as a Transportation Engineer 2, 3, 4, or 5 depending on their qualifications. The salary levels for each are:
Transportation Engineer 2: $56,580 - $76,092 annually, depending on qualifications
Transportation Engineer 3: $62,436 - $83,988 annually, depending on qualifications
Transportation Engineer 4: $68,940 - $92,700 annually, depending on qualifications
Transportation Engineer 5: $76,092 - $102,348 annually, depending on qualifications
At WSDOT, we value the importance of creating an environment in which all employees feel respected, included, and empowered to bring unique ideas to the agency. Our diversity and inclusion efforts include embracing different cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives while fostering growth and advancement in the workplace. To learn more, please watch the following video: Why WSDOT?
This position will perform the following work:
- As a geotechnical engineer, will be a member of a team or multiple teams where the team(s) is responsible to deliver specific design-bid-build projects, mega projects, and design build projects for WSDOT.
- Serves as the senior team leader for the geotechnical team and may serve as a technical expert team member on other project teams.
- Provide comprehensive oversight of all geotechnical elements of the projects addressed by the team and serve to facilitate integration of geotechnical elements across all portions of the project.
- Will identify highly complex geotechnical issues that may affect project design, construction, and delivery.
- For any identified issues, this person needs to develop or facilitate the development of team oriented solutions to minimize the impacts of those issues on scope, schedule, and budget.
- Performs geotechnical engineering design and project management for complex projects of considerable scope and complexity.
- Acts as a technical resource for other team members and may supervise other geotechnical staff on the team and review their work.
- Analysis of complex site conditions requiring geotechnical engineering design experience and judgment using state-of-the-practice and non-standard design methodologies to effectively complete designs.
- Mentors and trains staff or team members on geotechnical issues and policy.
- Makes team or staff project assignments to accomplish the geotechnical work.
- Develops scopes of work for consultant team members to accomplish the work.
- Reviews completed geotechnical designs and reports related to the project to ensure quality and consistency with standards of practice, national codes, departmental policies, and scopes of work.
- Completes the geotechnical designs independently and provides recommendations in support of WSDOT's construction program and maintenance activities.
- Researches project site conditions and evaluates existing data and its applicability to the project.
- Develops field exploration plans and specialized laboratory testing plans for design and construction projects.
- Provides direction to field instrumentation engineer(s) and drill inspector(s) to ensure that valid and applicable data are collected and borehole instrumentation is properly installed.
- Provides direction to laboratory technicians(s) regarding material testing and provides final quality review of laboratory data and methods.
- Performs complex design analysis in conformance with current WSDOT geotechnical design policy; independently selecting analysis methods appropriate for the site conditions, collected data, and project needs.
- Writes memorandums and/or reports that summarize the data and present the final geotechnical conclusions and recommendations for all geotechnical design and construction project elements.
- For design-build projects, this person participates in developing the RFQ (Request for Qualifications), RFP (Request for Proposal), Geotechnical Data Report, and the Geotechnical Baseline Report. Once awarded, this person provides technical review of design submittals, A TC's, and other geotechnical submittals.
- Writing, reviewing, and negotiating of scopes of work and cost estimates.
- Directing consultants in the preparation of comprehensive geotechnical design reports that will be used by the Geotechnical Division, Bridge and Structures Office, Headquarters Construction Office and Region Project/Construction Offices, and reviews and approves their work.
- Providing review comments to consultants regarding the suitability, adequacy and quality of their reports, and ensuring that their designs are in conformance with current WSDOT geotechnical design policy.
- Advises clients on how to incorporate the geotechnical recommendations into the PS&E (Plans, Specifications and Estimate) or RFP.
- Writes contract special provisions, amendments, and RFP sections.
- Provide review of final PS&E contracts, plans, and RFP's prior to release for bid.
- Provides inspection training.
- Assesses change of condition claims and plans errors and may perform designs resulting from plan errors or changed conditions.
- Reviews and recommends approval or rejection of contractor submittals and Cost Reduction Incentive Proposals (CRIP).
- Participates in pre-construction meetings.
- Manages multiple geotechnical projects performed in-house and with consultants.
- Independently manages their assigned project workload and prioritizes work assigned to them.
- Tracks project timeline, budget, and delivery status, and reports project status to their supervisor, office management, and our statewide clients.
- Develops comprehensive scopes of work and cost estimates for the geotechnical projects assigned to them.
- Meets with Region client(s) as the Geotechnical Office representative to determine project geotechnical needs.
- Interacts with Engineering Geologists, Bridge Engineers, and other technical specialists on multidisciplinary projects to complete the projects on time and within budget while following standards of practice, national codes, and departmental policies.
- Leads design and construction milestone meetings with the State Geotechnical Engineer, Chief Foundations Engineer or consultants at appropriate times during projects.
- At the direction of the State Geotechnical Engineer and/or the Chief Foundations Engineer, represents the Geotechnical Office for statewide emergency response to geologic hazards such as landslides or earthquakes.
- Acts as Geotechnical Office representative in conveying Geotechnical Office design policy and guidelines developed by the Office Managers to Region and Headquarters personnel on a statewide basis during planning, design, and construction of transportation projects.
- Independently attends and represents the Geotechnical Office during Cost Risk Assessments (CRA) and Value Engineering studies (VE) and performs environmental document reviews.
To qualify at the Transportation Engineer 2 level, the requirements are:
- A Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering, Geological Engineering or closely related field. Education and training should include at least 20 quarter or 15 semester hours of college level courses in soil mechanics, foundation engineering, or geotechnical engineering.
To qualify at the Transportation Engineer 3 level, the requirements are:
- Meet qualifications of a Transportation Engineer 2 and;
- Certification as an Engineer-in-Training.
- At least one year's experience at the Transportation Engineer 2 level or equivalent.
To qualify at the Transportation Engineer 4 level, the requirements are:
- Meet qualifications of a Transportation Engineer 3 and;
- At least one year's experience at the Transportation Engineer 3 level or equivalent.
- A Professional Engineer license in the State of Washington (PE).
To qualify at the Transportation Engineer 5 level, the requirements are:
- Meet qualifications of a Transportation Engineer 4 and;
- At least five years' experience at the Transportation Engineer 4 level or equivalent.
- A Professional Engineer license in the State of Washington (PE).
- Advanced knowledge of geotechnical design, soil mechanics and seismic design.
- Excellent communication skills both verbally and in writing.