Senior Transportation Planner / Engineer – Travel Demand Modeler

Company Description

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There has never been a better time to be at AECOM. With accelerating infrastructure investment worldwide, our services are in great demand. We invite you to bring your bold ideas and big dreams and become part of a global team of over 50,000 planners, designers, engineers, scientists, digital innovators, program and construction managers and other professionals delivering projects that create a positive and tangible impact around the world.

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Job Description

AECOM is seeking a hands-on Senior Travel Demand Modeler to join our Arlington, VA office, supporting a diverse portfolio of transportation planning and modeling projects across the Mid-Atlantic and nationwide. This role is ideal for a technical expert who actively develops, calibrates, and applies models, not just oversees them. You will work within a collaborative team of approximately 10 modelers, contributing directly to model development while guiding junior staff and supporting client engagement.We are particularly interested in candidates with experience in dynamic traffic modeling or Activity-Based Modeling (ABM), and those with a demonstrated interest and capability in software development, such as C++, for high-performance modeling.or similar applications. This is a hybrid work option with a consideration of being remote.

Responsibilities:

• Hands-on development, calibration, validation, and application of travel demand models (trip-based and/or activity-based)
• Implement, enhance, and maintain travel-demand models
• Apply and refine mode choice models and advanced discrete choice frameworks
• Develop and apply dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) and multimodal modeling approaches
• Contribute to or develop model components, tools, or extensions in C++ or other high-performance languages, as appropriate
• Diagnose and resolve model and code issues, ensuring robust, efficient, and reproducible outputs
• Support integration between modeling platforms, scripting environments, and core software components
• Lead technical discussions with clients while remaining actively involved in analytical work
• Provide technical mentorship through code reviews, modeling guidance, and collaborative problem-solving
• Contribute to automation, performance optimization, and workflow improvements
• Support proposal development and technical approach writing

Qualifications

Minimum: 

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Transportation Planning, Applied Mathematics, Computer Science, or related field,
• 8 years of directly relevant, hands-on experience in travel demand modeling or demonstrated equivalency of experience and/or education. 
• Demonstrated experience developing, calibrating, and applying models
• Proficiency and experience with one or more platforms: Cube, TransCAD, VISUM, TRANSIMS, DTALite, DynusT, or similar
• Ability to develop custom data analysis routines in Python, R, C++, or similar
• Proficiency and experience with C++ or demonstrated aptitude and interest in developing modeling-related software components
• Experience working with large datasets and model workflows/pipelines
• Advanced skills and experience in Excel and data analysis
• Experience with GIS platforms (ArcGIS Pro or QGIS)

Preferred:

• Experience with COG/TPB Gen2 Travel Model (trip-based)
• Experience or exposure with
  • Activity-Based Models (ABM) or
  • COG/TPB Gen3 Travel Model (activity-based)
• Experience implementing or supporting travel models for MPOs or DOTs
• Master’s or PhD in a related field
• 10 years of modeling experience with increasing technical responsibility
• Familiarity with federal processes (NEPA, FHWA/FTA guidelines)
• Experience with:
  • Tolling and managed lane modeling
  • Big data processing (RITIS, StreetLight, Replica, TomTom, etc.)
  • Cloud environments (AWS, Azure) for model execution
  • Visualization tools (Power BI, Tableau)
• Professional certification (PE, PTP, or AICP)
• Hybrid position slightly preferred over remote position
• Demonstrated ability and interest in software development beyond scripting, particularly (a plus):
  • Writing or modifying core modeling co