Staff Civil Engineer – Pavement Condition Data Management

ARA is seeking a staff civil engineer to participate in research and engineering consulting projects in support of ARA’s contract with the Florida DOT State Materials Office (SMO) in Gainesville, FL.

What you will do as a staff civil engineer:

• Receive, store, and process data and images collected with a laser crack measurement system (LCMS) survey vehicle.
• After processing data, perform quality assurance assessment of the automated distress identification. Adjust processing settings, as necessary, to adjust automated distress detection results.
• Maintain and run existing programs that further adjust for errors in distress identification. Develop/write new programs, as necessary, to continue to improve distress identification.
• After final data processing and analysis, draft annual Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) report for Florida DOT’s submittal to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
• Collaborate with the Florida DOT IT staff to manage large data set storage and to ensure that the data collection and processing meet Florida DOT security standards.

Other tasks, as assigned by the Florida DOT staff, may include:

• Further analysis for pavement evaluation and management purposes.
• Preparation of other technical reports and presentation materials.
• Analysis of other nondestructive testing data used in the evaluation of pavement infrastructure condition (e.g., falling weight deflectometer, profiler [pavement surface condition, rut depth, smoothness, cross-slope], ground penetrating radar).

Staff civil engineer requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Civil Engineering
• Knowledge and understanding of common pavement engineering principles and practices, such as pavement design, evaluation, and management practices; structural capacity evaluation; pavement materials engineering; pavement performance modeling; resilient modulus analysis; soil materials characterization; statistical analysis; and general data reduction
• Working knowledge of MS Office products and other specialty pavement-related evaluation tools
• Occasional travel may be required

Desired skills and experience:

• 2+ years of practical pavement engineering experience (graduate/academic research work may be applicable experience)
• Experience analyzing nondestructive pavement testing data and pavement condition data
• Knowledge of programming languages such as Python, Visual Basic for application (VBA)
• Familiarity with Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio

We offer a comprehensive and generous benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, life, and retirement plans. The salary for this position ranges from $56,000/year to $75,200/year, depending on education and experience.

About ARA:

ARA is an employee-owned international research and engineering company recognized for providing technically superior solutions to complex and challenging problems in the physical sciences. The company, founded in Albuquerque, NM, in 1979, currently employs more than 2,100 professionals and continues to grow. ARA offices throughout the United States and Canada provide a broad range of technical expertise in civil technologies, computer software and simulation, defense technologies, systems analysis, environmental technologies, and testing and measurement. The corporation also provides sophisticated technical products for pavement analysis, environmental site characterization, and robotics.

ARA embraces the core values of passion, freedom, service, and growth. We provide a working environment in which highly qualified technical professionals can pursue their specialties with a maximum of support and a minimum of bureaucracy. These individuals form a network of colleagues with complementary capabilities, similar goals, and a willingness to cooperate on challenging and important technical problems. We strive for long-term associations among our staff and with our clients.

We recognize that employee ownership spawns greater creativity and initiative along with higher performance and customer satisfaction levels. ARA gives its employees the tools, training, and opportunities to take more active roles as owners. The culture is challenging; innovation and experimentation are the norm. Employees are eligible for contributions which not only add to the company’s success, but also their own through the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The motto, “Engineering and Science for Fun and Profit” sums up the ARA experience.